How I’m using my furious anger to build a successful content side business
You would not have believed my commute yesterday morning.
I hate commuting, which is why I start and end my workday early.
But even though I shoved off well before sunrise, it was chaos on the roads.
Some guy had crashed into another guy, which caused a big backup that caused another guy to crash into another guy about 5 kilometres behind, which gridlocked the entire highway.
My 25-minute drive was turned into an hour-long, soul-sucking experience.
Making matters worse, when I got to my usual parking lot, the payment processor wasn’t working, so I had to drive around and find another place to park.
So by the time I got to the office (late), I was mad.
Now anger can be a completely pointless emotion, but it can actually be quite useful when channeled in the right way.
The real pain point
At the end of the day, however, I wasn’t really mad about the traffic itself.
I was mad that I had to commute at all.
It has always been my dream to be an independent entrepreneur, so the very idea of going to an office and answering to someone else is poison to my DNA.
After stewing at my desk for a bit, I decided to write out my pissy feelings to get them out of my head and then focus that anger on working harder than ever to create and to generate more income.
That commute was, in the parlance of author M.J. DeMarco in his fantastic book (affiliate link), an FTE.
A F**k This Event.
Anything can be an FTE.
A bad commute, a bad boss disrespecting you, a month where you couldn’t afford the electicity bill.
It’s a moment when the pain of your situation causes you to say “ah f**k this” and finally do something about it.
I’ve had a lot of FTEs this year, which helped me generate $20,000 in my first year as a content creator on the side.
The trap
The only issue is that some people use anger as a path to excuses and victimhood.
Bloo bloo if only I’d had more money or my family had been more supportive. Nothing ever goes right for me, everyone is so mean to me.
That’s a path to oblivion.
Channel it instead into action.
One thing I preach is an idea from another great book (affiliate link) by ex-Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
The idea is called Extreme Ownership.
Effectively, anything that happens to you, good or bad, is ultimately your fault.
Yes, luck plays a factor in life, but you must claim responsibility for absolutely everything you control. I touched a bit on this yesterday.
If you can’t accept responsibility for where you are, how can you take charge of where you want to be?
Some people say it’s freeing to let go.
I say it’s mentally freeing to finally take charge.
Publish Every Day Goal Tracker
I’m doing an experiment to see if I can make enough money to retire from commuter life within a year by publishing every day on multiple platforms and investing my earnings.
How much I need to retire comfortably: $250 CAD per day
What I earned on Day 5: $11.57 (writing), $1.40 (YouTube) — $12.97 total
Progress chart:
2023 averages ($USD):
What I published yesterday:
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Have a great day!
I don't fully agree with Star Wars. Sometimes the “Dark Side” can take us to worthwhile places.
It takes practice but reframing can really help. It’s easy to see things as being done to us but in reality the universe doesn’t really care about us.
So the extra traffic is more time to listen to that podcast. Less time spent in the office. More time to think about your next post. And hey, you got this post out of it!
Great article. Thanks.