Do more of what’s working for you

Don't take things for granted; ration your time thoughtfully.

More than three years ago, I started freelancing. Full-time.

By design, I had a lot of free time. I used this time to learn new things and to think of new ideas. In some cases, I actually spent time working on some of those ideas.

This is a desirable quality.

But I made one mistake: I put whatever was working for me on the backburner.

This one time, I didn’t take any freelance project for more than 6 months. When that idea failed, I had to restart freelancing. It was as if I was starting from scratch again. Luckily, I was able to resume freelancing as if nothing happened.

My mistake was to completely throw away whatever was working for me.

Since then, this story has repeated a few more times.

Every time, the lesson was simple: focus more on what’s working for you.

That doesn’t mean you stop trying new things. Just remember that it shouldn’t come at the cost of important things that bring in money, mental peace, job satisfaction.

Google’s 20% time policy provides decent guidance.

I dedicate 20% of my time for new things. The rest of the time, I focus on things that have worked for me.

And I spend 80% of my time on things that work for me, with utmost sincerity.