Mule

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about The First Equation.  The idea being that if you want to go venture out and do something you need to find the math equation that tells the story.  We want to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that if we grit our teeth and dream enough it will happen.  With just those two things it won't. You should, of course, both grit and dream. Admit you don't know everything off the top of your head and figure it out.But if you pretend that you don't actually have an amount of income per year that would be your bare minimum, you're hiding. Like really, write it down.  If you find the math equation that says you have to design, print, and sell 6,000 t-shirts a year to live at your bare minimum your dream of being a solo show needs some updating. Not necessarily abandoning, but it needs some modification or you're wasting your time. You can't afford to waste your time.  Anything else you can waste and recover. Not time.  Making a mistake or failing is not the same as waste. Waste requires some pretending and ignoring, mistakes you could ignore if you stared them in the face. Finding The First Equation puts numbers on things, and numbers make you stare long and hard. Part of that equation is the 75% rule.   Don't get hung up on the number. The point is that when you find that first equation chances are you're figuring on operating at 100 % of your ability.  That's not real life. Sure sometimes you can operate at full capacity. But....sick? Depressed? Orders down? Family time? Fun time? Those things you think of as 'incidental' in the beginning never go away, that's life.  So when you're figuring things, try to find a way where you can be successful operating at 75%. That might mean changing your expectations, your price, or your plan entirely.  If you plan requires you to operate at top performance constantly things get really unfun.  Find the First Equation - find things you can put numbers to. Then cut those numbers by 25% - are you still working?