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When You Just Can't Stop Working

Posted by Matt Birchler
— 1 min read

My single biggest advantage over everyone who does the same things I do is that I will work harder and longer than just about anyone else. My hobbies and professional life keep me very busy day in and day out. I sometimes wish I could relax and just watch a movie on a Saturday morning, or come home from work and just veg out in front of the TV, or play a video game for hours on end, but I can't.

I remember not even 10 years ago I would relish in my free time and use it to play games (so many games!) and watch movies. I considered myself a bit of an expert in the worlds of film and gaming. Today I'm falling out of being an expert in those areas of consumption because I'm too enamored with making as many things as I possibly can.

If I dropped this blog, I could finally finish The Witcher 3, Bloodborne1, Stardew Valley, and dive deep into No Man's Sky. If I hadn't taken the time to develop Today Weather, I probably could have watched every single movie for 2015 and 2016 that I have been meaning to get around to. I could do these things, and sometimes I lament the fact that I "just don't have time" to consume all the things I want.

But what's interesting (to me, at least) is that even when I have those feelings, I still find myself sitting down and getting to work on whatever the goal of the day is. Almost no film, book, or TV show can give me the satisfaction that creating something new provides, even if it is as small as writing a little blog post.

But like I said, this has become my competitive advantage. I'm smart enough and I'm talented enough, but in all things I put my mind to, my advantage is comes from being incredibly driven to always do more, and to do it faster. The cliche is that 90 of success is showing up, and there is definitely a lot of truth to that. Once you show up though, the last 10% depends on how much effort you put in.


  1. Sorry, Keenan!