Do the Thing, Become the Thing, Get Paid for the Thing
I regularly talk to people who want to quit their 9 to 5 and start their own passion business. But they keep putting off action.
It's always the same excuses. Either "I need more financial security" or "I need proof it'll work first." Only then will they commit to their passion.
In essence, they're letting their need for certainty kill their dreams.
The Guarantee of Achievement
The thing is — you can’t play it too safe. If you are serious about your passion, you simply must take the plunge.
Why? Because you become what you do.
If you spend 40 hours a week as an accountant, you'll remain an accountant. But if you shift every available hour toward your dream of becoming a screenwriter — and write, write, write — you'll eventually become a screenwriter.
It’s a simple 3-step progression:
More hours lead to better skills.
Better skills create more value.
People pay for value.
This progression works so reliably that I refer to it as the guarantee of achievement: Put in the years, and success is inevitable.
I was never the most talented person in BJJ class but I eventually got my black belt, simply because I had tunnel vision. For several years, I would do nothing but eat, train, and sleep — in the end, it paid off.
It was the same approach I used to figure out my dating life. In my mid 20s, I realized I was not having the romantic opportunities that I wished for. So, I went on a quest to talk to as many attractive strangers as possible. 10,000+ interactions later, I was finally getting with the people I wanted to be with.
It’s not just me. Each coaching client I have ever persuaded “to do the thing” eventually became “the thing.” Many of them eventually outperformed me. Once they realized how much control they had over the direction of their lives, they became addicted to realizing more and better goals.
The pattern holds, for everybody: Do the thing, become the thing, get paid for the thing.
The Four Killers
If success is guaranteed, why do so few people make it?
Because four killers destroy most dreams before they start:
1. Fear of the Unknown
People crave certainty. They want a smooth, risk-free transition with guaranteed outcomes. But that's not how it works.
You must start before you feel ready. You must trust that consistent action creates competence — even when the first year feels like treading water.
Why is this so hard? Because most people have quit on themselves before. They started the gym membership, the language course, the side project — then abandoned it halfway through. Now they don't trust themselves with higher stakes.
2. The Comfort Trap
Why did they quit all these projects? Simple inertia. They kept choosing the short-term comfort of Netflix over the long-term payoff of practice.
And they're still making that choice every day.
3. Unrealistic Timelines
Yes, you'll become what you consistently do. But it takes longer than you think.
Expect 12–18 months before you see the first trickle of income. Three years before you can replace your current job with a modest income from your side hustle. Five to seven years before you truly thrive.
It’s not an exciting proposition in an instant-gratification world. But it’s the truth.
4. Get-Rich-Quick Fantasies
Let's say you want to be a comedy influencer. If you commit fully, you'll make a living within five years, guaranteed. But will you become the next Ali Wong? Probably not.
More likely: $40,000–$60,000 annually. Enough to live on, but not enough to buy a yacht.
The real reward isn't wealth — it's waking up excited about your day. That alone puts you ahead of 90% of the working population. Not to mention the freedom of setting your own hours or working remotely.
Why You Must Act
Here's the dilemma: Success is guaranteed if you commit, but committing requires faith in the process.
I understand this difficulty intimately. Ten years ago, I was on track to become a German literature professor. I had doubts but was too scared to act. "What will my parents think? My mentors? What if I'm throwing away years of education?"
It took a brutal breakup to shake me awake. The pain forced me to question everything. When you're really hurting, comfortable lies become unbearable.
That heartbreak led to everything good that followed: starting an MMA gym, building a coaching practice, becoming location-independent. None of it would have happened if my old world hadn't collapsed first.
Ironically, the other thing that helped me was my academic training. The German university system didn’t reward innovation — it rewarded consistency. And consistency, for all its dullness, is powerful. Do the thing and you become the thing.
Now, does that mean you need to seek out heartbreak to find your purpose? Or enroll at a German university? Of course not.
But you do need to wake up to the stakes. Nothing lasts — relationships, careers, even life itself. If you keep postponing your dreams, you'll regret it sooner than you think.
The other piece is pure execution. Do the thing. Every day.
Write the screenplay. Call three potential clients. Post the workout video. Build the prototype.
If you keep doing the thing, you'll win simply by outlasting everyone else. That's how progress works — in business and every other area of life.
A bit of a motivational sermon today. I’ll try to get more specific again in the next newsletter. But I am writing these pieces as much for myself as for the list. And I needed a bit of a big picture reminder.
Anyway. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I am, specifically the summer night walks in the German countryside. There are few things as relaxing for me.
Talk soon!
Niels