Enjoying the Journey

Most people are familiar with the phrase "litmus test," but in science, it's a pretty simple thing: dip a special strip of paper into a solution and it'll tell you if the substance is acidic or basic. One clear answer, one way or the other. In life, though, the litmus tests aren't always so obvious. But when one shows up, you can feel it. That's what happened to me this past month.

A good friend of mine reached out about a job opportunity. I wasn’t being recruited, exactly. It was more like an open invitation to come take a look. The role was at a fast-growing startup, early stage but with momentum, and the kind of company you could see making headlines in a few years.

The job looked sweet. A hybrid of early product development and sales. Right in my wheelhouse. If I joined, I knew I’d crush it. The comp package was lucrative, with an equity package in the millions if goals were hit.

But here’s the thing: the conversation ended up being more of a litmus test for me than a serious consideration. The test was simple: Am I enjoying the journey I’m already on?

And the answer, very clearly, was yes.

A few days later, I read this fantastic article about Kevin Kelly—the co-founder of Wired and a sort of philosopher for the modern entrepreneur. He’s made a name for himself by rejecting the traditional Silicon Valley path. The author sums up his approach well:

Compared to this, Kelly’s version of doing his life’s work seems so joyful, so buoyant. So much less … angsty. There’s no suffering or ego. It’s not about finding a hole in the market or a path to global domination. The yard stick isn’t based on net worth or shareholder value or number of users or employees. It’s based on an internal satisfaction meter, but not in a self-indulgent way. He certainly seeks resonance and wants to make an impact, but more in the way of a teacher. He breathes life into products or ideas, not out of a desire to win, but out of a desire to advance our collective thinking or action. His work and its impact unfold slowly, rather than by sheer force of will. Ideas or projects seem to tug at him, rather than reveal themselves on the other end of an internal cattle prod. His range is wide, but all his work somehow rhymes. It clearly comes very naturally for him to work this way, but it’s certainly not the norm.

That resonated hard. I've always identified as an entrepreneur, but the VC-backed, hyper-growth narrative that's so dominant in the media never really fit me. I’d feel that tension whenever I’d read TechCrunch or listen to certain podcasts. I wanted to build, but not in a way that made me a slave to the scale-at-all-costs game.

At the root of it, and it feels almost silly to say, I just wanted to coach my boys baseball teams like my dad did. I wanted to have flexibility to work how I want, when I want, on the things I want. That was the dream.

So when the job opportunity came, I didn’t need to agonize over the decision. It was a gift, a clear litmus test that told me I’m on the right path, building the life and business I want, not the one someone else says I should want.

#HappyLearning