Michael Guta Michael Guta is the Assistant Editor at Small Business Trends and currently manages its East African editorial team. Michael brings with him many years of content experience in the digital ecosystem covering a wide range of industries. He holds a B.S. in Information Communication Technology, with an emphasis in Technology Management.

7 Reactions
  1. Your article could also apply to freelancers. I just started on my road to becoming a writer and often question whether I made the right choice. You’ve provided some good insight here.

  2. Hi Jayne,
    It could definitely apply to freelancers. I think no matter what you are doing, you should make it a habit to evaluate what you are doing, and why you are doing it . And good luck with your writing.

  3. I know how it felt when the initial surge wore off WAY back 7 years ago. Pulling back, relaxing and doing stuff to free me and my audience led to my seemingly boundless energy. I do what I love, for the sake of doing what I love. Much of the time. If I stray I get back on track by taking daily or even 3 or 4 day breaks from work. Doing so only detaches me more and gets me on my passion again. Gotta dig deep to find that passion because most fool themselves into thinking they’re passionate, yet money and other conditional drivers are their true pushers. Fabulous post Michael.

    Ryan

  4. Hi Ryan,
    Thank you very much. I think the only way to gain perspective is by removing yourself from what you are doing, or like you said detaching yourself; the forest for the trees.

  5. Hi Michael,
    This is stellar advice. I concur that finding purpose and balance is certainly paramount to success.

    An evaluation or priorities which every needs to do from time to time. There are some people, however, that have few priorities other than hustling and getting a job done. I don’t always see this as a hutch as long as they are not abandoning other priorities.

    The burn out myth is usually a complaint from people who don’t understand the obsession. If it does happens, it is usually out of a lack of passion.

    I find it helpful to always focus on the end goal. When the focus is on the long term destination we are more likely to overlook the failures we hit along the way.

    -Rob

  6. When you first start, you really get into it because you want to make it a success but after a while if it does not turn into a success or what you wanted it to be “expectations”, you get disappointed and think about giving up or not trying as much as you did when you first started and so “taking some time off” is a good idea because you refresh yourself and also come up with new ideas while thinking about what went wrong and learning from your mistakes. There is no time limit to success and no guarantee but if you don’t try, then nothing will actually happen so it can take you one mouth or 10 years to become a success.

    • Hi George,
      Great perspective, it sounds like real-life experience.
      Everyone seems to agree taking some time off and reassessing is one of the best ways to see where you came from, where you are and where you are going. And often times it is responsible for revatalzing your drive, whether it is to move forward with your current enterprise or start anew.