Don't Rush To Fit Someone Else's Timeline... a Mission Takes Decades

10 thoughts, ideas & creative finds on letting your work work for you, not trading your time for money, and patience with your investing

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• The Rundown 20: You Can Make a Good Living From a Traditional Path, Or You Can Make an Exceptional One Following Your Intuition

• The Rundown 21: Build Something So Real, So True, That It Demands to Be Remembered

• The Rundown 22: The World Might Not Be Watching Now, But They’ll Notice What You’ve Built

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Hey Everyone,

Before I begin this week’s Rundown…

**I’m currently developing an All-in-One Notion Dashboard to help you streamline your creativity, productivity and income — so you can manage the technical, creative and financial aspect of your work easier. it's not just another project management tool or content calendar, but a complete operating system for the modern creative professional who needs to be both artistically fulfilled and commercially successful. You can join the waitlist here.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program…

The Rundown — Here’s what I found over the course of this week that has helped me, inspired me or gave me some creative pushes…

1. On building a mission versus building a brand — “Build a brand? No. Live your mission. Play the decades. Build worlds. Craft an entire universe around your vision, values and voice. It’s what happens when you stop trying to fit into existing spaces and instead build missions that matter, visions that last, worlds worth exploring. Your role isn’t to fit their timeline — it’s to build something timeless. Your decades are waiting for you to build what only you can build.” (—

   Matt Gottesman
   ) — From a recent post on Instagram… don’t be in a rush, don’t worry about other people’s timelines, don’t worry about how it all looks in the beginning. Build, just build and the pieces come together… as well as the provision, the people and the purpose.

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2. On not trading your time for money — “I’m the business, my story is the marketing, and my knowledge is the product. The point is, you can’t just keep doing the same thing forever. You need to start planning now and keep iterating cause the real reward is making your work, work for you.” (—Alexandra ‘Aya’ Karadzhova) — Aya couldn’t be more correct. My background is in digital for over 20 years. Previously I had a digital agency, and while the money was great, the time was dwindling. That’s when I started planning and iterating these past several years. I’d much rather help millions of people at scale, with very specific knowledge, that’s simple for them to implement into some aspect of their mission and work, and adds immense value to their world through the right products and services so that we all benefit… Sooner or later, you have to figure out how to make your work work for you and add value to the many… and it’s different for everyone. (PS — on that note, I’m launching a monthly series here in Substack for anyone who is a paid founding member called “Creator Founder.” No pressure. It’s for anyone who wants me to teach monthly how to simplify their creativity, amplify visibility and scale income with all the tech, frameworks, resources & tools I use instead of hiring a team or expensive resources.)

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3. On the losses in between the homeruns — “Stop paying attention to what’s ‘negative’ and what’s ‘positive’ and only pay attention to moving forward. If you can keep moving forward, good is gonna come and bad is gonna come, but good is only gonna come if you actually keep moving forward, keep trying, keep hitting the ball and pretty soon you’re gonna hit a homerun. By the end of your career, you’re gonna be remembered for 2 or 3 things. Nobody will even know about the losses, but none of it (the wins) would have happened if you would’ve quit.” (—Donald Miller, Storybrand) — What you don’t see is that everyone that finds success is also experimenting behind the scenes with even more ideas that never take off. Or, dealing with highs and lows… or finding success only to have to let it go… or becoming known for something and then no longer relating to it. This happens, but I want you to think of it more like a self-discovery journey. You’re piecing together a series of “hits” that allow you to find the 2 or 3 definitive pillars of your mission, while collecting a lot of experience and skills along the way… Sooner or later you’ll see it all connects.
   

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4. On using your own product first — “YouTube almost never took off. It actually started as a dating site but no one cared. The founders then shifted to general video sharing, but even then, it struggled. At one point, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim sat around feeling ‘depressed’ because YouTube only had 40 videos. The toughest part of launching a marketplace or social platform? Getting momentum. So how did YouTube breakthrough? They got scrappy. they uploaded content themselves, spread videos across MySpace, and eventually one took off. Google bought YouTube for $1.65B.” (— @earlystartupdays on Instagram) — There are so many lessons in here but I’ll keep this short. First, use your product so you can share how you use it. Second, everyone goes through the ups and downs of launching something… this season is asking you to be more creative in spreading the word and helping others with what you created. And third, you just never know what piece of content is going to go viral… keep sending out your work and one will eventually fly.
   

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5. On not worrying about oversaturated markets — “Don’t look to what everyone else is doing… unless it’s to make it better and different.” — On a recent podcast, I spoke about being different in any discipline, making something in the market better, not worrying if something’s been done before but instead bringing your own unique value to it, solving problems that haven’t been tackled yet, how your style of work can create new categories and more — My latest podcast on this can be found here (APPLE, SPOTIFY)
   
   

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6. On being more than one thing really well — “Fuck the niche… I would suggest that most generalists lean on a few deep areas of expertise. For example, my deepest knowledge lies in the visual side of brand building but I’ve also built a solid knowledge in social media, marketing, business and the design process. A generalist doesn’t lack focus, they just choose to focus on breadth rather than just depth, and this often positively affects their creativity, resilience and happiness. They key is intention. Being a generalist is a conscious choice. When communicated effectively, it’s just as powerful as any specialized niche.” (—James Martin) — This happens all the time and also the reason why I say the niche is you… what started out as a creator sharing “graphic design” on social media, quickly turned into a “multi-platform” brand with diverse revenue streams. James now has nearly 900K followers on Instagram. It’s almost inevitable you’ll become multi-talented because in order for people to know about your work, you have to create it, share it, promote it, and streamline your process. I’d actually say this puts you at an extreme advantage to be able to diversify your income while doubling down on your happiness for doing what you love. And of course, the ultimate niche is you… people follow you and your journey.
   

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7. On recognizing you are the “art” — “The time you spend writing is improving you as a writer. And that is the most important thing. The book is almost a side product. Not really, but it almost is to the fact that you are the art. And if you know that, it helps a lot. One of the things that the pros do that amateurs have trouble with (in writing), is pros throw away chapters a lot, in my experience.” (— Brandon Sanderson on Tim Ferriss’ show) — Watch the whole video, but Brandon explains this so well… you have to be willing to do both the work and let it go in order for it to evolve. Some people hang on to the work because they finished it, but that may not be the final product or outcome. It may actually lead to an even greater final product or outcome. I’ve iterated my writing, designing, coding and tech more times than I can imagine and it just keeps getting better. Some things will have an end point, other endings will feel like it’s just the beginning of something greater. You are the art and you’ll always be evolving… let yourself and your work evolve.
   

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8. On investing and patience — “The majority of investing mistakes come from trying to cram long-term returns into shorter periods of time. Just be more patient. It’s not more complicated than that.” (—Morgan Housel, the Psychology of Money) — The best part about Morgan’s point is that its applicable to both money and life. Whether it’s investing money in the market, or it’s investing energy into projects or a business, everything good takes times. You have to be willing to allow the returns to accumulate instead of keeping a short-term mindset. I can assure you, the “compound effect” is very real… whether in investing money or energy, several years in you’ll really see the returns.

   

   
   

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9. On urgency masquerading as importance — “Your dreams demand your best hours.” (—Anu Atluru, photo below is hers as well.) — My thoughts… Your dreams aren't just wishful thinking - they're assignments waiting for your attention. But every time you say yes to someone else's urgency, you're often saying no to your own destiny. It's a subtle trade that happens so quietly you might not even notice: responding to another email instead of writing your book, taking on another client when your art needs your energy, joining another meeting when your creativity begs for space. These moments of choosing others' demands over your dreams aren't just about time management - they're about life management. Every time you defer your calling to handle someone else's crisis, you're not just postponing your dreams, you're trading them away in small increments. Your dreams don't need your leftover energy; they need your best hours, your focused attention, and your unwavering commitment.

   

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10. Playlist — Deep and Soulful House | Loc’d Grooves Ep 3 — A great playlist from LocHive the DJ on YouTube @lochivethedj364 of Chill House to work to… great for creating, designing, writing, computer work.

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Don't Rush To Fit Someone Else's Timeline... a Mission Takes Decades

The pattern is clear — lasting impact comes from patient, intentional building rather than rushed results.

From YouTube's humble beginnings to generalists building deep expertise, from writers evolving their craft to creators expanding beyond niches — they all point to the same truth: your work grows while you're building it.

The key isn't racing to match someone else's pace. It's building something that creates its own timeline. It's about making your work work for you, letting your mission evolve, and giving your dreams your best hours.

Some will rush to fit in. Let them. Others will take decades to stand out. Be them.

Your mission isn't waiting for the right moment. It's waiting for your commitment to the journey.

Now go build it.

Until next week,
– Matt

P.S. If you found value in this week's insights, consider sharing this post with someone who might need this reminder about the power of individuality. ↙️

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