A friend of mine asked me on Tuesday what my ideal situation is. I looked around and realized, “this is it.” Still, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what the future holds. It’s a mystery to me. But writing helps me shape it. It’s what has led me to this ideal life. And it can help you do the same thing, too.
In 2019 I was about to leave a secure full-time job to start a consulting business in a global pandemic. I would have told you, at the time, though, that I expected to keep working for other people for a bit. And then see what happened. I didn’t even expect to have a child. But it turns out, I had already laid the seeds for our successful future in some writing I’d been doing about criminal justice. When I left my job, a friend of mine put me in touch with some colleagues who needed a writer with my experience. They did it based on having read my writing. I started a website, “hung out my shingle”, as they say, and people found their way to me. Last year I drew a chart of my gross income for the years since then and it doesn’t look as I’d have foretold in 2019, either. I’m still working with some of my anchor clients after all that time. And I’ve enjoyed working with dozens more clients since then on interesting projects. I write thousands of words a week. Some of them I even write for myself. Most of them for other people.
What have I learned? To have more confidence in my ability to face challenges that come my way. To have a little more faith that if you book them, they will come.
Now it’s rare that I’ll work with anybody who won’t say they’ve read something I’ve written and liked it. So, the truth is that even as you’re reading these words now and thinking, “I quite like this,” there’s a chance. It’s possible that in the future we could work together. At some point you might realize you have something you want to get out into the universe. Or you might decide you’re fed up with other people taking all the airspace in your field. And you might click on the button on my website to set up a meeting. You might say, “Matt, how does this thing work, then, where I talk, and you write, and everybody loves it?” And that’s how it goes.
By writing about the things that matter to you, and publishing it somewhere, you put a little marker out. It’s a little beacon in the universe that stays there. And people come across it and they think, “that’s nice.” But the more beacons you put out there, the more likely it is that people will come your way with an opportunity. That’s why I write about books I enjoy reading and stuff I’ve seen on TV. I don’t only write about editorial thought leadership. Because it sounds boring! Instead, I try to put myself out into the world because I’ve learned that when you do that, people like it. People prefer to get to know you. And I like to work for people like that. People who like me.
It sounds ridiculous but I realized a lot of working relationships happen between people who don’t like each other. If you base your working life on relationships like that, you’re setting yourself up to be miserable. It’s masochistic. I like being happy and surrounding myself with people I like. I realized it’s important to put that out into the universe too because it’s quietly revolutionary. However tragic that may be as an indictment of contemporary working life. You would also be surprised at how being explicit about wanting to like your clients tends to deter people who may realize they are jerks!
What do I hope for in the future? I hope that our son Freddy keeps growing up a right little charmer. I hope our family continues to thrive and that my wife and I can enjoy going to the gelato shop down the street once a week. I’d like to do a little more travel before I’m too old to enjoy it. I’d like to keep playing squash. I’d like to continue being grateful for the ups and downs life brings my way. I’d like to keep working with people who appreciate what I bring to the relationship. I’d like to keep enjoying reading good writing by other people. And I’d like to continue doing a little bit of my own.
Will there be curveballs? Will there be challenges? I’m certain there will be. But as my wife says, “s**t happens.” And I’ve realized. It’s writing the future into existence that makes the unpredictability manageable, for me. It’s an indispensable part of how I exist in the world and I’m very grateful indeed to be a writer. If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that until the worst happens, all challenges present opportunitites.
