Do Not Follow the Framework, Go Found Something Early

Why do some people who seem to work less than you succeed earlier? Because success is a question of timing first, and ability second.

Author: Koutian Wu; GitHub: ktwu01

Basically, we can look at this from two perspectives.

The first is personal. We should start as early as possible. Do not wait until you are ready. Start now and get ready along the way. The same effort started at twenty and started at thirty leads to very different places. The gap is not only ten years. It is more chances to fail and retry, more time to build relationships, and being remembered sooner.

The second is about industries. Go into a new industry as soon as possible and try to become the founder of a certain area as early as possible. In a mature field, the rules are set, the seats are taken, and the big names are already there. However hard you work, you start as a follower. In a new field there are no rules, no big names, no framework. Walk in, and you have a chance to be the one who draws the framework.

That is how we can get fame and wealth as early as possible.

So far, there are only these two perspectives. What we want to do is exactly that, and not follow the existing framework, because the existing framework will not let you get there early. There are already so many big names in that area. The framework was set by the people who came first, and it serves them. Follow it and you will always be chasing someone.

Yes, new fields mean chaos, uncertainty and risk. That uncertainty is exactly what gives ordinary people a chance. In a mature field you queue and wait for the people ahead of you to step aside, and why would they? In a new field there is no queue, because nobody knows which way to go yet.

So stop and ask. Is what you are doing right now circling inside a framework someone else defined, or searching for a space nobody has defined yet?

Find that space, and get in early.