Good Things Come in Threes

byAliceC

632 followers

Updated 10 years ago

Today marks three weeks at WA. Three is a magic number. Three wishes. Good things come in threes. Bad things come in threes! In numerology, (and tarot cards, which I love and know a fair bit about) three is the number of motion. Two points form a line, but three points shape a triangle, and afford a lot more movement. But I digress... For me, right now, three weeks is a marker for me to take stock. Am I where I thought I'd be? No. I thought I would be a wonderkid. I am a dreamer. (Perhaps only dreamers attempt self-employment?) Impractical. I don't know how long things actually take. But the reality is that I am much further along than I would be if I had attempted to do this alone. Why?

Practically speaking, I need three things to be successful at this.

1) I need knowledge. I get that here with excellent lessons and videos and conversations people have and live video classes. Recently I felt stuck and needed to resolve a problem, and I think I had seven answers in thirty minutes!

2) I need this to be affordable. So far I paid nothing for week one, and $19 covers the past two weeks, and the next two.Check.

3) And I need to be accountable if I'm to increase the likelihood that I will persist. The community here is amazing. I know there are people rooting for my success, and so I feel that what I do or don't do matters. People read what I have to say, they comment on it, they ask how I'm doing. If I don't show up or follow through, somebody will notice and check on me.

I can also see three things I get from WA that are less tangible, but perhaps even more important than the above.

1) I am defining myself. This is no small thing! I recently heard Stedman (Oprah's partner) being interviewed about his new book. He talked about the need to define oneself, and not allowing anyone else to do that for you. This path aids us in this pursuit. We decide which order to take the steps in, we decide how much time to put in, we decide how hard to work, we decide what to say in our blogs, etc. etc. We have some control over how much we are awarded monetarily. No-one else is our boss, except in the sense that our readers could all decide not to like what we have to say, ever. Not likely! We can choose to ignore the critics, or take what is useful from them and thank them for being our teachers. We are forced to do nothing.

2) If we learn, persist, do the work, etc., we could not only earn a living doing what we love, but we can choose when to do it! And where to do it. In short, this path gives us freedom.

3) Humans have a need to belong, to be seen. I, like many, tend to think it is generally better to connect in person than online. But here is the exception: here at WA I connect with other dreamers and risk-takers. I have friends, but many, perhaps most, do not understand these needs of mine to connect through writing, or to be my own boss. Here I find people who not only understand that, but who support and encourage each other to do it also! We are very different and we live all over the world, but we have goals in common that supersede all of that. Even when people do have very similar ideas, I see them reach out to collaborate and help, rather than to compete. I find ethical people, and Kyle and Carson are clear that ethics are required here.

So, to sum up my first three weeks... My expectations have been exceeded. Wishes are being answered that I didn't even know I had. I have a website. It needs a lot of work and I'm not nearly happy with it yet. But I will get it there with a little help from my friends. I am on the path. And, surprisingly, unexpectedly, I have found a home.