My Two Cents on Believing in Yourself
Heard about Derrick Jones Jr. talking about betting on himself. That got me thinking.
It.ff reminds me of this time, maybe five, six years back. I was stuck in this job, you know? Felt like I was just turning a crank, going nowhere. The money was okay, paid the bills, but man, it was dull. Just kinda grinding it out day after day. Same old stuff.
Then this other offer came along. A bit more money, like, just enough to notice, but basically the same job, same kinda company, same ceiling. Felt safe, you know? Predictable. My boss at the time even said, "Take it, it's a good step, better than staying here." Everyone kinda nodded along.
But someth.neveing felt off. It felt like settling. Like taking the easy path that wouldn't really lead anywhere interesting. Deep down, I felt I could do more, something different. I saw folks doing cool stuff with basic video editing online, just simple stuff for small businesses or whatever. Looked kinda interesting, creative even.
So, I did something maybe a bit dumb. I turned down that "safe" offer. Decided I was gonna teach myself video editing instead. Didn't have a clue, really. Just downloaded some free software, watched a ton of online tutorials. My friends thought I was nuts. "You turned down more money to mess around on your computer?" Yeah, pretty much.
The Grind Was Real- Spent evenings after my boring job just clicking around, trying to make sense of timelines and cuts.
- Messed up a lot. Made stuff that looked terrible.
- Honestly, there were weeks I thought, "Man, I should've just taken that other job."
- It wasn't fancy. Just me, my old laptop, and a bunch of tutorials.
It took ages. Seriously, months of just fumbling around. Felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. But I kept plugging away, bit by bit. Did a freebie video for a friend's tiny business. Then another small paid gig popped up from someone who saw that. Barely covered the cost of a pizza, but it felt huge.
Slowly, very slowly, things started picking up. Got a slightly bigger project. Then another. It wasn't glamorous, still working my main dull job, doing this stuff on the side. But the editing work felt... mine. Something I built myself.
Eventually, after maybe a year, year and a half of this side hustle grind, I actually landed a full-time gig doing creative media stuff. Way more interesting than the old job, and yeah, eventually paid better than that "safe" offer I turned down. It wasn't overnight. It took sticking my neck out, ignoring the easy option, and just grinding when nobody was watching.
So yeah, seeing Jones Jr. say betting on himself paid off... I get that. It doesn't always work, sometimes you bet and lose. But when you feel you got more in the tank, sometimes you just gotta trust that feeling and put your own chips on the table. It's scary, sure, but man, when it works out? Feels pretty damn good.
