A monthly salary is the most seductive form of mind control
Sunday musings: The paycheck that almost cost me everything.
I remember the exact moment it broke. The trance. The loop. The illusion. I was in my kitchen, burnt out, still in work clothes. A container of reheated noodles in one hand, phone in the other, scrolling through Slack while half-watching some podcast on productivity.
My mind was clouded by deadlines, decisions, and deliverables that did not feel like my own. And then it happened. A flicker. An idea. Not just a thought, but one of those lightning bolts that jolts your nervous system.
A concept I had to write down. Something raw, useful, real. I paused for half a second. Thought, “I will get to it later, after this meeting, after this week.” But I have lived enough of those weeks to know what happens. The idea fades. The spark goes cold. You never write it down.
So I dropped everything and opened Notion. And typed like a man possessed.
That moment became the turning point.
The idea became a rough framework. The framework became a cheat sheet. That cheat sheet evolved into a newsletter post, then a downloadable resource, and ultimately a product.
That product led to my first $5,000 month entirely from inbound leads. No ads. No funnel. Just the right person finding the right thing at the right time because I finally made something that mattered. It was messy. Uncertain. Non-linear. But it was mine.
See, a monthly salary is the most seductive form of mind control. It does not oppress you. It seduces you. Just enough comfort to keep you quiet. Just enough dopamine to delay your dreams.
Just enough structure to dull your soul. I chased that life for years, the predictable paycheck, the company card, the LinkedIn title that made my parents proud at weddings.
But deep down, I was clocking in with a quiet scream: Is this it? Not because I hated the work. But because I knew I was outsourcing my potential.
Most people don’t need another hustle strategy. They need a new relationship with authorship. That’s what the creator economy gave me. Not freedom, but agency. The ability to decide where my energy goes. The right to shape my calendar, my ideas, my outcomes.
Because here is the brutal truth: A salary is just a subscription fee to postpone your potential. And when you finally cancel it, you will experience withdrawal. You will miss the KPIs.
You will feel naked without someone else’s priorities to hide behind. But if you sit in that discomfort, if you treat your life like a sandbox instead of a script, something shifts. You begin to trust your curiosity again. You create from purpose, not panic.
I built Human Algorithm because I know how painful that transition can be. When you have been trained to perform and polish for so long, creating something tangible and vulnerable can feel terrifying. But it is also the most liberating thing in the world.
When your brand is rooted in your truth, not trends, you attract not just attention, but also inspire trust. You create alignment. And from that alignment comes leverage, the kind that lets you build a business around your beliefs, not your burnout.
So, if you are sitting in your version of that kitchen moment right now, wondering if the idea in your head is worth pursuing, this is your sign. Write it down. Build the first version. Make it messy. Make it yours.
Because the sooner you stop building someone else’s dream, the faster you will start living your own.
See you next Sunday.
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