What If It Doesn’t Work? (And Why I’m Doing It Anyway)

In partnership with

Find customers on Roku this holiday season

Now through the end of the year is prime streaming time on Roku, with viewers spending 3.5 hours each day streaming content and shopping online. Roku Ads Manager simplifies campaign setup, lets you segment audiences, and provides real-time reporting. And, you can test creative variants and run shoppable ads to drive purchases directly on-screen.

Bonus: we’re gifting you $5K in ad credits when you spend your first $5K on Roku Ads Manager. Just sign up and use code GET5K. Terms apply.

Use code GET5K now

For a long while, I’ve thought about making money online. Not casually—full-on daydreaming, planning, YouTube tutorials at 2 a.m., the whole thing. But if I’m being brutally honest with myself, I have never truly gone all in.

Never.

And recently, that question showed up again like an uninvited guest who somehow has your house key:

“What would it take for you to finally commit?”

Right beside it was a much smaller voice—the kind that whispers but still manages to shake your chest:

“But… what if it doesn’t work?”

And then that voice started listing receipts:
debts I owe, responsibilities, people who depend on me, the fear of looking foolish… the usual greatest hits album.

But here’s the part that surprised me:
When I actually sat with that question, I realized something painfully simple.

If it doesn’t work, I will be in the exact same place I was before I started.
Which, let’s be honest, wasn’t exactly a financial paradise.

But if I do the work and it doesn’t work, at least I will come out with something—skills, lessons, clarity, experience. Proof that I tried. Proof that I didn’t just sit on ideas that could have changed everything.

And that realization forced me to make some choices.

I’ve cut things out.
I’ve said no to more opportunities than I’m comfortable repeating.
I’ve carved out the space to finally focus on what matters.

Not because it’s easy. But because avoiding the work has become louder, heavier, and more painful than the risk of trying.

We’re nearing the end of the year, the annual season of “New Year, New Me,” when everyone writes down goals like:

“This is the year I make 50 million.”
“This is the year everything changes.”
“This is the year I become unstoppable.”

But honestly… the real question isn’t:

“How can I make more millions next year?”

It’s:

“How come—with all my motivation and all my excitement—I still didn’t make the millions last year?”

People love to talk about changing their goals.
But rarely do we talk about changing ourselves.

Because if we look closely at all the years behind us, we’ll notice something uncomfortable:

The only constant in every year of our lives… has been us.

Circumstances changed. Plans changed. Life changed.
We didn’t.

That alone says something.

Anyway—before this becomes a TED Talk—I promised you updates.

I’ve officially begun working on the podcast course.
I’ve completed the first two modules, and I’ve got three more to go. The full course will be ready, like I promised, by Friday, December 12th, 2025.

When it’s done, I’ll send you the link. If you want to level up your podcasting game or finally start that show you’ve been postponing since 2021, you’ll want to check it out.

Till then, here’s my quiet mantra for the rest of the year:

If it doesn’t work, at least I’ll know I finally did the work.

— Wisdom