The Buck Stops at You
President Truman had this great sign on his desk saying, "The buck stops here". It meant that he accepted ultimate responsibility for whatever happened rather than passing blame to others.
With your life, the buck stops at you. No one is coming to save you.
There are an infinite amount of ways to build a great life, but they all require pain and suffering to get there. It's just like working out; first order hard and painful, second order worthwhile.
A founder named Sam introduced me to this idea about a year ago. At the time, I was deep in stoicism, control what you can control, let go of the rest. I even wore an ancient Roman coin of Marcus Aurelius around my neck.
Sam said no. EVERYTHING is in your control.
Now, I don't believe everything is in your control. But people wildly underestimate how much of their life is actually theirs to move. It's more directionally correct to think that everything is in your control.
I had to start living it. That's why I left a team I loved working for and a startup I believe in.
The buck really stops at me now. That's the scary part. It's also the whole point.