One of my main observations from being an entrepreneur for ten years is that the closer your product or service is aligned with who you are, who you really are, the higher your chance of success. I think there are two reasons for this:
a) when what we do isn’t just what we do, but an extension of who we are, there’s a synchronicity that comes into play. The way we engage with and express work which is aligned with our essence is completely different to the way we engage with and express adopted interests. If our work is a continuation of our identity we have a natural proclivity for it, an innate talent that can give us an edge.
My point is not that you need to have an outstanding talent of the kind we associate with geniuses but that when what you do is aligned with who you are, you are the unique talent. Ideas, insights, energy—a set of subconscious resources that you weren’t aware of—start manifesting in ways that you don’t necessarily understand. It’s a kind of an unconscious competence, where you step out of (your own) way and things just manifest through you. You don’t know how you do it, but you do it, and it’s quite amazing.
b) The second reason is that success is a long-form, long-term game. Hacks and luck may now and then have temporary impact, but in the end it all comes down to consistency, perseverance and doing the work. And the more something is a natural extension of who we are the more likely we are to stick with it on the long-term.