Most people are NPCs. In gaming, that means a non-player character—someone programmed to follow a script with no choice in the matter. In real life, society is the programmer.

You know this because you've felt it. School told you what to learn. Your job tells you what to do. Society tells you what to want.

And most of us conform because we don't know any other way.

But here's what happens when you don't...

Imagine it's 2030. AI has automated your job. You apply to 50 positions. You don't get a single interview. Why? Because you only know what your employer taught you. Everyone else learned on their own time. They built things. They experimented. They adapted.

You didn't. You were comfortable.

Now comfort is a luxury you can't afford.

Most people justify it: "I like the stability of a 9-5."

But stability is an illusion. Your job can disappear. Your skills can't—unless you never built any.

You have to venture into the dark and light up torches along the way. It's scary. It's uncertain. That's exactly what it's supposed to be.

Great treasures aren't found in safe places.

You know what stops most people? Fear of making mistakes.

They think: "What if I fail? What if I waste my time? What if I'm not good enough?"

So they don't start. They stay comfortable. They tell themselves they'll do it later.

But here's the truth: Failure isn't the opposite of success. It's the path to it. Every skill you have—writing, coding, business, anything—came from someone who failed first. The only real mistake is never trying.

An NPC can't fail because an NPC can't try. NPCs follow the script. You? You have the ability to fail, learn, and try again. That's not a weakness. That's autonomy.

Your mind craves challenge. Solving problems expands the mind and unlocks the next level for your character.

School and a job provide the challenge—until they don't. At one point, you learn everything there is to it and it becomes repetitive.

Employee is not a role—it's a mindset. Employees are passive individuals who get told what to learn and work on (sounds familiar?).

That's why starting a business is an identity shift. You stop being someone who gets told what to do. You become the strategist, the problem solver, the person who thinks beyond what's asked.

That is the exact opposite of an NPC.

30 minutes a day. That's all it takes to stop following the script and start writing your own. Here's what that could look like:

Write. Start a blog or newsletter. Share what you're learning. One post a week.

Build. Create something small. A tool. A product. Start with something you'd use yourself.

Learn. Master a skill that compounds. Programming. Marketing. Sales. Something that makes you valuable.

Create. Make content. Videos. Podcasts. Art. Anything that forces you to think differently.

Pick one. Not all of them. One.

The question isn't whether you can start. It's whether you'll stay an NPC while you figure out how.

The game is waiting. Are you playing or watching?

- Joni

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