How to Find Certain Growth in Uncertainty

The Uncertainty of Side Hustles

Making money from side hustles is full of uncertainties. This uncertainty is affected by various factors, such as market supply and demand, traffic, competition from peers, price fluctuations, as well as personal state, emotions, and execution ability. Maybe a project that was very profitable a year ago can't be continued now.

Today, we're going to talk about how to find certain growth in this uncertainty. For example, I often use AI for programming in my side hustle recently. Whether it's taking orders, customizing commercial projects, or developing products, tools, apps, or websites by myself, all these things are full of uncertainties. It's very possible that you won't make a single cent. You might even invest hundreds or thousands of dollars and spend two or three months, but still end up with no income.

What is Certain in Side Hustles

So, what is certain? It's the knowledge you learn and the experience you accumulate in the process. For instance, the experience of using AI to develop products and tools can be applied to your full - time job, especially for programmers. This kind of growth is real.

If you can run through the whole programming process in a real - world business environment and make money, it means your ability has been verified by the market, which is also very helpful for your main job. If you're not in this field, you can use programming to develop various tools for yourself to improve efficiency or take on new business in your company.

Besides, the abilities in business awareness, operation management, and social networking during the money - making process are also tangible. Other accumulations include various data assets, self - media accounts, social media accounts, and continuously output content.

Maybe you don't get the ideal result in a certain project, but you might unexpectedly gain experience or other achievements in other aspects. The things you own and accumulate may suddenly burst out with value at a certain point in the future.

The Importance of Step - by - Step Accumulation

This is like the example of eating steamed buns. You have to eat the first four steamed buns before you can eat the fifth one and really feel full. You can't directly jump to the fifth one. Growth and gains are the same; they all need to be accumulated step by step.

You can't skip the first four steamed buns and directly eat the fifth one. When doing things, you can't say that all the previous efforts were in vain and think you took a lot of detours and should have directly reached the fifth step. But the problem is, without the first four steps, you can't reach the fifth step at all. Even if you know the fifth step is the final goal, without the previous accumulation, you can't cross over.

Dealing with the Lack of Feedback and Motivation

If you understand this truth but still can't do it because of the lack of enough feedback and motivation, even though you know you should persevere and keep going deep, but your body and brain just can't do it, what should you do?

We need to "deceive" ourselves, or rather, use the brain's feedback mechanism: the stronger the feedback and the more positive feedback we get, the more motivated we are.

If you can't get the ideal result for the time being, you can simulate one or create a special feedback mechanism for yourself. Different stages have different standards. There are standards for beginners and standards for experts.

You can temporarily not use how much money you earn, how many things you accomplish, or what kind of results you achieve as the feedback standard. Instead, break the feedback into more specific indicators such as speed, efficiency, execution ability, or the number of works.

Turn these indicators into feedback to make your brain think this is the motivation you need. This requires a certain amount of self - "brainwashing" and the belief to support yourself to move forward. If you require a very real and strong result for each step, it's actually very difficult to persevere.

Overcoming Anxiety and Maintaining Patience

I understand that it's hard for people to persevere because they don't have much patience. The pace of life is too fast, and the information spreads very quickly. You always see news about others' success, so you may feel that you're living a bad life or can't keep up with others, and then become anxious. Anxiety brings pressure and makes people hope to succeed in a short time, which makes them even more impatient and fall into a vicious circle.

If there are only ten people around you, when you see their progress, you may not be so anxious. You'll find that they also have long periods of inactivity or no results, and they even encounter problems and troughs repeatedly. It's not that there's a successful person emerging every month or every one or two years.

But in reality, the world you're in has not just ten people, but millions or even billions. Everyone's timelines are intertwined. The people you see suddenly emerging now may be the result of their silent accumulation in the past three or five years.

The people you see suddenly achieving success are just at the moment of their breakthrough that you notice. At the same time, there are also many people in the silent accumulation period. Whether it's a slow build - up before a big success or going through a trough, three years later, you'll see someone among them suddenly emerging.

The Power of Accumulation and Self - Awareness

Because there are so many people, even if the probability is only one in ten thousand, considering the large population, there will still be thousands of people. So you'll think that there are always so many outstanding people emerging.

If you understand this but still can't do it due to the lack of feedback and motivation, you need to "trick" your brain. Break down the feedback into more specific and achievable indicators, like speed, efficiency, or the number of works. Use these as positive feedback to keep yourself motivated.

We often fall into the trap of impatience because of the fast - paced life and the constant news of others' success. But we should remember that growth is a step - by - step process. We can't skip the necessary steps.

If you're still struggling, try to focus on yourself. Write a success diary to record what you've accomplished every day or who you've helped. Think about what help you can offer others. You don't need to be better than most people. As long as you master one skill and can help those in need, it's enough.

Even if you think you're ordinary in front of others, especially peers or professionals, don't care too much because your target users are not them. Keep thinking and recording who you can help. This will help you better understand your own value and direction.

Daily Reading & Writing by Xiaolu 2025.08.16【day711】