You ever seen the movie Shawshank Redemption?

FANTASTIC movie. Hard to believe it was made 24 years ago now. Anyway…

If you recall, Morgan Freeman’s character was in prison and he was afraid to leave prison. He saw what happened to some of his fellow prison mates when they were released. Free from the structure of the prison, they lost themselves and committed suicide in many cases.

There’s that sad scene where the old man was released from prison, felt completely lost in the regular world without the prison rules, and ended up hanging himself.

But, I thought about that. And I saw some parallels to people who are trying (or simply want to) gain freedom from a traditional 9-to-5 job.

While there are negatives to having a 9-5 job, the truth is that it is actually easier than trying to build a business.

With a job, you live within the confines laid out by somebody else. You play by their rules. You do what you’re told. You do it well enough and out pops a paycheck.

There’s a kind of order to it. It is an order laid out by somebody else, so there isn’t that responsibility of having to drive the ship.

Once you go into the uncharted territory of your own business, then you’re on your own. You’re like a pioneer. All of a sudden, the rulebook is gone and you’re the creator of your own rules. You have nobody to impose discipline on you but yourself.