This journey has been, and continues to be, my attempt to answer your question of what I would be doing if I weren’t afraid.

The unknown is what nearly convinced me not to jump, and it is what ultimately delivered the people, experiences, and lessons that made my jump experience special to me. The unknown is where I found my luck.

Paradoxically, the more I focused on the small things that I can control, the more of an impact I’ve had in ways that I could have never imagined when I was nineteen.

Then they do it for two weeks, and nobody’s paying attention. Nobody pays attention to an idea for two weeks. You might get lucky, but it’s not going to be sustainable. People pay attention to work, and you have to work a long time before people will give you the gift of their attention.

In my jump, I wanted to, for the foreseeable part of my life, attempt to make just enough money so that I could control my time.

Maria Popova, founder of Brain Pickings, talks about the danger of prestige and the feeling it gives us: how good it feels to be doing something that makes us feel important.

Jump to learn. When I was in a corporate law job with clients, my learning curve had slowed to a near stop. Particularly when you’re earlier in your career, learning needs to be the number one priority in what you do, much more so than a paycheck, maybe even more than stability. Those skills you learn early on are going to catapult you further in

DAN KENARY, a former commercial bank loan officer, is cofounder and CEO of Harpoon Brewery.

Brainstorm what you like to do. Research what life looks like doing those things. Then make a choice, and go for it. And if you don’t like what you’re doing, well, then do it for a year or two. Use it as a building block to whatever comes next.