Play your own game.

Eventually, ambitious people all realize the same thing.

The game they're playing isn't meant for them.

More specifically, working for someone else isn't for them.

Having a job and working for someone else is great when you're starting and want to build your skills quickly. Learning from people who've been doing something for years when you don't have any experience is the best way to fast-track your growth. You get to see firsthand how things come together, and you don't have to worry about making mistakes as you won't be in a position to make any that truly matter. It's all upside, and you get out way more than you put in.

However, this advantage slowly starts to disappear as you gain more experience and responsibility. Your growth will begin to slow down as your knowledge gap decreases. Instead of being expected to learn, you'll be expected to contribute, which is exactly what ambitious people want. Real stakes and an opportunity to prove they know what they're doing.

But what they don't realize are the limits that come with this new responsibility. Just because you're now allowed to do one thing doesn't mean you'll be allowed to do the next thing. The company you work for doesn't need someone to keep growing. They need someone to do a specific job.

Now, there's something to be said for pushing through this in the beginning. When you're starting out, you don't have any leverage. Even when you have some responsibility, you still don't really have any leverage. At this point, you're getting out pretty much what you put in.

This is why people invest their time into becoming good employees. They want to one day have enough leverage to demand more. But getting too comfortable being an employee can lead to career risk.

What looks like a clear growth path is often an illusion.

Being an employee means there's a limit to how much you can achieve. It means your opportunities are limited to the company's opportunities and what you're allowed to participate in. It means there's a limit on your income and how fast you'll be able to get it. And, ultimately, it means you're not in control of your career.

When your income relies on trading your time for money, and you don't get a proportionate amount of money for the outcomes you generate, you tend to feel like you're being taken advantage of. Instead of feeling like there's an even split, you start to think you're putting in more than you're getting out.

This is when ambitious people realize working for someone else isn't for them.

It's no one side's fault more than the other. It's simply the rules of the game they're in. The company wants to get the most out of its employees while paying them as little as possible. And the employees want to get the most out of the company without having to sacrifice all of their personal time.

Now, this works for some people. But if this arrangement doesn't work for you, don't get caught complaining about it. It's simply what it is. Instead, I suggest playing your own game. One where you create the rules. A game where you define success and allows you to follow your ambition as far as you possibly can.

Unlike working for someone else, your growth might be slow initially, but it will most likely pay off big in more ways than one.