Terrific thoughts Coin! I think you have said some very important things here. One of the points I need mashed in to my head is the quote about failing to plan. I'm playing most of this by ear, and hanging on by the seat of my pants. I'm lucky to be where I am now, but I'm going to need to buckle in if I am going to have the discipline to make it to my goals.
Oh yeah... I have goals, and I have my starting line, it is all the stuff in between that I don't know about.
It's the wild west out here, but we have the advantage of being some of the first settlers. Hopefully that pays off in the coming years.
Thanks @mikepm74, hopefully the write-up had a hopeful spin to it.
If you look at - ugh - youtube for an example - well, there are some realllllly untalented people there who just "show up" every day - or at least on a steady basis - and they run circles around the talented guys who only upload 6 times a year.
Same with a lot of professions I guess - I've worked for some really untalented people that were either in the right time at the right place - or had connections - or could talk the loudest - or all three :O