Stop Chasing a "Career" and Start Building a Portfolio of "Projects"!

Let me tell you, what I'm about to share might just flip everything you thought you knew about your professional life on its head. For years, we've been conditioned by institutions, perhaps even our colleges, to think in terms of a "career". You pick a field – say, software development or civil engineering – and you’re supposed to stick with it, hoping for a steady, linear progression: a 30% salary increment here, a slightly better title there.

But what if I told you that this traditional "career" mindset is actually limiting your potential for true growth and impact?

The Trap of the Linear Career Path

Imagine Sheila, a bright computer science graduate who becomes a software developer. Five years down the line, she's still a software developer, perhaps with a modest salary bump. Twenty years later? You guessed it, still a software developer. Her growth is painfully linear, devoid of the exciting leaps and diverse opportunities that define truly successful people today. She sees herself as a software developer, and so does everyone else, leaving little room for new directions. Her skills might improve threefold, her network too, but that's often the extent of it.

This isn't a criticism of Sheila, but a critique of the mindset that keeps us locked in a single, narrow lane.

Embracing the "Project" Mindset: Your Launchpad for Exponential Growth

Now, let's talk about thinking in "projects". This isn't just a buzzword; it's a fundamental shift that empowers you to experience exponential growth.

What does it mean? It means viewing your work, your ventures, even your entire professional life, as a series of distinct projects. Each project has a clear scope, a set of challenges, and specific learnings. You dive in, you learn, you overcome obstacles, you complete it, you package it up, and you move on. The beauty? The experience, the successes, and even the failures from each project are now "in your pocket". You leverage those insights for the next project, building on each experience.

Take my own journey, for instance. I started my professional life freelancing, and honestly, that's what inherently taught me this project-based approach. Each freelance gig was a project: fully immersive, with a clear beginning and end. After freelancing, I built a company, raised capital, scaled it, and then sold it – I viewed the entire company as a multi-year project that was eventually completed and "put away". Even writing a book, like "Pajama Profit," was a project, wrapped up in a few weeks or months, and then "done". It's now forever in my name.

Why This Mindset Sparks Leaps, Not Just Increments

The traditional career path is about getting a 10% increment year after year. The project mindset, however, is about taking leaps. Sam Altman, a visionary in the tech world, exemplifies this, stating that every project he undertakes must make the rest of his career look like a footnote. He aims for projects of increasingly massive scale – if one project is a scale of 5, the next should be 30, and the one after that 100. This is incredibly difficult when you're stuck in a rigid role.

Look at Elon Musk – perhaps the ultimate project-based thinker. From his early game "Blastar" (a little project he put behind him), to X.com (which he sold to PayPal – another project), to SpaceX, Tesla, Boring.com, and even selling flamethrowers – each has been a distinct, often massive, project. He even works on multiple projects concurrently, which is almost impossible with a traditional job mindset.

A Cultural Perspective: Renting vs. Owning Your Time

Interestingly, I personally believe that cultural mindsets play a role here. In places like India, there's a prevailing employer mentality of "owning" the employee because a salary is paid. This makes switching jobs frequently seem like a "black mark," where people might not want to hire you if they see too many breaks or switches on your resume. In contrast, in America, the mindset is often about "renting" time by the hour. When you're "renting" your time, it naturally feels more like engaging in projects – you can dedicate a few hours here, a few there, and then move on when the project is done.

Imagine if you positioned yourself not as an employee seeking a job, but as a consultant offering project solutions. You come in, help solve specific milestones, and then you move on. This reframes your professional identity and can be incredibly powerful.

How to Start Your Project-Based Journey

This isn't about short-term gigs exclusively; some projects can span years, even a decade, like taking a company from zero to IPO. But the fundamental difference is that they have a defined scope and conclusion.

My personal recommendation, based on what taught me the basics of this mindset, is to dive into freelancing. Take on one or two freelance projects and see what it's like. Experience the process of wrapping one up, putting it behind you, and then deliberately moving on to the next. You'll quickly discover what kind of challenges excite you, what scope fits your ambition, and how to continuously evolve. Construction engineers, for example, always think this way, and their careers are a series of leaps, not linear increments.

Don't play the linear game. Start playing the step-based game. Your professional journey isn't a straight line; it's a thrilling, expansive series of projects waiting to be conquered. What project will you "pocket" next?