Man, sometimes you gotta look back at the messes you made to figure out why you’re stuck in the mud now. You know how it is. We get so caught up in the hustle of the moment, the fire fighting, we totally ignore the quiet little whispers that are trying to save our asses.
I’m talking about June 2020. Total chaos, right? Everyone was scrambling. I remember reading my Virgo career horoscope that month. I skimmed it, nodded vaguely, decided it was too ‘woo-woo’ for a serious guy running serious projects, and I just blew it off. Fast forward to last week, I was looking at a contract I had to tear up—a project that hemorrhaged cash for eighteen months—and it made me think: where did I go wrong? I decided to dig up that ancient forecast. It wasn’t about being mystical; it was about seeking context for my catastrophic blindness.
Finding the Ghost of Guidance
First thing I had to do was locate the actual text. It was a digital archeological dig. I remembered I’d screenshotted it, probably while waiting for a Zoom call to start. I had to plunge through old cloud backups, folders named things like “TEMP_2020_STUFF,” and finally, buried under photos of sourdough starter failures, I unearthed the snippet.
I sat down and analyzed every damn line, comparing it to what I actually did in those three critical months following June 2020. The reading was crystal clear, maybe too clear for my stressed-out brain back then. It wasn’t vague fluff; it gave three major, actionable directives. And I missed every single one.
The Three Warnings I Completely Ignored
The guidance was essentially a prompt to restructure, rethink, and retreat strategically. Here’s what they hammered home, and what I, the so-called practical businessman, did instead:
- Warning #1: Sever Ties with Old, Toxic Structures. The horoscope specifically talked about needing to cut loose clients or partnerships that were draining resources but offering no clear future path.
- What I Did: I clung to a major legacy client. Why? Because they represented stable revenue, even if their demands were insane and their invoices were consistently 90 days late. I convinced myself stability was better than the scary unknown.
- Warning #2: Focus on Mastering New, Unexpected Technologies. It hinted at a sudden shift in how my specific industry was going to operate and that I needed to pivot my personal skill set fast.
- What I Did: I totally resisted learning the new automation stack that was emerging. I scoffed at it, saying it was just a fad. I doubled down on my old, comfortable methods. Pride is expensive, man.
- Warning #3: Prepare for an Immediate Financial Contraction. Not just saving money, but actively moving funds into stable, long-term hedges rather than speculative short-term gains.
- What I Did: I saw the stock market dip and, thinking I was smarter than the panic, I dumped money into a super speculative investment I read about on a forum. It was pure greed disguised as opportunity.
The Actual Consequences of My Blindness
The retrospective review was brutal. It wasn’t “maybe I should have listened.” It was a direct, cause-and-effect relationship between ignoring the forecast’s common sense and the financial holes I dug myself into.
The legacy client I refused to drop? They eventually imploded six months later, taking three months of my outstanding invoices with them. That wasn’t just lost revenue; that was cash flow destroyed. I had to borrow money just to cover payroll that quarter. I remember scrambling to liquidate assets just to keep the lights on.
That “fad” technology I refused to learn? It became the industry standard within twelve months. Suddenly, I wasn’t just behind; I was functionally obsolete. For the next year, I had to hire people who knew the stack I should have mastered myself, adding massive operational costs and slowing down my entire pipeline. I spent late nights trying to catch up, feeling like a beginner again.
That speculative investment? Yeah, that cratered completely. I watched a significant chunk of my personal runway vanish because I thought I could outsmart the market during a global crisis.
The Essential Guidance, Distilled and Applied Now
So, did I miss the guidance? Absolutely. But the lesson isn’t about believing in cosmic forces. The lesson is about paying attention to the intuitive data points we dismiss as fear or annoyance. June 2020 was screaming for decisive action, and I chose denial and inertia.
The true guidance wasn’t about the stars; it was about recognizing unsustainable patterns and having the guts to make the necessary cuts. If something feels heavy, if it’s consistently draining you, it has to go. Don’t wait for permission or external proof that it’s failing. The minute I finished this review, I executed two long-overdue decisions:
- I fired a difficult vendor who was costing me hours every week in reconciliation. Immediate relief.
- I scheduled dedicated time every morning to learn the next emerging tech stack, no excuses. I’m forcing myself to look ahead, not just react to what’s in front of me.
Don’t be me. Don’t wait three years for a career catastrophe to force you to look at the obvious. Sometimes that slightly weird, ignored input is the clearest direction you’ll ever get. Don’t just read the warnings; act on the bad feelings. It saves you mountains of stress later.
