You didn't really lose yourself. You lost who you never were but tried to be. Now all that remains is the real you. Introduce yourself and get to know you better. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
-Doe Zantamata
What they don't tell you about being an entrepreneur is that once you truly commit to something you've implicitly agreed to the direct effects of your commitment + effort. Or lack thereof; Meaning the failure or sub-par results of sub-par effort–OR the amount of work required to turn your lemons into the best damned lemonade you can.
It's all on you. You literally asked for it. (Whether you knew it or not.)
Sure there are other factors. You can even plan for them. But what you own is what you put in the middle and you can't own what you don't. Or... if things don't work out the way you'd planned maybe you pull out and go into the hotcake business. But that decision's on you. No one else can or should make it for you. It's your life right?
Perhaps the best businessmen and women are those with a crystal clear understanding of who they are and what they want. Now I've written elsewhere extensively on the rampant psycholpathology in the upper echelons of corporations, banks, governments and other institutions with any amount of power. See Political Ponerology by; Andrew Lobaczewski for more: ponerology_preview.pdf
I'm not negating that reality. 
But think of it this way... Even a predator in the jungle must know what it wants and how to get it to be successful. To survive. To the extent the lion tracks, hunts and kills it's prey is the extent it thrives.
Now here's where it gets really interesting, is that a lot of people see that truth and think 'IF I just emulate the lion I'll be set!' But that's missing the point. The lion is being a lion. If you're a buffalo, a bear or a field mouse, you too have an internal mandate. Your own compass, think of it as an operating system.
Following further that thread...
Warning: Tangent Ahead>>>
Where things get really deep on the psychological end are that the operating system is either damaged or running a different version of the software than was intended - with a narcissist for example they know who their pseudo-self is they may leverage that to their full ability. I would hazard to guess that the disordered predatory individual pays a large price for this. As they may wind up financially successful. Just as they are very clearly representating one exaggerated aspect of their true self. But at the end of the day are they happy? Or are they merely on a hamster wheel chasing the promise of some reward and pleasure as a means to assuage and fill the void created by the whole where their true personality was.
Ok, moving forward,
It's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that having a great idea and the will to do "something" to START something is equal to the hustle required to grind it out. To see it through.
Noncommittal commitment: In buiness and in life there's no room for half-hearted
When I signed up for steemit: Oh so many months back, I knew there was a lot I would need to know to get started. No. To do "well" on the platform. But I also wasn't sure about, what I had, or rather what I wanted to offer.
What should I bring to the Steemit community? and more importantly HOW?
As much of that time period in my life was spent getting in touch with the WHY - which easily constitutes another post in itself. I hedged and spent time on other things, without even putting in the time to TRY Steemit and see what worked and what didn't. To post my truth through my thoughts and perspectives and allow it to be tested. To put some skin in the game. I paid the price for my indecisiveness. As when I finally did get around to making that first post the landscape had changed so much in a few short months. I had already conceptualized and half finished a video that I was sure would have some kind of impact... You see I was going to break onto the Steemit scene and leave my mark.
My thinking was with all of the simple posts I'd seen back in Aug/2016 getting massive payouts that a video that took hours to shape and create revolving around some of the basic philosophy of the platform would prove infinitely more valuable to the community! Cha-Ching! It was not to be.
Part of me knew exactly what the result would be before I posted. You live and you learn. You can see the dismal failure here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@adamthor/the-power-of-steem-an-ode-to-steemit Ok, that's actually the second one. The first was even worse, as I didn't format the post correctly. Looking back at it now I see how it wasn't really reflective of me and my current interests at all. Beyond cold hard Steem... In my own way I was no better than the "hotties" exchanging pics for Steem. I was chasing it.
No Gold Star, No E-For-Effort.
But it's true in life as it is in business. You either Win or you learn.
As an aside: prior to learning of Steemit I'd discussed with a friend an idea I had to create a social media/business-CRM and crowd funding platform. Sort of a Freelance/Startup incubator meets social network. That would run on Bitcoin and payout based on power generated by it's use. Thus adding exponential value.. more on this at the end.
Then I found Steemit, which didn't have all of the things I'd envisioned. But it was the closest thing to it. Delivering much if not ALL of the promise. Bottom line though is that I don't possess all of the skills to pull that off. I knew I didn't, I don't have the team around me presently to create something that ambitious, so it was time spent building sand castles in the clouds.
MILLION DOLLAR IDEA: Create a "real-life" Steemit. Where people get paid in a decentralized way through the site, to complete real work, make real products and deliver real services. By giving value to the community and receiving value in the form of crypto-currency. By using this kind of platform to create real products and services in the real world and taking it outside of simply the realm of sharing information, it could create a digital agora ecosystem and make government and the traditional split between consumers/corporations or producers and wage workers redundant. As it would allow maximum freedom to pursue opportunities for partnerships, freelance and both producing and using for a single user of the platform.
Kind of similar to what's being done on Simbi. But instead. It could merge a crowd funding element with a freelance/entrapreneurial element. With a dash of Linked-in. Spawning new startups for supply chain portions. Basically a mini crypto-currency economy. A portion of the work (much like steem power is allocated) could be directed back toward building the community. Those who voluntarily help build the thing that sustains the value for all users, would benefit most from the platform. The early adopter producers/supply chain providers, et al would have a much greater market share down the line. As the currency and community grows.
After a bit more digging, it sounds like this may be part of what's in the works for Yours.org so we'll see.
Either way the future is bright with so many pursuing and daring to fail, daring to make mistakes and to start over again. Putting some skin in the game and allowing themselves to be tested in the market. After all if we don't it's only those damn snakes who know what they want and how to get it that will slither their way to the top.
We're more powerful than we realize.
Thanks for reading.