The Seeker joins the call looking visibly exhausted, dark circles under their eyes
Seeker: Sifu, I’m sorry I’m five minutes late. I just finished a DoorDash delivery and had to find somewhere to park.
Sifu: [observes the seeker’s weariness with compassion] No apologies needed, Seeker. I sense you carry the weight of many masters on your shoulders. Tell me, how many jobs do you serve today?
Seeker: [counts on fingers] Well, there’s my main job at the marketing agency, then I drive for Uber on weeknights, DoorDash on weekends, I do freelance graphic design, and I just started selling stuff on Etsy. Oh, and I’m trying to build a YouTube channel about productivity. [laughs bitterly] Ironic, right?
Sifu: [leans back thoughtfully] Five rivers flowing in different directions. Tell me, Seeker… where do these rivers meet?
Seeker: What do you mean?
Sifu: When you wake tomorrow, which master will you serve first? Which voice will guide your day?
Seeker: [pauses, confused] I… I guess whoever needs me most urgently. The app notifications, the deadlines, the orders…
Sifu: [nods slowly] Ah. So you do not choose your day. Your day chooses you. You have become a very busy servant to many masters, yet master of none. How much did you earn last month from all these labors?
Seeker: About $6,800 total. But I worked… [calculates] probably 85 hours a week.
Sifu: [sits quietly for a moment] $6,800 divided by 340 hours. That is $20 per hour for every waking moment of your life. A skilled craftsman in ancient times worked fewer hours and had Sundays for rest. Tell me… when did you last have a full day without serving any master?
Seeker: [thinks hard] I honestly can’t remember. Maybe six months ago?
Sifu: [stands and walks to a simple potted plant] You see this bamboo? It grows tall and strong because it grows in one direction, toward the light. What would happen if I told it to grow north for Uber, south for DoorDash, east for freelancing, and west for YouTube?
Seeker: It would… split apart and die.
Sifu: Yet this is what you ask of your life energy. [turns back] You have created the most expensive sweatshop in history… one where you are both the worker and the owner, and neither is paid fairly.
Seeker: But Sifu, the internet says this is the future! Multiple income streams, diversification, the gig economy…
Sifu: [returns to his seat] The internet is loud with the voices of those who profit from your scattered attention. Tell me, who benefits when you split yourself into five fragments?
Seeker: [slowly realizing] The platforms. They get my time, my car, my skills… and I get the scraps.
Sifu: Now you begin to see. You think you are an entrepreneur, but you have become a digital sharecropper, working many fields you do not own, for masters who set the prices. [pauses] What did you dream of doing before the apps began calling your name?
Seeker: [voice softens] I wanted to build a design agency. Create beautiful things. Work with small businesses to tell their stories…
Sifu: [leans forward with interest] One river, flowing deep. Instead, you have chosen five puddles, each evaporating in the sun of exhaustion. Why?
Seeker: I was scared. Building a business takes time, and I needed money now. The gig work was supposed to be temporary…
Sifu: [nods with understanding] Fear drove you to scatter your seeds on many poor soils instead of planting them deep in rich earth. But tell me… after six months of this hustle, are you closer to your dream agency or further from it?
Seeker: [head in hands] Further. So much further. I’m too tired to do good design work. I haven’t taken on a real client in months.
Sifu: Because you cannot serve excellence while serving urgency. You cannot build depth while living in shallows. [voice becomes gentle] Here is what I see: You have confused motion with progress, busy with productive, surviving with thriving.
Seeker: So what do I do? I have bills to pay, rent due…
Sifu: [asks quietly] What if you could earn the same $6,800 working 40 hours instead of 85? Would that interest you?
Seeker: Of course, but how?
Sifu: By choosing one river and following it to the ocean, rather than standing in five streams that barely wet your ankles. [pauses] If you took all the energy you scatter across five platforms and poured it into building three high-quality design clients, what might happen?
Seeker: [eyes lighting up] I could charge $75-100 an hour instead of $20. I could build relationships, get referrals…
Sifu: And your spirit? Your sleep? Your ability to create beauty instead of just delivering food?
Seeker: [taking a deep breath] I’d remember why I loved design in the first place.
Sifu: This is the difference between a gig and a calling. A gig uses your time. A calling grows your soul. [stands slowly] Here is what I offer for your consideration: Choose one master for the next month. Only one.
Seeker: Which one?
Sifu: The one that serves your dream agency. Perhaps two nights of Uber to pay bills, but your mornings and weekends belong to finding your first real design client. No DoorDash, no Etsy, no YouTube. One direction.
Seeker: That’s terrifying. What if I can’t find clients?
Sifu: [smiles warmly] What if you do? But more importantly… what if you discover that the entrepreneur you seek has been buried under the gig worker you became? [pauses] You cannot plant a garden while running marathons, Seeker.
Seeker: I see it now. I’ve been so busy chasing money that I forgot to build value.
Sifu: [preparing to close] Precisely. Money chases value, not the other way around. When you create something valuable, money finds you. When you chase money directly, it runs like water through scattered fingers.
Seeker: So I delete the apps?
Sifu: You choose your master. If Uber serves your agency dream, keep it. If it distracts from it, release it. The question is not which apps to delete, but which direction to face. [bows slightly] A river that knows its destination moves with unstoppable force.
Seeker: [with new resolve] One river. Toward the design agency. I understand now.
Sifu: [as the session ends] And Seeker? When you land your first real client and earn more in one week than you made in a month of scattered hustling, remember this moment. Remember the difference between being busy and being purposeful.
Seeker: I will. Thank you for helping me see I was drowning in my own opportunities.
Sifu: The most dangerous prisons are the ones that feel like freedom. You are ready to build something real now.
The seeker logs off, looking at their phone full of gig apps with new eyes. For the first time in months, they see possibility where they once saw only notifications demanding their scattered attention.