Nobody who’s actually built anything thinks grinding in isolation is worthless. Isolation is where you develop the skills that make you worth connecting with in the first place. You don’t get in the room by needing to be there. You get in the room by becoming someone who belongs there.

The “one powerful connection” crowd mistakes access for value. They think proximity is the asset when really it’s what you bring to the proximity that matters.

What we’re seeing is a generation that watched influencers skip steps and convinced themselves the steps don’t matter. They do. The network doesn’t multiply zero into something. It multiplies what you’ve already built.

The handout mentality disguises itself as networking strategy, but it’s just another way to avoid the work of becoming valuable. You can’t shortcut substance.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​