There is a time for everything —

a time for peace and a time for war,

a time for happiness and a time for excitement.

— Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3:8

I believe every great person goes through a season of locking in, a period of isolation where they build themselves quietly. A time when no one is paying attention. I call this the Steve Jobs neXT-era phase: when the world wasn’t looking at him anymore, yet he was creating the foundations that would later amaze everyone.

He locked in. He experimented. He failed, failed again, and rebuilt. Those hidden years led to NeXT OS becoming the core of macOS and iOS as we know them today.

Everyone needs that period; the season where you’re cooking what will become your life’s work.

It’s the same spirit behind Japan’s sakoku era: intentional isolation. While other nations exchanged ideas and customs, Japan shut its doors and focused inward. The result was a culture that became deeply, intentionally unique, because they concentrated on shaping themselves.

That’s what The becoming season is:

A period with no unnecessary outside input.

Just building. Just doing the work.

And when the results finally appear, they’re beautiful, refined, and undeniable.

Lock in. Focus. Do the work.