Lin-Manuel Miranda is the man of the moment with Hamilton’s incredible success.

This Rolling Stone feature sheds some light on his drive.

He has written his way to the top. Like the character he portrays on stage, Alexander Hamilton, Miranda is a prolific writer.

Here’s Miranda in the Rolling Stone interview talking about his creative output while he was a college student:

I finished college with a ton of stuff written. I was painfully aware of the financial sacrifices my parents were making so that I could go to college, so I was not going to just leave with a B.A. in something. I was going to leave with stuff. I wrote a show every year of college. Not for credit, but because I needed to be leaving with more than just a B.A. So in that way, I’m very Hamilton-esque, in that I’m aware of both time and of the incredible opportunity that I’m lucky to have, and not wanting to squander either.

“I needed to be leaving with more than just a B.A….” Incredible.

He didn’t wait on a degree or permission or a paying gig to start doing what he wanted to do.

He acted as if, as if he already was who he wanted to be.

What if we just started doing what we think we want to be doing without waiting to be picked or to qualify somehow.

Miranda didn’t wait. He’s a smashing success not because he paid his dues or bought into the system or followed a path others laid out. 

He made it big because he got busy doing the work that was calling to him as soon as it called.

He picked himself.