Stefan Zweig once wrote, “She was too young to know that life never gives anything for nothing, and that a price is always exacted for what fate bestows.”
The real question is what we are willing to spend ourselves on.
Life never gives anything for free. It always asks for time, energy, and focus. And when you reduce the pursuit to sub-for-sub or chasing numbers, those demands will drain you.
It’s interesting you mentioned this. Last quarter of last year, I pivoted my content to only focusing on my experiences and what I learnt from them. Safe to say, since I publish more on medium, my content was viewed and read by almost 1 Million people in a month.
Great article. I have a post dropping Tuesday that hits on this idea from a different angle. I think the deeper issue isn't that people can't create value anymore, but that many aren't trying to. The goal used to be value creation, with status and reach as byproducts. Now status and reach are the goal themselves, which means engagement by any means.
Value has been relegated to a performative exercise rather than a genuine pursuit.
I agree that 'mission-based' content, content that resonates first with yourself, is the only way out. And ironically, that should differentiate people and still get them the byproducts people are chasing.
Unfortunately, I am cynical enough to think that part of this compression to the mean is an intentional act and built into platform design many times.
“Create the content you want to see in the world.” – Dan Koe
That quote right there leveled me like a Thanos punch to the gut.
(Even if it might have been a bit of a throwaway line, it still resonated with me.)
It reaffirms my approach to show up and be weird and genuine and stick to my guns and show up here on Substack with intention … and to keep building my tribe of 40+ year olds ready to live their best lives.
You’re absolutely right! The shift from generic value-based content to more personalised, insightful pieces is an exciting opportunity for middle-aged misfits like me. Value-based content without the life experience and scars can't compete with it.
"Creating in alignment with a mission is taste applied to content strategy." 🔥 Makes me realize how sometimes the slop is what's making me second guess my taste because we see so much of it. Anything we see enough tricks our brains into thinking that's the truth. Because of the slop's truth/noise, sometimes I do find myself watering down my ideas to make sure I'm not offending anyone or sounding too controversial. Hell I would even use AI specifically to do that, to resnoate with more people instead of "my people". My mission is anti-grind/anti-hustle in a world full of productivity hacks on how to grind harder. Not sure if you will read this comment but I just want you to know how much I appreciate this issue of your NL , it hit me hard in way I needed 🫶🏻
Stefan Zweig once wrote, “She was too young to know that life never gives anything for nothing, and that a price is always exacted for what fate bestows.”
The real question is what we are willing to spend ourselves on.
Life never gives anything for free. It always asks for time, energy, and focus. And when you reduce the pursuit to sub-for-sub or chasing numbers, those demands will drain you.
"Create the content you want to see in the world" - that's exactly my strategy.
Thanks for such a great article 🙏🏻 Glad you published it although it doesn't felt 'perfect' for you.
Yes, and I think the best value you can create in our microwaved Ai automated world right now, is a human relationship.
And, also, I think that creating "high value" at scale is over too... slow and steady with a high level personable approach will win the game.
true!
It’s interesting you mentioned this. Last quarter of last year, I pivoted my content to only focusing on my experiences and what I learnt from them. Safe to say, since I publish more on medium, my content was viewed and read by almost 1 Million people in a month.
Original, personality-driven writing begins with attentiveness to one’s own thinking—before style, before technique, before intent.
on point 🤌🏼
“From content creator to content director“ — really enjoyed this one!
I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion (YouTube). Thanks!
Great article. I have a post dropping Tuesday that hits on this idea from a different angle. I think the deeper issue isn't that people can't create value anymore, but that many aren't trying to. The goal used to be value creation, with status and reach as byproducts. Now status and reach are the goal themselves, which means engagement by any means.
Value has been relegated to a performative exercise rather than a genuine pursuit.
I agree that 'mission-based' content, content that resonates first with yourself, is the only way out. And ironically, that should differentiate people and still get them the byproducts people are chasing.
Unfortunately, I am cynical enough to think that part of this compression to the mean is an intentional act and built into platform design many times.
“Create the content you want to see in the world.” – Dan Koe
That quote right there leveled me like a Thanos punch to the gut.
(Even if it might have been a bit of a throwaway line, it still resonated with me.)
It reaffirms my approach to show up and be weird and genuine and stick to my guns and show up here on Substack with intention … and to keep building my tribe of 40+ year olds ready to live their best lives.
Much appreciated.
LFG
A lot of this resonates. I'm curious to learn how your thinking has changed about these ideas.
You’re absolutely right! The shift from generic value-based content to more personalised, insightful pieces is an exciting opportunity for middle-aged misfits like me. Value-based content without the life experience and scars can't compete with it.
"Creating in alignment with a mission is taste applied to content strategy." 🔥 Makes me realize how sometimes the slop is what's making me second guess my taste because we see so much of it. Anything we see enough tricks our brains into thinking that's the truth. Because of the slop's truth/noise, sometimes I do find myself watering down my ideas to make sure I'm not offending anyone or sounding too controversial. Hell I would even use AI specifically to do that, to resnoate with more people instead of "my people". My mission is anti-grind/anti-hustle in a world full of productivity hacks on how to grind harder. Not sure if you will read this comment but I just want you to know how much I appreciate this issue of your NL , it hit me hard in way I needed 🫶🏻
Fantastic Newsletter.
I got my signal, thank you for confirming it.
Things shift based on perspective. Will watch YT video now.