How to Stay Inspired When You're Yearning for Catastrophe
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Chapter 1: The Struggle of Content Creation
Engaging in the world of content creation has been my focus for over a year now. While I may not be the most talented or the most prolific writer, I have faith in my abilities. I wish that others, particularly those with financial means, would recognize this as well.
I committed to this journey in May 2022, picturing how much progress I would make in a year, and I pushed myself to keep going. Although there were moments of low productivity, I remained relatively steady. I had a vision.
I followed all the advice from the likes of Tim Denning, Dan Koe, and Dick Bush. A year passed, and despite having created significantly more content, I find myself further from my financial aspirations of becoming a self-sufficient creator than when I began.
My journey took an unexpected turn when I was banned from Twitter after hitting a thousand followers. That felt like a heavy blow. Apparently, following a large number of accounts only to unfollow them to avoid looking like someone with a disproportionate follower-to-following ratio was a breach of Twitter's unwritten rules. A heads-up would have been appreciated before I invested time building that following.
My frustration about being stuck, if not in a worse position than last year, led me to step outside with binoculars in hand, scanning the sky for an asteroid heading toward Earth. I wished to see a massive rock, the size of Nevada, hurtling toward us at 26,000 miles per hour.
I realize it’s irrational to wish for the end of humanity due to a single challenging year in content creation, but it’s a thought that crosses my mind often. I find myself gazing out the window of my truck, hoping for a cosmic answer to my woes. One might assume that with all the celestial bodies in motion, at least one would heed my cry for destruction and come to my rescue.
Yet, like online audiences, asteroids don’t respond to our desires. They act on their own time, and if the universe aligns, they might either elevate your career or bring about humanity's end.
But here I am, still pushing through. So, what keeps me motivated? There’s one piece of advice that might prevent you from spiraling into darker thoughts and contemplating the apocalypse—embrace the noise.
Section 1.1: Finding Beauty in the Chaos
There’s a scene in a movie that I can’t recall the title of, nor do I feel inclined to look it up. In this scene, a character shares a tale about a Russian cosmonaut.
In brief, the cosmonaut, while in space, gazes out of his porthole and is filled with pride as he observes Earth. He feels significant, relishing his role in the cosmos. However, he soon becomes distracted by a persistent ticking sound, reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
The sound becomes increasingly irksome, leading him to scour the spacecraft, but he can’t locate its source. He disassembles everything in his vicinity, yet the ticking continues unabated.
Tick…tick…tick.
As days pass, the relentless noise pushes the cosmonaut to the brink of insanity, and just before he loses his grip on reality—considering gnawing on his own skin—he chooses to embrace the ticking.
He begins to love the sound, and before long, the ticking transforms into music, making the remainder of his journey enjoyable. He returns home a celebrated hero.
In the realm of content creation or any pursuit you undertake, the essence is perseverance. It’s crucial to show up, not necessarily every day, but whenever you can, prepared to give your best effort.
The lows may be prolonged and disheartening, but rest assured, there are highs waiting on the other side. The key is to focus on the process rather than fixating on the outcome. In essence, fall in love with the noise.
Section 1.2: Embracing the Process
Feeling unmotivated to write three articles today? Is it overwhelming?
Fall in love with the noise.
Not in the mood to create a video or draft an email campaign to attract new subscribers to your newsletter?
Fall in love with the noise.
Struggling to plan your content for the next day so you can set yourself up for success?
Fall. In. Love. With. The. Noise.
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