if you tell someone they are bad at running, they typically don't get offended but if you tell someone they suck at earning money, it pierces deep … - Paul Millerd

Being good at posting on social media is not a good primary skill to aim at

You need to be doing longform well to find any sort of satisfaction. Or at least doing other things creatively.

How to have original ideas:

1. Read lots at a young age. Start to see that many different people can formulate convincing ideas

2. Become cynical

3. Start to create/write, realize how hard it is to know what the hell you actually think anyway

4. Keep creating/writing. Copy other ideas, repurpose other peoples ideas

5. Become data literate. Realize how deep you can go with data. Realize the fallibility of surveys and other opinion polling. Realize how people will use this stuff in bad faith.

6. Try to formulate arguments without using references. Damn, realize its easier to repackage other peoples ideas than come up with your own

7. Humbly continue creating/writing. Realize it may never get easier. Keep at it. Get in reps. Find a working mode that you can sustain. Embrace the cringe (you will always feel a bit silly when you publish / share)

8. Read other people writing about similar topics. Realize you dislike some of their arguments and frames. Channel your disappointment into their work into your own commitment creating. Commit to nemeses in your head that you will never cede victory too

9. When people try to pay you to package your creations, deny them. If you accept their money fight for your ideas, no matter what. Don't compromise.

10. Keep going. Just make stuff up. Go for walks. Let things pop into your head. You might have a following now but screw them. You shall not be captured. Share ideas that make you uncomfortable because they are interesting to you. Dare to be unfollowed.

11. Talk to people along the way. Share your ideas in conversation. Find a handful of people that will nudge you if you are about to be captured or seem to be becoming cynical. Pay attention. Reset.

12. Keep going. Refuse to treat "what works" as a worthwhile pathway for creating things. Don't join any peer group where "what works" is a north star.

13. When people call you a genius reflect back on all the things you said that you know no one paid attention to. Reflect on your role in a long line of other people who's ideas let to yours

14. Ponder that you might never create anything original

15. Sit with that. Keep going.

Enough is knowing that no amount in my bank account will ever satisfy my deepest fears. It’s knowing that I have enough friends that would gladly open their door and share a meal if I was ever in need. It’s the feeling that I’ve been able to spend my time over an extended stretch of time working on projects that are meaningful to me, helping people with a spirit of generosity, and having enough space and time in my life to stay energized to keep doing this over the long‑term. Enough is seeing a clear opportunity that will increase my earnings in the short‑term, but knowing that saying “no” will open me up to things that might be even more valuable in ways that are hard to understand. Enough is knowing that the clothes, fancy meal, or latest gadget will not make me happier, but also that buying such things won’t mean I’m going to end up broke. Enough is having meaningful conversations with people that inspire me, people that I love, or people that support me.