Why is it such a useful idea to spend inordinate amounts of time on projects that might have only a small impact? Salman Ansari answers this question after watching a Elizabeth Gilbert talk about creativity:
The first idea that really hit me was recognizing the cost of not sharing:
“Any talent, wisdom or insight you have that you don’t share becomes pain.”
When I first heard this, I thought of projects that never saw the light of day. I’d been thinking about some of these ideas for years.
I never considered the cost of carrying them around all this time.
It’s not just about lettings things go — we’re also freeing space for what comes next.
By alleviating the pain of not sharing your ideas, you open up the path of curiosity. Salman on the result of putting out a lot of ideas over time:
I have a lot of different interests, and have been exploring a wide range of topics in my writing. This gives me a lot of different ideas of what to write about, but it also keeps it fun.
My approach runs counter to popular advice for growth. It’s often suggested to pick a single niche, so that it’s clear to your audience the one thing you’re all about. I don’t think this approach is right for me, but a part of me is still worried I’m “doing it wrong”.
The best way to overcome our fear, Gilbert argues, is to embrace our curiosity. It can take yearsfor your true creative path to emerge, but it is the most sustainable and meaningful work you will ever do.
The end result of embracing the path of curiosity might not look like what we first envisioned, but feedback from ourselves and others can help to iterate our ideas into something that might just make sense, reach people, and make money.
The more articles, projects, or ideas that you put out into the open, the greater the chance of success. Anne-Laure Le Cunff:
By writing every day, I just increase the odds that something is going to be popular. That’s literally the only strategy that I’ve been having, I just write every day. I make sure to post it on Twitter, to post it on Hacker News, to post on Indie Hackers. I just make sure that people can find the content. It’s a bit like going fishing, where I just wait and I see and sometimes catch something.
There is an element of chance when we share content beyond our immediate social circle. We’re not in control of what people find the most meaningful or profitable from our output. We might ignored, or we might ignite someone’s imagination. And the more content you can put out, there greater the odds of success over time.
I’ve been blogging since 2005, and many of the opportunities that have opened up for me since then could not have occurred with any other traditional means of career advancement.
With technology, the opportunity cost of putting ideas out into the open can be measured in time rather than money. It only takes diligence to put out a large body of content, one small element of which might eventually have a massive impact.
Thomas Waschenfelder explains the concept of asymmetric outcomes:
This is why I try to seek out iterated asymmetric opportunities where the upside is massive - the larger the asymmetric outcome, the less the odds matter. Sure, it’s not likely that any of my bets will pay out. But if the payout is large enough, then as long as I can keep making iterated bets relatively quickly, the expected total is positive.
I live in the world of classical music and music education. Here are some project ideas in these fields that could eventually result in asymmetric outcomes over time:
studio website with online registration
regular livestreams
blog articles
photos
short, regularly spaced videos
writing short compositions and selling them on your website
mini-recitals
subscription services
Put several these ideas together and you might be able to sell the the products or services that can allow you to make enough money to thrive, without gatekeepers, and while maintaining your own personal integrity.
It’s important carve out your own small piece of the web rather than only operating on FaceBook, Instagram, or Twitter. Being in quarantine can also be a highly useful time for professional development and deep learning.
(Image by Dorothea Aldani on Unsplash)