The freedom paradox
Howdy folks, how's your weekend going?
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about freedom.
In fact, it's always on my mind. But I had it all wrong.
You see, I thought freedom was about being free. No deadlines, no structure, and nobody to answer to.
But I've realised that when we talk about freedom we're actually talking about discipline.
Freedom and discipline seem like polar opposites but they're not.
When you think about freedom what do you see?
Escaping your 9-5?
Not having to answer to clients?
In other words, you see a world where other people cannot impose discipline (their rules) on your life.
Which might fool you into thinking that discipline is the enemy.
But the opposite of imposed discipline is not no discipline, it's self-imposed discipline
You don't crave freedom in search of an easy life, free of discipline, deadlines and challenges. You crave freedom because you want the ability to choose what challenges you're down to take on.
1. Ambitious people need each other: Fantastic essay on the importance for ambitious people to surround themselves with other ambitious people.
2. Three great quotes from Felix Dennis on the dangers of a regular salary for entrepreneurial people:
"The salary begins to have an attraction and addictive-ness all of its own. A regular paycheck and crack cocaine have that in common."
“There is absolutely nothing more likely to dampen the prospects of becoming rich than a nice, fat, regular salary check.”
“working too long for other people can blunt your desire to take risks.”
3. Terminally online: It's crazy how much society has changed in the last decade. Most of us are spending way more time by ourselves and less with others, sure COVID played a part but the trend is concerning.
This article explored some interesting points on the reasons why (mostly social media) and landed on the importance of turning online interactions into in person interactions.
4. Growth without goals: I have read this post a couple times per year for the last 3 or 4 years. The idea of trading goals for a set of daily practices is one I love and constantly try align myself with. But I can't bring myself to eradicate goals completely.
5. Getting over the fear of creating: This is one of the best things I've read on getting over the fear of putting your creative work out into the world. As Nat Eliason shares, you can only overcome the fear of creating by... creating.
This is by far the most important thing to realize about that fear of creating: it doesn’t go away. You just get used to it. But that can only happen if you start making things. If you sit around fretting about how scared you are, you’re not getting used to the fear. You’re just making it bigger in your head. You can’t get over the fear until you start doing the thing that you’re scared of doing.
The fourth trick he shares to get over that fear is a useful one 😂
The fourth trick is perhaps a bit cruel. Still, I find it helpful anyway: remember that anyone who is secretly making fun of you is just a sad jealous lonely loser who hates their job, life, is having no sex, and will die horrendously empty and unfulfilled. Why would you care if they’re making fun of you? If anything, you should pity them.
6. Will AI Destroy YouTube? (podcast): I've been enjoying Colin and Samir's new channel Creator Support recently. This episode on if AI will destroy YouTube was a particularly interesting one.
7. How to find good business ideas: Ideas are abundant and it's easy to have a lot of them. But it's difficult to separate the good from the bad. This post from Justin Jackson explores how to find good business ideas that are worth pursuing.
I know talented makers who had to hunt for years before they found a good idea. Identifying a good business opportunity is often the culmination of:
• the experiences you've had
• the markets you've observed
• the customers you've listened to
• the experiments you've run.
8. Decoding the YouTube Shorts algorithm: This is a fascinating breakdown of how the YouTube shorts algorithm works. While shorts aren't making creators a lot of money yet they are incredibly powerful at building momentum and helping creators build audiences.
End Note
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Have a fantastic week!
- Stephen