We've been fed a lie. The "experts" tell us our content has to resonate, that we need to tap into “cognitive psychology” and craft narratives that stick.
But is this really the key to standing out in a world of infinite distractions?
I'm not buying it.
Sure, our brains may crave patterns and stories, but pandering to these desires is a recipe for mediocrity. When everyone is trying to "resonate," all we get is a cacophony of sameness. Everyone running at the same ideas. Everyone thinking the same way. Everyone trying so desperately to be relatable that nobody has the courage to be unusual.
The real secret to creating content that matters? Dare to be different. Dare to challenge the status quo. Dare to say the things others are afraid to say.
Don't tell a story; question the nature of storytelling. Don't simply aim to make people feel; provoke them to think in ways they never have before. Simplicity may be attractive, but complexity is where the real insights will always be found.
Memorable content isn't pretty visuals or clever wordplay. That’s the generic shit we’re fed on LinkedIn, and a steady diet of it has made a generation of founders and startup employees close to mentally numb.
Memorable content can only be built on a foundation of ideas that challenge, that unsettle, that force people out of their comfort zones. Being willing to stand alone, to risk being misunderstood, to invite controversy and debate.
The psychology of resonance is a trap. It's a pop-psychology airport book luring us towards the safe, the familiar, the easily digestible. But real breakthroughs, true innovation, meaningful art - these things come from swimming against the current, not with it.
Fuck crafting content that resonates. Focus instead on creating work that challenges, that provokes, that dares to be different. Be willing to polarize, to alienate, to risk being hated by some in order to be truly loved by others.
The world doesn't need more content designed to resonate. It needs more voices willing to challenge the very notion of resonance. It needs more rebels, more troublemakers, more heretics.
Which will you be? Another voice in the echo chamber of resonance? Or a bold thinker who dares to shatter the mold and forge a new path?
The choice is yours. But remember: fortune has an odd habit of favouring the brave.
