gm creators!
Happy Friday everyone 😎 If you're looking for a fun video to get you hyped, click here (h/t @dwr).
I hope all of you have something exciting planned this July 4th weekend 🇺🇸
TODAY IS THE DAY - this is post 3️⃣0️⃣ of my 30 day writing challenge!! For the entire month of June, I've been able to get ~1500 words in daily 💪
I'm pumped to write this last post and give my fingers a break for a few days.
If you're new to The Bigger Picture, welcome! Subscribe below so you don't miss any future TBP posts 🥂
Today's Takeaway💡
TBP superlatives - I callout 5 of my posts I enjoyed the most
Don't think, just write - reflections on how this writing challenge was game changer for me
History, technology, & storytelling - my takeaways from writing daily this past month (make sure to read this section, I have 10 invites for....)
What's next?
TBP Superlatives 🏆
Let's have fun with this challenge. In case you haven't been following along, here are some posts that might be good starting points! Drumroll please 🥁
Most likely to be given an A by my high school english teacher....
"Picture yourself paying $20 million for an API"
Most likely to get someone to go all in on crypto...
"Picture the winter snow melting in the metaverse"
Most likely to be found in a life advice blog...
"Picture yourself thinking less, doing more, & staying authentic"
Most likely to be read by a Twitch streamer...
"Picture a brown box transforming the entertainment industry"
Most likely to turn that frown upside down...
"Picture yourself at the world of tomorrow"
You can check out the rest of the posts at tbp.tech!
Don't overthink, just write ✍️
Since I started my creator journey at the beginning of the year, I have been experimenting non-stop with all kinds of content. I started with web3 product overviews (remember web3 world?). I bought a mic and recorded a few podcast episodes. I tried archiving timeless web3 tweets. And I even tried writing about generative art.
None of those sprints ended up sticking long term. And that's totally okay, it's part of the creator journey! How many developers do you know got their app right on the first try? However, I definitely learned a bit about what I liked to do from each of the projects. It was frustrating for sure though. I felt like I was pouring hours into my work and wasn't getting any recognition. And soon enough, I realized that's exactly what the problem was...I was focused on getting likes and retweets, not actually researching and developing ideas of my own.
Eventually, that led me to starting this writing challenge at the beginning of June. The main reason was that I wanted to "pay the price of entry" to earn the right to even be considered a creator. And the reality is that anyone who is publishing their work needs to be comfortable that there is a chance zero eyeballs will see it. The idea of no credit can seem demoralizing but now I'm starting to realize it's actually a blessing in disguise. It's in these early days that creators can iterate, test dumb things out, be wrong, sound stupid, etc. Once you get a ton of subscribers, you're naturally under a lot more pressure and things can get messy quickly.
Mr. Beast suggests the same idea to early Youtubers...at the beginning, the only goal should be to make 100 videos and get better each time. Expect 0 views.
The point is, if you're like me and are just starting the creator journey, just do it. Don't over optimize engagement, branding, etc. If you're painting, then paint daily. If you're getting into photography, take a picture daily.
Don't overthink, just create.
I mentioned this in yesterday's post, but any creator just getting started should be feeling the mental soreness and embrace it:
If you've done strength training, you'll know that the first few weeks probably hurt the most. Your body is just not used to lifting weights and experiencing progressive overload. The soreness is almost unbearable, and it hurts to walk after the first leg day. But over time, you start getting used to the pain and it doesn't affect you too much. Heck, at times you might even crave the soreness and the intensity of an 11/10 workout. But to get to that point, you need to be disciplined and keep on showing up even long after the newbie gains are over. If you quit when you're sore, you'll never see actual progress.
I'll be reminding myself weekly going forward: consistency trumps everything.
History, Technology, & Storytelling
Okay with that being said, what did I personally learn from this 30 day challenge?
History & storytelling is my forte
Find the scenius & ignore the noise
Look away & timebox yourself
Let's briefly dive into each of these.
History & Storytelling
As I reflected on my writing, I noticed a pattern: I really enjoyed going all the way back to the beginning of any story. The history.
For example, in my Reddit API post, I ended up including a section about the origins of APIs. When I started my gaming post, the goal was to discuss key metrics but it ended up being a deep dive of the origins of gaming. I even discussed the OG mafia before PayPal....Bell Labs and the Traitorous Eight. And when Sequoia announced they were splitting up into three firms, I found myself back in the '70s discussing Don Valentine's investment in Atari.
It's not surprising to me now that I tried doing the web3 timeless tweet archive in May.
The first tweet from @cryptopunksnfts was on August 7th, 2009.
Here are the most iconic ones:
511
When I read something or have a half baked thesis floating around in my head, my natural instinct is to just go back in time to when the "first thing" happened. It literally bothers me when I don't know the full story. How did x happen? Oh, what led to x? And before that?
I'm going to lean on history and great storytelling for my future posts. I really enjoy it. And I believe I can construct the story effectively.
For example, in my drafts, I am cooking up ideas on how I want to structure a post on crypto wallets. I'm starting off the story with the history of passwords. Who the heck even created the idea of "logging in"? Then I'm discussing how Google/FB implemented the "sign in with". And then moving onto how the whole idea of how logins are ineffective and we should have ownership of our authentication through crypto wallets. Which will naturally lead me to discuss the current wallet landscape and what the future looks like.
How do we tie in the past, present, & future to understand the bigger picture?
Find the scenius & ignore the noise
If there's one thing I would have changed about my last 6 months is the amount of time I spent on Twitter. Like a moron, I kept on scrolling hours on end thinking I was tying to find "inspiration" and see what was going on in the ecosystem. All that led to was an increase in anxiety, doubts regarding crypto, and a whole lot of noise that was like bad carbs for my brain.
When I started the challenge in June, one of the things I told myself I had to stick to was getting off Twitter! Instead, I shifted over my focus to Farcaster (web3 twitter). That was the best decision I could have made. There are productive conversations happening. People are optimistic. And most importantly, fellow casters are supporting and encouraging.
Farcaster is a scenius. Put yourself in a community that chooses the positive sum game.
By being on Farcaster, I saw so many founders working on cool projects, saw the community experimenting with different ideas, etc. For example, the morning of game 5 of the NBA finals, the Farcaster team launched an NFT and created a channel on the platform for anyone to discuss the game real time. It was such a blast and only a few weeks later the experiment was already implemented in the UI.
If you are not on farcaster but are active in web3, reply to this e-mail with your favorite post of mine so far and I'll give you an invite.
I have 10 Farcaster invites available to give out!
Look away & timebox yourself
When I started this challenge, I told myself that I wouldn't pigeonhole my research to any one topic (i.e. VC, web3, etc). I was free to write about anything that came to my head but the only thing that mattered was if I put genuine effort into the post or not.
I spent time writing about gaming, tech & policy, space, venture capital, my favorite creators, etc. And what's funny is that by looking away and spending time on non-crypto related things, I found myself thinking about how web3 could solve this [x problem].
It was easier to recognize the values of crypto by looking outside of the ecosystem.
Early on, I was also worried about how I would be getting my posts in daily if all my topics were scattered. There was no focus and no set schedule. But the reality is that some of my best writing came out when I was under time pressure and started my posts at 10 pm. It goes back to the classic adage "diamonds are made under pressure". As long as you stick to your goal of hitting the publish button, the post will happen. I'll be honest, by the end of the month, I found myself waiting till sunset to start anyways 😂
What's next?
Only for this next week, I'lll be only publishing and e-mailing one post. I mentioned this few days ago, but I want to run a quick experiment and commemorate this 30 day challenge onchain.
I'll have more details regarding the mint and how to participate next week. If you've never minted an NFT before or are wary of why it's beneficial, don't worry I'll provide some context and rationale as well!
I'm also going to be using the following two weeks to start thinking about the next topics I want to write and get some drafts in. I plan to stick to two e-mails a week. This will give me 2-3 days to effectively research and develop well structured posts. So far, I've been getting great feedback on the twice a week cadence and formats of the post. If you have any complaints or feedback, I'm all ears and would love any input!
That's all for today's post :)
Cheers to a great month 🥂 Let's all take a few days away from our laptops and enjoy the long weekend!
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