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The Rundown 11: The World Will Reward You For Standing Out Far More Than For Fitting In
The Rundown 12: It Doesn’t Happen All At Once… Until it Does
The Rundown 13: It Doesn’t Matter the Discipline, All of Us Are Artists on Some Level
Hey Everyone,
The Rundown — Here’s what I found over the course of this week that has helped me, inspired me or gave me some creative pushes…
On disrupting an oversaturated market — “The market isn’t oversaturated… it needs more individuality. There are rooms with your name on them that you haven’t been yet.” (— Matt Gottesman) — It would be easy to look at others and think the market already has enough people doing the thing you really want to do, so why even bother? I would strongly caution against this. You see others and their perspectives, but what's missing is your unique take on it.. In Ecclesiastes 1:9, King Solomon writes, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Now, while this is referring to humanity as a whole, I'd like for you to take a moment to realize that the same can hold true for your ideas and the industries, markets, or arts that you want to play in. No one is you, so you have the ability to deliver your unique perspective and approach. I'd also go so far as to say you have a responsibility to show the world your take on that thing while simultaneously mastering the very thing you feel most called to.
On optimizing for success faster — “The most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize a thing that should not exist.” (—Elon Musk) — I was reading a tweet from Reads with Ravi on X and he mentioned this quote by Musk but also reiterated Elon 5-step process: 1) Question Every Requirement 2) Remove Any Unnecessary Steps 3) Simplify and Optimize 4) Accelerate Cycle Time 5) Automate — If you’ve been in business, art, creativity… anything that requires you to “figure it out” long enough, you’ll understand these 5 principles. Question everything because there’s more than one way to do something. Remove too many tasks, bells and whistles. It’s about simplification, not overwhelm so I always try to remove as much as I can from my process while making sure what I do has even greater output and impact. It’s good to experiment, but I recommend doing it faster so you can see what works. Once you find something that works really well, see how you can automate aspects of it, if not all, so you can free up more time to create.
On creating income from what you love instead of chasing income first — “We all kinda have this idea of life backwards where we try to build an income to produce a life that we wanna live whereas if you just do more the shit you want to do and then find a way to create an income from that you get to live your dream life straight away.” (—Tom Noske) — We have to always put in the work, but the first question you should ask yourself is this… if you were to make your dream income, HOW (and FROM WHAT) would you like to earn it? That way, you can be living and working at the same time versus arriving to your goals only to realize you have to start all over again to find your life.
On creativity vs. overthinking — “You must never think at the typewriter, you must feel. The worst thing you do when you think is lie. You can make up reasons that are not true for the things that you did. And what you’re trying to do as a creative person is find out who you really are… and try not to lie… tell the truth all the time” (—Ray Bradbury, American Author & Screenwriter) — I like Bradbury’s reminder of telling the truth. Whether you think it’s boring or not, the truth is always better for communicating your creativity to the audience. You get to be you and the world gets to benefit from it in some way. That, and you’ll never be living another life than your actual one.
On being good with being misunderstood — “Clarity isn’t about everyone understanding you. It’s about the right people understanding you deeply” — On a recent podcast, I spoke about how your clarity is more valuable than popularity… it helps you be skilled at communicating… to your audience, to your loved ones, to your customers. You’re not trying to be for everyone, but the right people (supporters of your work, customers of your brand, etc) will connect with you deeply… especially because those are the people you’re serving clearly — My latest podcast on this can be found here (APPLE, SPOTIFY)
On experimenting with your interests — “Don’t do things just because you think you’re going to get something for it. That’s not why we do things. Do what’s interesting to you. Follow what’s interesting. It might not make sense to us and that’s okay. It directs us.” (—Rick Rubin) — I think the hardest part for most people to try new things is that they automatically try to negotiate what they’ll get out of it… and I completely understand this. We’re wired to think about money, titles, outcomes, you name it… but here’s the thing… we need the ability to experiment first without expectations so we can find the most organic things we’re here to do and thrive in. When it’s only about the money, it will never be as good (or financially savvy) as the things you find naturally through experimenting with your interests and iterating them into a business. (Video below from Daniel Dalen)
On the role of the artist and being first to market — “The artists are the people who first articulate the unknown. And so the role of the artists in a healthy culture is to bring to public awareness elements of being that have not yet entered the collective consciousness.” (—Jordan Petersen) — Whether you’re an artist, a creative, an entrepreneur, a maker or a doer… you’re all the same… you’re the first person tp share a perspective to the world. This is also how business works… you bring light to something others did or didn’t know they needed and you provide the solution in the form of art (products, services, consumables).
On finding more happiness — “Happiness (if you want it): Meet basic needs, avoid cheap dopamine, leave the past alone, limit desires to ones achievable at the edge of your capability, find something beyond yourself (mission, children, God).” (—Naval Ravikant) — One of my favorite entrepreneurs and writers is Naval. If you look deeper into this quote, you’ll find the answers to all the other desires, problems, questions, etc. My interpretation… create more than you consume, don’t waste your time on short term pleasure, your present is more important of an indicator of tomorrow than yesterday is, find things that truly intrigue you, apply some of your talents to it and allow that edge to push you out of the box creatively, you need a mission so everything you do is bigger than you.
On getting ahead of 99% of people — “Work on your own thing… something that is your own native obsession and curiosity will take you much further than trying to follow anybody else's path.” (—Naval Ravikant) — Below is a great 10 min clip of Naval’s sound advice on getting ahead, which is really focusing on two key components of your life… your professional life made up of your curiosities and interests… and your personal life made up of understanding what matters most… and seeing how these two intertwine.
Playlist — Soulful & Jazzy House Mix in Brooklyn — A great playlist from Tinzo on YouTube @bookclubradio of Chill House to work to… great for creating, designing, writing, computer work.
The Market Isn’t Oversaturated… It Needs More Individuality
The world isn't waiting for another “cookie-cutter” addition, or approach, or creator for that matter…
it's waiting for your distinctive voice and perspective.
Whether you're starting a podcast, writing a newsletter, building a business, or pursuing any creative endeavor, your unique approach matters.
The market has plenty of room for authenticity and fresh viewpoints.
So rather than asking if there's space for you, ask yourself what unique value only you can bring.
And if you’re unsure of what unique value only you can bring, simply keep creating within the spaces you feel most drawn to so you can find the signals.
We usually don’t know what we want to master until we find something we know we can go all in on…
the same can be true for any area of our life.
Until next week,
– Matt
P.S. If you found value in this week's insights, consider sharing this post with someone who might need this reminder about the power of individuality. ↙️
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Love this. I really like that you say 'you have a responsibility to show the world your take on...'. I could not agree with you more. We all have so much magic that people need to know about ✨