If Vincent van Gogh were alive today, would he be posting reels or TikTok clips?
And if he were, would he have become the Vincent van Gogh we all know - one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art?
I don't think he would. If he were after social media fame, he'd probably be just another influencer trying to capture the attention of the masses.
Since he’d be worrying about creating his next (supposedly) viral clip, he wouldn't have had time to create his iconic oil paintings.
We want to do great work, but we end up wasting our time engaging in shallow activities.
Sharing your bold opinion about a recent political development might put you in the spotlight for a few hours, but that will be all. Within just a day, everyone will have moved on to the next trendy wave.
In my view, rather than trying to post the same crappy publication on every existing channel online because you think that by doing so, you will attract a bigger crowd. Focus on creating something so impactful, so ambitious, that it naturally draws people in through word of mouth.
Imagine it like this...
There aren't many advertisements for the cathedral in Barcelona. Yet, chances are you've heard about the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, or simply known as Sagrada Família. And not only have you heard about it, but you also desperately want to hop on a plane and see the massive structure with your own eyes. And if you do, you'll see how many people are standing in line just to take a proper picture.
Buildings like the Sagrada Família are celebrated simply because they were massive projects that took years to complete. If the main architect, Antoni Gaudí, had spent his days sharing design tips on Instagram, he probably wouldn't have had the time to develop the monumental construction in his head.
Perhaps it's a good idea to consider what you can build in your lifetime - not just what you can post tomorrow on your social media page.
Because in a couple of years, a single post published on a platform that might not even exist won't matter. But a published book or a work of art can outlive you.
Worth reflecting on:
What lifelong project is worth committing to?
Commitment to a grand project is your competitive advantage in a world full of distractions.
When you are committed, you don't mind not watching the latest show or not buying what's currently hip. You happily skip the trendy to concentrate on the meaningful.
When you are focused on a big project, you don't feel the need to get micro doses of meaningless gratification. Instead, you find joy in the work itself, knowing you’re building something that matters.
Do you have a vision for the work you want to leave behind?
Worth reading:
From my desk:
-
Against Normalcy: Why Being Normal Can Be Dangerous: "I was considered normal for a large part of my life. I fitted in. I mimicked the behaviors of the people in my group. I had plenty of friends to mimic, and invitations to go out never stopped. All seemed good. But gradually I drifted to a hypothetical lonely island others found terrifying to visit."
From around the web:
- What to do with your life: "Without self-reflection, we ride the momentum of whatever we're already doing and whatever we stumble across. That's dangerous, because it stops us from self-reflecting on how we've changed and whether we should be doing something new."
Worth thinking about:
"Man does not suffer so much from poverty today as he suffers from the fact that he has become a cog in a large machine, an automaton, that his life has become empty and lost its meaning."
― Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom
Thanks for reading!
