Dreams Start With Patience #28

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Navigating The Digital Landscape

This edition is about the intricate nature of social media and the digital realm.

The many problems and benefits you get from learning how to navigate it.

This piece is for creatives who want to build a brand to leverage.

By the time you’re done reading you will know exactly how to build your personal brand in a digital world.

I have worked with dozens of creatives to expand their thinking about creativity and productivity.
I teach people about the power of personal branding.

The First Principle:

When you’re creative you MUST understand this before you create a personal brand.

You cannot have your ego or sense of value/worth attached to your social media platform.

There will be days where you do not get any engagement or praise on artistic pieces you put out there into the void.

This is okay, art is not meant to be consumed like “content”.

This principle cannot be taught - only learned through experience.
So, go ahead and post into the void.

Why The Digital Age Is Unhealthy For Creatives

Your ability to maintain focus on social media comes from discernment.

Judgement of what you consume will directly influence the art you create.

This is a double-edged sword.

What you consume on a daily-basis will create deposits of influence in your mind.

Consume high quality art that serves your goal/purpose = a way to create high quality art that moves levers in your projects/vision.

The Digital Age Is Unhealthy Because…

This is unhealthy because you get sucked into it.

Social media addiction is mindless 90% of the time.

You waste countless hours.

If you commit 20 minutes a day to doing something, by the end of your life you will have totaled up a year doing said action.

How many hours a day do you spend on your phone?

My favorite piece of advice I see on social media is:

“Do more of the things that make you forget to check your phone.”

As a creative - this looks like interaction with the world around us.

Other artists, different art, more time spent on the craft and the ideation.

To navigate the digital landscape, you need a filter.

The filter you create needs to be in alignment with your purpose.

You follow your curiosity - social media creates an endless curiosity loop which is unhealthy.

You are looking for the next surge of pleasure from cheap entertainment.

How and what are you going to filter?

You Can Choose To Grow Or To Stagnate:

If you need a reason to build a personal brand - consider this.

Most employers and hiring departments will find a way to discover what your digital footprint is.

Many people don’t even realize the true extent of their digital footprint.

Hell, I even know people who have been fired or lost a job opportunity because of what other humans found online about them.

The digital world can either improve or destroy your physical world.

Why don’t you start showing up online as the person YOU WANT TO BE.

You’re not just showing up as the you in the present.

If you want to be a professional body-builder, why not say that you’re training to be Mr. Olympia one day.

People are naturally attracted to those who have a goal or dream much bigger than themselves and the world around them.

You are aligning your IRL self with your potential self through the digital landscape in front of you.

Why a Personal Brand is a Vehicle for Creative Expression

Social media is about one thing:

Being social.

If you are stuck in a crossroads with what to do with your life as a young adult you have two options to meet new people.

1) Go to college, spend a ton of money, get a degree and meet other people on this traditional path.

or

2) Start a personal brand based around your interests and curiosities.

I would suggest the second option.

The internet opens up your opportunities.

You are no longer restricted to only meeting people in your region where you live.

4 Things Everyone On Social Media Can Do:

1. Entertain
2. Educate
3. Inspire
4. Journal

You are capable of doing all of these. Most people naturally do 1 or 2 of them.

Dale Carnegie (Author of How To Win Friends and Influence People) says in his research on relationships:

“Be interested, not interesting.”

Social media is great if you take it seriously because you can do both.

If someone likes or resonates with the ideas you produce through your individual ability to:

ENTERTAIN, EDUCATE, or INSPIRE - they will most likely follow your or engage with you.

As A Creative - Social Media Needs To Be Your Servant Not Your Master

If you are a slave to the algorithm and when it negatively affects your craft-

It’s time to reset, create for the sole purpose of creation and not to post and keep up with the constant pressure to produce and share.

You are a human being first - but if you can use social media as a tool to inspire, educate or entertain others.

You will find success as an artist. If you have 1 fan you can have thousands.

Two things are for certain when navigating the digital world:

1. You will get hate, judged, and mocked.

2. You will meet like-minded people who will become friends for life.

Stay creative, keep your head down, and play the infinite game of intrinsic growth.

Thanks for reading!
Another way I can help you when you are ready.
Learn how to optimize creativity and productivity directly from me

Your creative buddy who is fed up of platitudes.
-Zachariah