If you’ve been on Instagram for a few years, your followers are probably made up of people you know. Friends, family, acquaintances. This creates a strange scenario if you’re thinking about posting consistent content to grow your audience.

I posted more than 100 short-form videos last year. And I’ll post 365 more videos this year. How am I so confident, even though my motivation is dwindling? It’s because I don’t rely on motivation. I rely on a system.

On November 28th, 2023, I had 2400 followers on Instagram. By December 23rd, I had 10,000. By January 12th—20,000. February 5th—30,000. Next week, I’ll likely hit 40,000.

Guess what? I’m bored of it already.

I don’t brush my teeth every day, but once a year I spend all day brushing them to remove all the plaque at once. Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? Yet we apply this strategy to many areas of our lives.

I often encounter photographers, graphic designers, and writers who refuse to post short-form video content. They miss the old days of Instagram, when images were king, and their content performed without them having to try very hard.

Photographers and videographers (and all sorts of creative freelancers) spend tons of time tinkering with their portfolios, hoping that big brands will notice. What they don’t realize is that big brands are searching for something beyond just good work.

One of my videos is earning tens of thousands of views on Instagram. And counting. Amidst the scramble to respond to comments and messages, I’ve pulled a few lessons from this experience that I’d like to share.

Baseball has a truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is four. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score 1,000 runs.

We all got into this game because the feeling of turning ideas into reality is unmatched. Like a drug, it’s euphoric. And like a drug, it’s addictive and debilitating.

If you feel like people won’t respond to your work because you’ve already published something similar, that’s just resistance talking. They barely, barely remember what you published last week…

The best part of a movie is the monologue. The main character finally decides to speak up, inspire their companions, and face up to the challenge. These scenes give us chills, and live long lives in our minds after the credits roll.

I barely believed it when I read it, but Barnes and Noble grew by 4% last year. They’re in pursuit of opening 30 new stores this year. Even in the shadow of Amazon, which offers every book cheaper and faster, Barnes and Noble is expanding.

I just received a proof copy for my first book. Still a way to go from here but it’s exciting to hold something in my hand. As I do, I can’t help but think one thing…I hope this book sucks.

On Instagram, you could get by with pretty visuals, even if they were devoid of opinion. This isn’t the case on Threads.

“Something that I learned very early on is the importance of separating person versus persona. When people who don't know me are criticizing me, they're criticizing my persona, not my person.”
–Olivia Rodrigo

We convince ourselves not to share our work out of fake humility. We tell ourselves that not posting really is a generous act because we aren’t bothering anyone. Our meekness is a moralistic leg up in our minds—at least I’m not clawing for attention like that guy!

I became aware of the idea of the $100,000 salary in 2005, and have held that number in my mind since then as a benchmark. Here’s the crazy thing. 2005’s $100,000 only has the equivalent buying power of $66,000 in 2023’s money.

Wiffle Ball is largely seen as a backyard replica of baseball that won’t break your window. Not anything serious. So how did Kyle Schultz turn a kids’ game into MLW Wiffle Ball: a verified YouTube channel, boasting 45 million views, multiple income streams, dozens of players, interstate travel, and an avid fan base?

When did you realize you won’t be a world-renowned prodigy? Maybe you realized it when you turned 20 or 30 or 40. Maybe it became clear when you stopped understanding TikTok lingo. Maybe it sank in when someone much younger than you was in charge.

Have you ever practiced a free throw? Or a six-foot putt? There are the things in sport that look so easy, but when you stand under the hoop or over the ball, a universe of possibility opens up. And most of those possibilities result in misses.