Grab a sticky note and write “make something today"--stick it to your computer monitor.
Your goal is simply to make something--anything--every single day.
Set the bar low and make it achievable.
Creation will start to become a habit.
Becoming a creator in 2023 will change your life.
Here are 13 tips to make the switch from a consumer to a creator:
Grab a sticky note and write “make something today"--stick it to your computer monitor.
Your goal is simply to make something--anything--every single day.
Set the bar low and make it achievable.
Creation will start to become a habit.
Start documenting your daily creation.
Post it online with a few sentences about what it means to you.
Was it an idea floating around in your head for months? A mini essay you've been meaning to write? Code that you finally figured out?
Document it.
Too often I sit down at my computer and wonder what I should work on. That’s dangerous.
The Trick: Decide what you are going to do beforehand.
Write a to do list beforehand, then immediately jump into that first task.
Remove the guesswork.
Computers are for creating, not consuming.
Go to all your social sites and sign out. Set up your computer as your creation hub.
Use your phone or tablet for consumption.
One device is used for creating, the other for consuming.
If you try to create for everyone you’ll quickly run out of both ideas and motivation.
Instead figure out exactly who you are serving.
Identify your audience and niche. Develop an understanding of your "customer" and what they need.
The ideas will flow.
Take control and reserve time for creating.
Go to your calendar and set aside 30 minutes blocked for focused creation.
Then when you get the notification you already have the time set aside and it is clear what you should start on.
At ConvertKit we have a simple shorthand for informing everyone else you are entering focused work: cmd + Q.
It means "I’m quitting Slack to focus for a while."
I always underestimate the cost of maintaining conversations while creating. It’s hard and I’m bad at it.
Teaching everything you know can be intimidating, so let’s start by teaching what you just learned.
Create a new 30 minute event every Friday that says, "What did you learn this week?"
Look back at your week and share something that you learned.
I built my entire blog through one habit: writing 1,000 words a day.
That turned into writing 3 books and many blog posts.
The key: I built a streak that I didn’t want to break--650 days in a row!
Build a streak of creating every day.
If simply signing out isn’t enough, you can use software to block an entire website.
The SelfControl app for OSX will block a series of sites for a set amount of time.
Signing out is usually enough of a barrier, but this app takes it to the next level!
Don’t just create for the sake of creating.
Work towards something.
Whether it’s launching the course, reaching 500 YouTube subscribers, writing a book, or launching a new feature--have a specific goal to chip away at.
Vision keeps you on track!
It’s not a real goal without a deadline.
Set your launch date in advance. Then give $50 to a friend and have them only give it back to you if hit the goal.
Put some skin in the game. Make sure you feel the pain if you miss your goal!
Even better, make it a public challenge.
I started ConvertKit through The Web App Challenge: my public challenge to build a web app to $5,000/mo in 6 months.
My community rallied around me to help make it happen. All because I took my journey public.
Follow me @nathanbarry for more threads on writing, creators, startups, and business.
https://t.co/dfJtuqFjA9
Becoming a creator in 2023 will change your life.
— Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) December 26, 2022
Here are 13 tips to make the switch from a consumer to a creator:
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I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The famous \u201cLucy\u201d, an early ancestor of modern humans (Australopithecus) that lived 3.2 million years ago, and was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, displayed in the national museum in Addis Ababa \U0001f1ea\U0001f1f9 pic.twitter.com/N3oWqk1SW2
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 9, 2018
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
The entire discussion around Facebook’s disclosures of what happened in 2016 is very frustrating. No exec stopped any investigations, but there were a lot of heated discussions about what to publish and when.
In the spring and summer of 2016, as reported by the Times, activity we traced to GRU was reported to the FBI. This was the standard model of interaction companies used for nation-state attacks against likely US targeted.
In the Spring of 2017, after a deep dive into the Fake News phenomena, the security team wanted to publish an update that covered what we had learned. At this point, we didn’t have any advertising content or the big IRA cluster, but we did know about the GRU model.
This report when through dozens of edits as different equities were represented. I did not have any meetings with Sheryl on the paper, but I can’t speak to whether she was in the loop with my higher-ups.
In the end, the difficult question of attribution was settled by us pointing to the DNI report instead of saying Russia or GRU directly. In my pre-briefs with members of Congress, I made it clear that we believed this action was GRU.
The story doesn\u2019t say you were told not to... it says you did so without approval and they tried to obfuscate what you found. Is that true?
— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) November 15, 2018
In the spring and summer of 2016, as reported by the Times, activity we traced to GRU was reported to the FBI. This was the standard model of interaction companies used for nation-state attacks against likely US targeted.
In the Spring of 2017, after a deep dive into the Fake News phenomena, the security team wanted to publish an update that covered what we had learned. At this point, we didn’t have any advertising content or the big IRA cluster, but we did know about the GRU model.
This report when through dozens of edits as different equities were represented. I did not have any meetings with Sheryl on the paper, but I can’t speak to whether she was in the loop with my higher-ups.
In the end, the difficult question of attribution was settled by us pointing to the DNI report instead of saying Russia or GRU directly. In my pre-briefs with members of Congress, I made it clear that we believed this action was GRU.
