Hey, I'm Typing Here!
In typical hold-my-beer rationale, I'm starting a daily blog based on the advice of some guy on the internet.
My name is Brendan, I am currently unemployed, and I am obsessed with two things right now: finding a job and YouTube. Seriously, I consume a lot of YouTube. I don't use other social media platforms because I find them incredibly distracting (see: doom-scrolling on toilets; see also: irony). But with YouTube, I can trick myself into thinking I'm learning. I mostly watch videos about the stock market, music production in Ableton, or startup stories. And it's not always a trick - sometimes I do actually learn something. Which brings us to...
Tim.
Yesterday, I watched a YouTube video about a guy making money online with his directory businesses. Like... a lot of money. His name is Tim Stoddart and he is quickly joining my list of favorite Tims (Ferris, Heidecker, Robinson). While online directories sound pretty boring - and they are, as Tim says himself - it's actually a lucrative market and worth checking out if you have the grit. I'll drop the link to his video here, if you're into that sort of thing.
Timing often dictates the impact a message can have, and the little nugget of gold I received from Tim's video is a perfect example of this. I had heard this quote before but it didn't hit me quite the way it did yesterday. He mentions a quote from Seth Godin, author and speaker, about why one should write a blog everyday. It's a great quote and the practice of daily blogging has clearly paid dividends for Tim. But it sent me on a little internet deep dive into Seth and his remarks on blogging, and I discovered a better, more inspiring quote:
"Everyone should blog, even if it's not under their own name, every single day. If you are in public, making predictions and noticing things, your life gets better, because you will find a discipline that can't help but benefit you.
-Seth Godin, The Tim Ferris Show
This is what made me pull the trigger. I want to build something for myself that exists in the world. I want to make predictions and notice things. I want the discipline of writing everyday and flexing creative muscles. Because I find that when I sit down, release my perfectionism, and just do the damn thing - I actually enjoy writing. And I know I'll get better at it.
With AI and generative text, anyone can be a writer or an author (hell, I hear they're even doing robot podcasts now!). Ideas are automatic. I can ask ChatGPT to pump out 100 unique movie script ideas, and some of them might actually be pretty good. But people are manual. They take time to create. I believe that more and more value will be placed on individuals who put voice to their opinions. Who choose a side and politely defend it. Who see the world differently and seek to share it with others.
To rip off the great Anton Ego from Ratatouille, I guess what I'm craving is my own little Perspective.
So, yeah, hold my beer. I'm a blogger now, bitch.
(p.s I know this is the classic "first blog about blogging," but I plan to write about other stuff, too. I will probably cover music, movies, technology, clothing, coding, the stock market, Los Angeles, my dog Daisy and more. Welcome to The Varied. Stay tuned!)