I wasted my life like a fool before I made this key realisation: you have to produce more than you consume.
Yeah, it sounds straightforward, I know. And it is. But really, I had no idea for many, many years.
(One of the great regrets of my life is that the internet wasn’t around when I was in my teens and twenties. You guys have access to so many great resources that will tell you what’s up these days. But I digress!)
You have to produce more than you consume. We live in a culture that pushes us to consume the whole damn time. Movies, music, books, blogs, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, games—you name it. We’re asked to gorge on this stuff constantly.
If we gorged on everything we were asked too we could sit on the couch for twenty-four hours a day and do nothing else.
Some people do.
But remember: when you’re consuming ‘content’ that someone else made you are making them richer and you poorer.
Everything that you read or watch or listen to has been created by someone with the end goal of making money.
Yes, I’m sure in many cases there was artistry involved as well, but you get my point? The people who have used their artistry to create those works are also making money from them.
The more time you spend engaged in someone else’s vision, the less time you are working on your own.
Even reading this blog post, you are spending a couple of minutes that could be spent writing your own blog post, with affiliate links or a call to action to buy your own book. And that could make you money that will ultimately set you free from your full-time job.
Even though I knew I was a talented writer, I did nothing about it for years. Instead I read other peoples’ books, and I listened to other peoples’ music, and I never produced a damn thing for myself.
I kidded myself that I was artistically fulfilled simply by appreciating the work of others. That my interpretation of their work served as artistic creation in its own right. Or something like that.
It was only when I quit drinking and got serious about life, and listened to a ton of podcasts and studied creativity and business, that I realised that the only way to operate is to create more than you consume.
That is not to say that I don’t appreciate other peoples’ work. Are you kidding? Of course I do. I listen to great podcasts. I spent all weekend playing the fabulous new Arctic Monkey’s album. I’m reading the splendid prose of Ernst Graf.
It’s simply that I make a decision each day to create more of my own work than engage with other peoples’.
It is through that simple mindset shift that I’ve built up my writing and publishing business to the point where I was able to give up my corporate job and go full-time as a writer at the end of last year.
I’m not making a fortune yet, but I’m making enough to live up and the profits just keep going up.
I don’t necessarily subscribe to The Secret in its entirety. But there is definitely truth in the idea that if you stick to your vision, produce high-quality creative work that is in line with that vision, and persistently put it out there, then you will build an audience and you will be able to monetize your work.
But it’s not all about money. By far the most important thing is that if you do this you will achieve freedom and you will build your own body of work.
You will not simply gaze in awe at the achievements of someone else.
Rather, you will be forging your own path, climbing your own mountain. And you will be happier for it.
If I can do it anyone can. There is no more time to waste.
Start producing more than you consume today.
By the way, if you want to learn more about how to live the life you want, not the life you think you should, then sign up to receive an exclusive article from me every day by email now – simply click here.
