Every subscription you sign up for is competing for your attention.
Don’t believe me? Go on YouTube right now and read the first 3 video titles you see.
Now hit refresh and do it again.
And again.
See what I mean?
For online creators, your attention is currency. The more they capture, the more they make.
Everyone gets distracted.
Your phone lights up with a link to an Andrew Schulz clip. You end up down a rabbit hole when you’re supposed to be working.
It happens.
The good news is — these distractions are obvious.
Go on “Do Not Disturb” mode.
Boom. Problem solved?
Not quite.
Here’s the bad news — the obvious distractions aren’t the problem.
It’s the distractions you can’t even see that keep you from who you want to be.
Don’t kid yourself. You want to control your time. You want to make more money.
The opportunities are endless.
So, you set a goal: learn graphic design.
For two months, you spend an hour every day on a graphic design course.
Until one day, your friend tells you how much she makes as a software engineer…
You think, “I should try that!”
So you ditch graphic design, and start learning how to code instead.
The next week, another friend tells you there are too many programmers for hire…
“Shit. What do I do now?”
All along, you’ve been so excited about getting paid to be creative.
The harsh reality is: these so-called opportunities are distractions. Throwing you off course without you even realizing it.
Remember when I said the opportunities are endless? That’s not always a good thing.
Each of us has a voice in our minds. This voice speaks when it likes something, and avoids when it doesn’t.
But it’s influenced by our surroundings. Making every new opportunity look like a shiny object you should chase.
With information everywhere, we forgot how to listen to ourselves.
Here’s a simple framework for you to use.
Next time you’re about to jump into an opportunity distraction — ask yourself:
Can I spend hours sucking at this and still enjoy it?
Would I do this for free?
If you answered “no” — STOP.
Go outside. Slap yourself. Splash some water on your face.
Recognize that no one great was born great. They stuck with it and became great.
Stick with your thing. Put your own spin on it. You’ll get what’s yours.
This episode is inspired by my boy, Marcus Aurelius. Couldn’t get him on the pod, unfortunately.
Let me leave you with a quote from his private journal, Meditations:
“Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. […] People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time - even when hard at work.”
The Silent Killer: distraction disguised as opportunity