Love

Like most bloggers I really, really hate everything about the industry I write for. Seriously, there are weeks when I just can’t stand most of the stuff I read, and can just barely stand most of the stuff I produce.

Most recently, I have started being happy again with my contributions to the web because I came to two startling realizations:

The first is that the best thing people can do for themselves and their careers is to focus all of their energies of the things that they love, and excise as much of the things that they hate from their lives as possible.

The second is that Internet people, all of us, are really ridiculous.

We talk about ourselves too much. We spend to much time fighting. We like products that don’t really do anything and we are all insufferable, myopic narcissists who are strangely content with that fact. You know what’s the kicker? That’s OK. I’m comfortable with this and if you are planning to stick around for long, you should be too.

Micro-celebrity is like being the craziest person in Arkham Asylum. Sure you’ve won some kind of prize, but — you know — it’s probably not going to get you invited to too many dinner parties.

Want some advice?

The best way to avoid writing the “I’m giving up on [insert Internet-based enterprise]” is to ignore whatever hierarchy that you might find yourself surrounded by. Do what you want, find the people who do it better than you to help make your dreams real and keep producing things that you’re proud of.

If you get trapped in the loving embrace of any culture you begin to be defined by it, and when you’re not that one writing the definition things have a way of getting hairy. Every year I leave a rose at the grave of all of my blogging and startup friends who didn’t realize this in time.

Recently I’ve cut myself off from the warm, beating heart of tech gossip. I’ve stopped reading Valleywag, I stay away from Techmeme and in general I walk a path that leads away from what most of the key influencers are chatting about (though I still keep up on the bullet points).

I’ve gained and lost a couple things in the bargain. What I’ve lost is that it’s harder to get noticed. If you are on the treadmill, crooning about the topic of the day, it’s really easy to get people to croon along with you. Bloggers spend exorbitant amounts of time and effort writing about the same topics everyday because it allows us to bask in the reflected glory shone from those topics. There are a lot of links, traffic and fame to be had down that path.

Who doesn’t want to pontificate on whether Mike Arrington is an evil genius or just a lonely, misunderstood publisher? Who doesn’t want to toss their coins into the wishing well and bet on whether the Blackberry Storm will do for Enterprise what the iPhone did for consumers? It’s just so easy, I should know, I’ve done it and had some success for it.

Why did I stop (or at least slow down)? Well, what I gained was much more important. I regained my voice.

Take this post for example. A post like this doesn’t drive a huge amount of traffic, it can’t. It’s neither topical nor overtly informative enough to do that. It’s also way too long (like most of the posts in this series). That being said, if you read it I hope you’ve learned something that is uniquely me, that you’ve gained some personal value from it that you wouldn’t have from a Top Blah list. If you’re going to survive in this game for long, sometimes knowing that you have accomplished that has got to be good enough.

So for my parting shot I ask you to figure out what type of treadmill you are on right now. Whether it’s work, blogging or something more subtle. Think about it and decide what steps you can take to either accept it or jump off. I can’t give you some big twenty step guide as to how, but I will say that it’s worth taking the time to find it.

Tune in next time for our exciting conclusion.

(Images) (Season One)

If you enjoyed that why not find a job or read our guide to working in the 21st century. You can also join our Kiva team or hire me for your project.


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