CREATION VS CONSUMPTION
Which side of the table should you be on?
As the internet gets bigger, as bandwidth grows, as more and more people jump online, we can see the rate of consumption skyrocketing. Every day we consume a whole bunch of things - this is the new world order. From Netflix and other streaming video sites, YouTube clips, blogs and articles, digital books, podcasts and music, much of our personal time is spent in a state of consumption. At work, we’re consuming the mountain of emails and instant messages that filter through, the links and stories shared among peers and networks and the digital learning we’re either compelled to take up or choose to, out of curiosity. Yet, my question to you is – how much are you creating? What new ideas are you bringing to the discussion? What principles are you weighing in on?
What products are you developing?
What problems are you working on resolving?
As Ryan J Pelton, author of seventeen books said so well, “Consumption is an easy play. Doesn’t ask much from us. A simple tactic to avoid the pain of our own hearts and the realities of a sinking world. But creating and making stuff for others is vital for our survival”.
My big ask of you is – go out and make something. Make something useful, worthy of your time and energy and worthy of the time and attention of others. Seek not to please everyone but seek to do something of value. Shake things up, present a different viewpoint, push an agenda, lay out your reasons, bring forth your conviction.
In other words, make a difference and create positive impact.
Why you? Why not you?
Are others who are creating doing something better, something more?
Not necessarily all of them. There is unique value in the sum of your experiences, context and perspective. Even if it has been said, you can say it differently and you can say it to different people.
What shall you create? You can start here, you can start there. It does not matter where as much as it matters that you start. You start with what you have and what you know. You start with your journey and your unique experience. While there may be others on similar journeys, we are all at different stages of different journeys. This means that each person brings something unique and truly different not just because of the situations they experience but how they have made sense of it.
Do it today because you do not need to wait till you have garnered what you perceive to be a ton of experience under your belt. Remember that you have enough where you are because you don’t speak to everyone out there. You will appeal to and be relevant to certain people and that is enough.
You’ll want to create content that can be captured digitally. Even if the original piece is meant for a live audience, it will be a good idea to have it captured. Doing so allows you to extend its reach, create more longevity and importantly, be disseminated and repackaged across different mediums and platforms.
Can you be both consumer and creator?
Yes, of course you can but lean towards creation. Lean towards doing rather than watching. Lean towards creating rather than absorbing. Lean towards active rather than passive. It’s where the action is. It’s where both failure and success reside and that’s a scary yet beautiful thing.