So I watched this video, How Writing Online Made me a Millionaire, because I like the YouTuber and have been looking for tips on how to grow my YouTube Presence and blog more and better. It is largely about the concepts in the book Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon. I watched Austin talk about his work as well at his South by SouthWest talk from 2014. (Also, I am not sure if this is legal or why it is still up, but you can listen to the audiobook via YouTube here.)
The insights I have received have changed the way I think about blogging, YouTubing and moving forward on Healthcare Reform and Universal Healthcare.
Here are the first two things that were revelations to me: “Scenius” and “Process.”
Scenius is the concept that puts the lie to the “Great Man” theory of history. Alex Gentry at Medium has a nice exploration of this, but I will give mine, because I recently watched the movie CBGB, because we love Alan Rickman. David Byrne is a brilliant musician, but he was living across the street from CBGB’s in its heyday, interacting with the most innovative musicians in the world on a routine basis. Is he a genius? Maybe, but he’s also a “Scenius,” the term coined by musician Brian Eno to describe this effect. Read the Medium piece for the details.
Process, as in “trust the process.” For me, anyway. I think the author means more than this, but for me it is about letting go of trying to create fully formed projects, be they YouTube videos or developing a Healthcare in America Commission, or deconstructing Healthcare.
But what it also means is trusting that putting stuff out there, like this piece here, and generating interest and collaborators, and giving props to the people who inspire us, will create a community. The community will find its members. How many times have you searched the internet for something and couldn’t find anyone asking the same question as you? More often you can find someone asking that question, and that is the beauty of the internet.
I started a journey a few years ago trying to figure out a way to change peoples’ minds about Universal healthcare and I have found that there really isn’t anybody applying cognitive science to this problem. So here I am, a couple years later, much more knowledgeable, but without a large collaborative community to help it happen.
Chapter 3 is Share Something Small Every Day. After I read it I may commit to that, but for now, I will put this out there and try to share something most days, at least and see what happens!
This is my something for today. I am cross posting on my blog and my DailyKos diary.