I considered purchasing an online course from an influencer. Wouldn't normally do that kind of thing; blame it on FOMO, a moment of weakness, or perhaps an inner need to "do something!"
Truthfully, I thought, "If I purchase this course, then it may be a path to accessing the influencer."
However, if you've ever engaged in these courses, especially after their point of maturity, then you'll know access is only available in the upsell. There will be upsells. Many of them. And they will be expensive. At that point, you're not gaining access as equals. Any access is granted as the fish at the table. You've taken the bait, swallowed several hooks, and keep coming back for the fulfillment of aspirations?
Courses are not the path to success. Not the courses of this variety. Yes, there may be some value. Sure, you may learn something, but knowledge alone is fairly trivial.
Action is golden.
A much better approach is to take the time to observe what successful people do, and have done, and then imitate their actions.
In childrearing, it's helpful to remember that children are not "taught," they are "caught." In other words, children rarely do as they are told. They do as they observe.
We all learn imitation as early as possible as a survival mechanism. Imitation never goes away, it just buries itself into the subconscious. If it weren't true then trends wouldn't exist.
Learning to reverse engineer success in others may be the greatest tool to leverage success in yourself.
More Doing, Less Consuming
I have been in action. I've published 10 videos since August 23 on YouTube, and have engaged the void of social media on a more consistent basis.
This is not to brag, at all. This is to say, that publishing is painful. Engaging with the void is painful. I completely understand why I've avoided it.
As an instructor, in a classroom or in a live workshop, there is a feedback mechanism. Students may ask questions when confused, raise a challenge if caught in an inconsistency, or make an interesting comment that sparks a longer conversation.
The back and forth of the classroom feels good. It's invigorating.
Social media is so vast, there are so many voices, and so much noise, such that most people can only focus on a handful of personalities or a small amount of content for a limited amount of time.
So for most publishers, the feedback mechanism feels nonexistent.
It can take years to grind through social media with the only feedback being that of none at all.
Thus, one is required to mount up their resilience, develop strategies, maintain discipline in methodical execution, and with variations in experimentation plus a bit of luck, strike a winning combination that leads to results.
If you have a dream, stay in its pursuit. We do the hard things because it's worth it.
Questions For the End of the Day
I've been sending these Bug Reports out as part of my Newsletter, but perhaps you're already growing tired of seeing my name in your inbox?
Maybe you enjoy the quick reads and find some value in these inner monologues?
I'm not in your head, so I don't know. But if you'd only like to see the long-form, highly edited weekly content, let me know, and I'll publish these bug reports quietly. In other words, they don't have to zip to your inbox. They can just live on Hashnode and wait for the audience.
Keep pressing forward, friends.
BTW, I've created a Discord. If you'd like to join and say hello. It'd be a great place to drop in and say, "JP! Stop clogging up my email! I have real junk mail to ignore." Or maybe you want to share a project you're building or a real course you're working through to level up your skillset. The community and I would love to hear about it. https://discord.gg/Sq2VZSjE