I recently showcased my site to a couple of my entrepreneur friends. They gave me some interesting feedback. Summarized, they wanted to figure out how to collaborate but felt like my content would relate to 3% of the population in terms of ambition, and only 1% of the total population that is both in the tech field and ambitious. That's a small target audience.
Maybe that’s true. I thought about that comment, and I thought about something Mrs. Boring told me in our early courting days.
I had told her that I felt I was a role model for my peers while growing up. I grew up in a poor neighborhood where gang activity was commonplace. By the time I made it to high school, a good handful of my elementary school friends were dead, in juvie, or dropped out. The first year after high school, it felt like non-stop stream of shooting and deaths; house parties, bad deals, whatever.
From a young age, I learned how to navigate away from the trouble and carve out a safe environment. Isolate away from the bad influences and focus on the people with futures. By the time high school came around, I had a highly curated group of friends.
I wasn't an outstanding student, but I did well. I wasn't valedictorian or salutatorian, but I tutored both. I didn't stay out of all trouble, but I stayed out of most. I wasn't the most honest, but I still had a strong moral compass. In general, I had a lot going for me on many different fronts. Overall, I had it down. At a certain point, I realized that some of my friends looked up to me in a certain strange way. We all had our path to travel, but it was apparent I was going to make it out. So I learned to put up an image of myself that we could all strive to become.
Fast forward to today. I still do the same thing but for different reasons.
Almost every productive person knows some form of Begin With the End in Mind. Before starting anything, it’s best to visualize what the end goal is. Write it down. Plan it out. Create it first mentally and on paper, then create it again in real life.
Between what Mrs. Boring said and my entrepreneur friends' perspective of this site, it made me realize that I’ve applied that same concept to myself. When I think about what I’ve written on this site, the picture I paint of myself is more “perfect” than I am. Although I do get things done, I’m also lazy, lounge around, get tired, and have plenty of imperfections. I include a glimpse of that in what I write, but that’s not what I want to portray.
Since this site is mostly for myself, I want to paint a picture to myself of WHO I want to be. This person might change over time. He probably changes almost every time I write a post. But the direction of this person stays the same. To be a better person, who gives more to those around them, who remains focused and productive and executes on their goals, who lives a happy and fulfilling and productive life.
That’s not to say the portrayal I describe on this site isn’t me. It’s just the best possible version of me. It's the version of me that I aim to be, that I want to be when I'm all grown up.
It’s fresh and exciting to think about it this way. It helps to frame the personality traits I want to enhance, the bad habits I want to minimize, and perhaps will point out areas of myself that are just absent altogether.
(Written 2019.03.27)
Maybe that’s true. I thought about that comment, and I thought about something Mrs. Boring told me in our early courting days.
I had told her that I felt I was a role model for my peers while growing up. I grew up in a poor neighborhood where gang activity was commonplace. By the time I made it to high school, a good handful of my elementary school friends were dead, in juvie, or dropped out. The first year after high school, it felt like non-stop stream of shooting and deaths; house parties, bad deals, whatever.
From a young age, I learned how to navigate away from the trouble and carve out a safe environment. Isolate away from the bad influences and focus on the people with futures. By the time high school came around, I had a highly curated group of friends.
I wasn't an outstanding student, but I did well. I wasn't valedictorian or salutatorian, but I tutored both. I didn't stay out of all trouble, but I stayed out of most. I wasn't the most honest, but I still had a strong moral compass. In general, I had a lot going for me on many different fronts. Overall, I had it down. At a certain point, I realized that some of my friends looked up to me in a certain strange way. We all had our path to travel, but it was apparent I was going to make it out. So I learned to put up an image of myself that we could all strive to become.
Fast forward to today. I still do the same thing but for different reasons.
Almost every productive person knows some form of Begin With the End in Mind. Before starting anything, it’s best to visualize what the end goal is. Write it down. Plan it out. Create it first mentally and on paper, then create it again in real life.
Between what Mrs. Boring said and my entrepreneur friends' perspective of this site, it made me realize that I’ve applied that same concept to myself. When I think about what I’ve written on this site, the picture I paint of myself is more “perfect” than I am. Although I do get things done, I’m also lazy, lounge around, get tired, and have plenty of imperfections. I include a glimpse of that in what I write, but that’s not what I want to portray.
Since this site is mostly for myself, I want to paint a picture to myself of WHO I want to be. This person might change over time. He probably changes almost every time I write a post. But the direction of this person stays the same. To be a better person, who gives more to those around them, who remains focused and productive and executes on their goals, who lives a happy and fulfilling and productive life.
That’s not to say the portrayal I describe on this site isn’t me. It’s just the best possible version of me. It's the version of me that I aim to be, that I want to be when I'm all grown up.
It’s fresh and exciting to think about it this way. It helps to frame the personality traits I want to enhance, the bad habits I want to minimize, and perhaps will point out areas of myself that are just absent altogether.
(Written 2019.03.27)
