It’s been roughly two months since I started blogging and some days, I wonder: Does any of it matter?
As Solomon famously proclaimed in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.”
When I think about all the great content already out there, it does seem a bit redundant to try and create anything new. There’s already a vast galaxy of creativity on display. What’s the point of adding another lone star?
I pondered these questions recently when I did research on starting a podcast. I thought podcasting would be a great way to have deeper conversations around the ideas and phenomena I write about on this blog.
So I turned to trusty old Google and asked, “Should I start a podcast?”
One of the first articles that popped up surprised me with its contrarian title, “Please, Please, For The Love of God: Do Not Start a Podcast.” So I clicked through to read the article written by author and media guru Ryan Holiday.
Ryan, who hosts a podcast himself, rants about his experience with new podcasters who just want to get in on the hype and actually end up being quite bad at podcasting.
His grand conclusion was that the world doesn’t need to waste more time on poorly produced podcasts from newbies who have no audience and no experience.
“The world needs more listeners,” Ryan wrote. “We could probably make do with less talking.”
Well, I thought, it doesn’t look like many people listened to him as it’s been two years and podcasts have only picked up more steam.
But it did leave me questioning my motives–and sizing up my probability of success.
I started to feel a creeping sense of dismay when I noticed another article right below Ryan’s titled, “Please, Please, For The Love of God: Ignore Ryan Holiday And Just Start Your Podcast.”
“Hmm,” I thought as I opened up that second article. As the title implies, it was an open rebuttal to Ryan’s exclusive conclusion.
The author, Charlie Gilkey, refuted Ryan’s assumption that most people have bad motives for starting a podcast. He challenged Ryan’s aversion to helping out new creators by leveraging influence on their behalf.
Charlie then took it a step further by labeling Ryan’s argument elitist. He discouraged readers from merely moving on to something else when an established figure claims that the seat is “already taken” (referencing a school bus scene from Forrest Gump).
Even more striking was Charlie’s permission for new creators to experiment publicly on free platforms that democratize access to the “attention market”.
“Adults are putting the drawings, songs, poems, and stories they didn’t get to write as kids on the refrigerator of the world, the internet,” Charlie wrote, pointing out that we’re all figuring it out as we go.
Instead of shutting down newcomers, Charlie invited readers to “add to the creative chorus, even if they start out off key…”
Wow. These were two remarkably different answers to my simple question.
One writer acted as a gatekeeper who shunned the entry of unproven neophytes while the other extended a big welcome to newcomers.
The reality is, we all have to start somewhere. That’s what I found when starting this blog. I wasn’t a perfect writer or thinker. But frankly, who is?
Michael Gerber, an author and business strategist who spoke at a conference I attended a few weeks ago, says the secret to creation is “raising questions that nobody ever asked before.”
He said, “The raw heart and energy underlying entrepreneurship is the creator soul–to create something bigger than what we know how to produce.”
So knowing how to do something fully well isn’t a prerequisite to creating, after all.Knowing how to do something fully well isn’t a prerequisite to creating, after all. Click To Tweet
Rather, it’s the willingness to traverse into uncharted territory and get lost in the unknown. It’s the courage to ask questions that are new and different from the ones asked before us.
Michael described creating in the most exquisite way. According to him, we have a deep-seated impulse to create because we’re made in God’s image. We’re creators because God is a creator. And our great ambition is to create a world fit for God.
But we start out completely clueless–all of us–embarking and discovering and refining as we go.
It’s a mysterious process of stringing together disparate ideas into something new and extraordinary that didn’t exist before–or as the dictionary defines it, to “cause [something] to come into being.”
Ever since I was young, I’ve had a penchant for creating. From writing to cooking, sewing to decorating, I find that I’m happiest when I’m engrossed in the transcendent act of creation.
In those moments, all that matters is the craft before me–the small edits, grand additions, short pauses of thought and long musings of discernment.
In the throes of creation, money is no longer a motivator. It becomes secondary to the art. That’s what separates creators from producers, artists from what Ryan calls copycats and trend followers. Creating for the sake of creating, not just to make money.
In the end, if I’m sincere about creating then yes, I should start a podcast. Expertise isn’t essential. Only earnestness.
It doesn’t matter if people discredit your work, if the proverbial seat is already taken, or if you’re struggling just to even get on the bus. In the present age of democratized publishing, the bus is big enough for everyone. Click To TweetIt doesn’t matter if people discredit your work. It doesn’t matter if the proverbial seat is already taken. Or if you’re struggling just to even get on the bus.
The truth is, in the present age of democratized publishing, the bus is big enough for everyone. And because we’re created in the image of God, we’re all creators in our own right. We each have a place in the creative chorus.
So don’t mind the gatekeepers. They’re outmoded.
Some day, when you’ve made it–when you’ve found your seat on the bus and your art has a permanent place on the fridge–don’t forget those who showed you the way and let you in when others would rather keep you out.
Instead of a gatekeeper, be a door opener.
