Welcome to another Nugget of Wisdom! A free post I send out once a week. These are designed to be short and sweet, a quick read to (hopefully) impart some sort of wisdom, or at the very least to get you thinking about something interesting.
This post is sponsored by Phantom
Phantom Prediction Markets are a new way to discover, discuss, and trade real-world events and cultural moments that interest you. It’s a social way to participate in what’s happening in the world, from award shows and sports to politics and music, all directly on Phantom.
Explore hundreds of curated markets and current events across sports, politics, crypto, culture, and more. All organized and searchable so you can join in on what matters most to you. Plus, watch scores and odds change with live event updates right as they happen.
Be so good they can’t ignore you
This is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever come across, from the one and only Steve Martin:
I see a lot of people focusing on the wrong things when trying to achieve their goals. The goals are usually pretty straightforward: wanting more money, more followers, more users for their product. But instead of focusing on ruthlessly improving themselves, people often get distracted and focus on trying to look and appear good, rather than being good. They spend all their energy networking and positioning and puffing out their chest trying to get noticed.
None of that actually matters if you’re not good at what you do.
I started this newsletter in 2021 with zero subscribers. I basically had no connections in crypto, certainly no audience or reputation to speak of. I was a true nobody. I had nothing going for me other than the fact that I was willing to sit down every day, learn something new, and write about it in a way that people found helpful. That was the whole strategy. Get better, and keep showing up.
Over time my audience grew. People started sharing my posts, opportunities came in, and things started compounding. The same concept applied to my growth on Twitter. I started posting daily spreadsheets, providing value on the timeline every day, and filling a void in the content world. I made myself unignorable. I see the same thing happening today with some of the biggest creators on the timeline. They figured out how to be so good, they couldn’t be ignored.
This applies to every corner of crypto (and life), and I think people underestimate how true it is.
If you’re a trader, stop worrying about what other people are doing and focus on developing a real edge. Study your past trades, build frameworks, track your results honestly, and get better at spotting trends and reading markets. The returns will follow. You can complain about scammers and extractors and insiders, or you can work on your own game, improve, and be so good they can’t ignore you.
If you’re a builder, stop chasing hype cycles and build something people need. Make it work well and improve it constantly. Then figure out how to generate attention for it. The best projects in this space grew because the founders could do both: build, and get attention. You can complain about other projects, or you can be so good they can’t ignore you.
If you’re a creator, stop obsessing over engagement metrics. Write things worth reading, make content that helps people, and do it consistently. Provide value. The audience finds quality over time, and it always does. The cream eventually rises to the top. You can complain about engagement farmers and people botting their accounts til the cows come home. Or you can improve your content, provide more value, and get noticed. You can be so good they can’t ignore you.
I think about this quote often when I sit down to write. Am I pushing myself to explain things more clearly? Am I doing the research? Am I respecting my readers’ time and attention? Some days the answer is yes and some days it’s not, but the orientation toward improvement is what matters.
Stop worrying about who’s paying attention to you. Put your head down and get better at what you do. Do it long enough and consistently enough, and they won’t be able to ignore you.
It worked for Steve Martin. It worked for me. It’ll work for you.
It’s just a damn solid way to approach life.
Thanks for reading! In case you missed it, check out Monday’s post below 👇
Get $20 in free BTC by signing up to Swyftx here. Australian & NZ residents only.
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. I’m not a financial adviser. These are only my own opinions and ideas. You should always consult with a professional/licensed financial adviser before trading or investing in any cryptocurrency related product. Some of the links shared may be referral links.
