Only you can give meaning to your career: How to mark moments that matter by planting a flag

But here’s the thing: I create these things for me and me alone. When a bunch of people read something I wrote or show up to one of my talks, do I find it encouraging and validating? Sure. But it’s not what drives me. I started creating things to punctuate my life’s sentences long before anybody took an interest in me and I wouldn’t stop even if everyone loses interest in me.

What’s more, a lot of (ugh) content creators are the same way. In the course of my travels, I’ve gotten to meet many of my heroes, and while a few have disappointed me spectacularly (don’t meet your heroes!), I’ve found that a surprising number of them got into the thought-leading racket for the same selfish reason I did. They create stuff to scratch their own intrinsic creative itches and to give meaning to their careers. If other people’s attention factors in at all, it’s usually to justify the time they spend making stuff.

A few gems in this blog post. A few things that ring true to me:

• Planting flags in reflection is more rewarding than setting goals and projections
• Creating things that scratch my own itch is more rewarding than creating things that cater to an audience