Bimoo

Setting objectives is so common in our culture, that we hardly even notice it. When you want to accomplish something, the first step usually involves setting a clear objective—a goal with legible, preceding steps.

But when you approach achievement in this way, something counter-intuitive happens: you make it less likely that you will accomplish your objective. The more ambitious the goal (like creating something great), the more setting an objective will hurt you.

What should you do instead? Follow what's interesting. Search for novelty. Do what feels fun. Because there's no guarantee that you'll ever reach your intended destination.

But if you keep going, you may find something you never expected.

Read the full essay here:
https://paragraph.xyz/@driftless/why-you-should-not-set-goals?referrer=tombeck.eth

/Writers

6245

Tom Beck

@tombeck.eth·

“Ohhh that’s gonna be really super good!” - my two-year-old when he saw me come home with pumpkin spice ice cream.

Creativity is a type of search.

This but it’s Don Quixote

I just sold my first story!

"Open the Door," a horror story, will be published in The Witch House, volume 4, coming late October. 🐈‍⬛ 🌙

True luxury is not knowing what time it is.

At last I have written something. All is right in the world. 😇

I took a photo of a rainbow.

Knowledge is substrate independent.

The hard part is you have to ignore the praise as well as the criticism.

6245

Tom Beck

@tombeck.eth·

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to write for two weeks. It feels like I’m coming apart at the seams. 😫

There's a form of tired where you don't even feel it in your body, you feel it as a mini existential crisis.

The creator economy puts the creator front-and-center, but in doing so it neglects other key roles in creative scenes, namely that of curation.

For vibrant creative scenes to exist, value must flow to everyone who participates.

You can mint this excerpt of my full essay on Zora.

This is how it works for writing, too.

I wrote something about quitting social media. I'm not sure how to describe this piece. It's definitely not an article about productivity. It's a story, but only kind of. It's dark, but mostly silly.

Check it out if any of that sounds interesting.
https://unnerv.ing/p/how-to-disappear-completely

One of my favorite poems: "The Field Mouse" by Gillian Clarke. The war here is the Bosnian War of 1992-1995, but it could be about any war. Unfortunately, this poem feels all too relevant this summer. 😔

"Publishing" is a word that no longer makes sense. When anyone can create and share anything, anywhere, at any time, and to anyone, what does it mean to publish?

The role of publishing must take on a new one: curation. Curation is the missing piece of the creator economy. Digital platforms have outsourced curation to algorithms, to everyone's detriment.

We need good curators, and we need platforms that reward curatorial work. Only then can we build a creator economy that isn't just predatory. That doesn't just promote the top one percent of creators.

Curation is what makes digital platforms worth spending time on.

This book is low-key a masterpiece.

My first poem on /zora. Read and mint Invocation below!

I thought this a fitting one for my first blockchain poem. An invocation is the ancient practice of calling the muses for aid in creative work.

It’s a response to writer’s block—and an understanding that creative expression involves not just “you” but other forces.

Probably the most famous example is Homer’s opening to The Odyssey:

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story”

I love this insight from @arjantupan's newsletter.

Twenty years of the social-media-powered web has trained everyone to accept creative work for free. But it was never free. The costs were hidden, and the value did not flow to the creators.

Wife upstairs watching Bridgerton.
Husband downstairs watching House of the Dragon.

/Screens