No one can compete with you on being you. Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.

Naval Ravikant

Much of my writing is about the struggles associated with creative pursuits like writing and solopreneurship.

The struggle isn’t the ‘creating’ part.

The struggle is the journey of self-discovery that creativity sets you on. What I consistently refer to as: the Path.

Writing is joyful when it’s an honest expression of self. No struggle there.

Building a business is not ‘work’ when you are creating something you truly care about.

This newsletter is simply an expression of my creativity as I navigate my own Path.

It’s my digital manifest. It’s my signal to other travelers that there is a kindred spirit who is also navigating the dark unknown.

When you put something out into the world for the first time, you are revealing a naked, vulnerable piece of yourself for critics to poke, prod and judge.

If you are on the Path, I urge you to not to give up.

You are building leverage. The more you create, the more compound interest you will generate over time. If you aren’t on the Path, consider it.

It’s more fulfilling, I promise.

Digital Leverage

Naval Ravikant is a mythical figure among creatives, tech entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and self-help gurus. He’s a digital sherpa.

Naval has widely popularized the notion of Digital Leverage.

Naval’s teachings largely center around the idea that every single Internet-connected human being has the ability to generate wealth through their unique expression of self.

This wealth will lead to freedom…

Freedom from having to rent out your time to gain a wage.

Freedom from having to help build someone else’s dream every day of your life.

‘Wealth’ doesn’t just mean cash in the bank or a Ferrari in the driveway. Capital accumulation is certainly at the center of Naval’s ethos. However, his ideas on wealth creation are much deeper than that.

Core to Naval’s message is evangelizing the reality that you are your own niche.

There is nobody like you, but you.

You therefore are your own competitive advantage when you decide to create, own and distribute a… thing.

Whatever that ‘thing’ is - so long as it’s done honestly & energetically - it will be a unique expression of you.

• An ecommerce store selling cat-themed coasters.

• A blog about [name fucking anything].

• A Twitter account where you post about your passion for reptiles.

• A piece of technology that helps you scratch your own itch.

It all counts. You will find an audience because you are interesting. Don’t overthink it.

But… Why?

You might be reading this and thinking, “I don’t want to create anything online, build my ‘personal brand’ or put myself out there.”

No problem.

Generating digital leverage does not come with the requirement you create an online persona and publish something.

It doesn’t mean you need to record yourself speaking and put it on Youtube.

But it does mean you need to do something.

And ‘something’ is not staying in your 9-5 hellscape, getting drunk on Friday, watching tv all day Saturday/Sunday and then hitting repeat on Monday for the rest of your life.

Digital leverage requires you to create something. So you need to start… something. Start privately. Scale publicly. Or do both publicly.

I suggest you start now. You do not want to stare death in the face and think, “I really wish I just tried [insert creative pursuit].”

I spoke last week about the energy you have inside you and how you can use that energy. Use it to create something.

Conclusion

I hope you each are able to find order in the chaos today. I hope tomorrow continues your streak of creative potential turned into beautiful magic.

If you want hear some Naval wisdom, here’s a 1 minute 55 second clip from his podcast. See you next week, my friends.