Following up on The Secret Of Content Creation, I wanted to write a quick post on how to become good at something. This is a really interesting topic, because this can oftentimes diverge into two opposite directions: deep down inside you know exactly what you want, or you have no clue. My initial perspective on this was, “I know EXACTLY what I want to do!” This was immediately followed by an identity crisis. For those who have many interests and a natural inkling to learn more, all those interests become distractions … things like learning how to use Logic (music production), Final Cut Pro (video production) or going at a completely different angle and learning how to program as a way to supplement my designer chops.
What helped me fine-tune the one thing I wanted to become good at was taking a step back and figuring out what the common drive was. Was it solving problems? No. Was it becoming a music producer, videographer or full-stack developer? Nope. But taking a step back, I was able to just broadly put everything into the “content creation” umbrella. Once I figured that part out, the rest was easy and I just doubled down on devoting more time to that skill. I did this by forcing myself to create at least one new piece of original content per week, which I’d later double, once I got into a good rhythm.
Now, the key ingredient to sticking to some sort of schedule in becoming better at X — for me, at least — is that I built something music-related, which allowed me to execute the content creation whenever/wherever I wanted to, as long as I had a fairly decent internet connection. I love music and getting lost in the digital crate digging that’s Souncloud searching, it really didn’t feel like a ton of work; it has already been a big passion of mine. So… if you’re in a position where you’re not quite sure in which direction you want to go and become great at, think of the one thing you’d want to do for free and that you’re good at and that you’d be able to do on the side. Stick to it, become good at it, then rinse and repeat. Hakuna Matata.