Dan Goldfield

Oh look: a thought.
Oh look: a bird.
Off they go.

Oh look: sciatica.
Oh look: myself.
Off they go.

If you want to drive the car you want AND smile on your deathbed, the first thing to do is identify your buggy mental/emotional processes: https://quiz.dango... How to drive the car you want AND smile on your deathbed

youtu.be/j_y_jDl8acs...

But among my motivations—which all were selfish—was one motivation that was the seed of selflessness: the motivation to be free of my buggy mental/emotional processes.

Here's how I nourished that seed, and how you can too...

The teacher laughed, "he did it because he saw it was a good thing to do!"

I didn't understand.

Back then, I operated entirely on negative motivations.

How to drive the car you want AND smile on your deathbed:

One year into my study with my first teacher—a Theravada Buddhist monk—I asked: "if the Buddha was perfectly satisfied, why did he walk all over India giving thousands of teachings?"

The child falls and scrapes his knee.
He cries and then forgets.
The adult falls and scrapes his ego.
He carries shame for decades.

Yes, social media--at one time--put network effects on steroids.

This is no more--especially not for those of us who are sharing a positive, non-sensationalist message.

But the swing back to genuine connection has already begun--and we're ahead of it 💙

We learn this about each other and, when we come across people who need that x, that y, that z, we connect them with the creator they need--not on social platforms but on Telegram or Whatsapp.

We make *generous personal referrals*.

We connect in small, focused groups, get to really know one another, and do what we've always done as human beings: we *network*--in the best possible sense of the word.

@slayerofsin does x for people; @theOptimalHenry does y for people;
@AlleNingTsui does z for people.

I held off as long as I could on giving too much attention to all this.

I didn't want to feed the beast of "algorithm bad".

We all want ownership, right?

But it's become impossible to ignore.

So, what do we do about it?

We *congregate*.

Then they continue down their algorithmically curated "for you" feed, straight back into the negative content that got them into their desperate state in the first place.

*They might never see another post from you.*

They know they need more gratitude in their life and so they like, bookmark, comment and follow--they send the strongest signal they can to the platform to say "I want more of this".

Let's make this practical:

Say you make a post about gratitude.

A reader finds your post in a moment of desperation and it resonates.

Deeply.

Doesn't sound too bad until we acknowledge the deeper issue: generally speaking, humans are wired to spend more time looking at things that are shocking, sensational, and just straight up NEGATIVE.

You may be aware of this shift already, but the plain language version is that on social platforms, people used to follow creators, then get content from those creators.

Now, instead, algorithms log what people spend most time on and force-feed them more of that.

I just caught a powerful video from Matt D'Avella, who interviewed Patreon CEO Jack Conte to discuss the biggest shift that's affecting us all: the shift social platforms made from *follower graph* to *interest graph*.

Consumers are already tired of social media.

What does this mean for creators?

Once you find the key to heaven, the only thing to do is pass it around.

That said, I remain open to new social media strategies--we never know when a new opening might come up.

So although the leverage promised by social media is always attractive, my hand has been forced again and again to prioritize one-to-one connections for specialist solutions, whether I'm working with someone on spirituality, business or both.

Social platforms want content that keeps people engaged, but the natural way for people to interact with what I talk about is to read/hear a sentence then stare out the window contemplating it for half an hour.

3. Social media might not be the right tool for everyone.

What I teach is pretty far out. So my number one challenge these 3 years has always been reach.

I've spent hundreds of hours contemplating, talking to people, chewing on ideas with AI and refining my messaging. My results have gotten better and better in proportion to the time I've spent on this.

The more I understand the people I'm suited to serve, the better I'm able to serve them. Sounds obvious phrased like that but the journey of understanding those people has been 3 years and counting and I don't see it ever stopping.

2. Marketing = empathy.

@thedankoe started me on this track and then Seth Godin really hammered it in.

To give my full time and energy to helping people in this way, I had to start a business. And the help I've been able to administer through it has been orders of magnitude beyond what I was able to do while I was still teaching music to keep the lights on.

I spent 5 years studying with a monk and it was amazing, but as you can imagine there were some old school ideas in the mix--chiefly that spiritual guidance shouldn't be compensated financially. I tried to make this work for 6 years before I ever came online.

Long story short: it didn't.

1. Starting a business is the best way to help people in the 21st century.

I've been a creator for 3 years.

Here are my top 3 insights:

If you don't have to meditate to find stillness, what do you have to do? Take my 1-minute quiz to find out: https://quiz.dangoldfield.com/unrIn most meditati... You Don't Have to Meditate to Find Stillness (Recognize Effortless Peace)

youtu.be/BizcwWBJuGI...