This is a short note from my Roam Research second brain. Here’s a free guide where I introduce you to Roam & Building A Second Brain. 

Metadata of Note

Type:🍃 Leaf [Nomenclature present here.]

Source: [[Thoughts]] after conversations with [[Elan]] and [[Roshni]]

Tags: #mental models #help #selfhelp #learning

Date: December 18th, 2021

 

  • In the past month, both Roshni and Elan have asked me this question, “How do you draw the line between the amount of time spent on growing yourself (learning, reading, taking classes) and helping others grow (by sharing what you know)?”
    • Here the implication is that helping others grow is coming at the cost of helping yourself grow since that time is not spent on expanding your own knowledge base, rather on sharing it so others can benefit.
  • At first, I believe it’s important to acknowledge that while what we are sharing is nothing novel for us, it might be life-changing for someone else. [[Ric]] was the one who said this on one of our calls beautifully. Acknowledging this also makes us kinder in our response, instead of feeling frustrated with someone for asking a question we’ve answered a million times already. (Something I am still learning)
    • The singer Paul McCartney mentioned something that stuck with me in an interview with [[Taylor Swift]] how, “Even though I’ve played my songs 1000s of times, and it might start to get boring at times, I remind myself of the 1000s of people who came for my concert after going through many struggles — camping outside for a day, or using up all of their savings to attend it, or have been following me for years for whom this might be the highlight of their year. Thinking of them and the joy it will bring to them changes the way I look at it.”
      • This is from the article where he said it: “McCartney: Well, that’s great, and I’m glad that set you on that path. I understand people who don’t want to do that, and if you do, they’ll say, “Oh, it’s a jukebox show.” I hear what they’re saying. But I think it’s a bit of a cheat because the people who come to our shows have spent a lot of money. We can afford to go to a couple of shows and it doesn’t make much difference. But a lot of ordinary working folks … it’s a big event in their life, and so I try and deliver. I also, as you say, try and put in a few weirdos.”
  • After acknowledging that fact, it’s important to ask ourselves, “How do you find that balance? And how do you ensure that there is less time spent in going from learning to sharing?” Below are a few ideas:
    • Set up #systems that aid you: this is in the form of workflows followed to create content, publish it, the tools used, and habits around the workflow.
    • Make existing and past content evergreen and findable: This is about how to turn existing content already out there into something evergreen, easily findable, easily searchable. And perhaps something that can also earn #passiveincome.
    • Train people and delegate the work: The “training” part of this is crucial and it’s important to follow [[🌱 202111281121 Onboarding New Employee Best Practices]].
  • I am currently in this process with [[Chaitanya]] who I am delegating work as well as trying to set up a system/process that would help reduce the time it takes to go from creating content to sharing it with the world.