Oddbean

yo nostr life has been exhausting lately. 90 hour work weeks, regular all-nighters producing a lot of videos. bringing a lot of people on the journey in the process - but sometimes it feels like the market doesn't have the demand for what I have to say or preach to make it sustainable eventually it brings you to a crossroads - have confidence and stay the path in the face of disappointment, or pivot and adapt to something new? what are some good pieces of media/advice that has helped you keep going and get past similar hard times creatively?

It seems to be a rough time for all creators in this space. I don’t have any advice other than to listen to the market. You could just be too early. Much depends on your financial situation and what you need to do to make ends meet.

Do both. Realize that Bitcoin still has a long way to go and realize that you need liquid income to sustain your livlihood and protect your Bitcoins. Your work on Bitcoin is very much appreciated, but you will still need find other ways to provide value to a larger audience, and who knows, you might end up foing more for Bitcoin by doing less.

At times, I feel like I'm wasting my time writing about and testing all of this stuff. Whenever I begin to feel this way, I read this quote from A Cypherpunk Manifesto. ”Cypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software to defend privacy, and since we can't get privacy unless we all do, we're going to write it. We publish our code so that our fellow Cypherpunks may practice and play with it. Our code is free for all to use, worldwide. We don't much care if you don't approve of the software we write. We know that software can't be destroyed and that a widely dispersed system can't be shut down." Then I remember why I'm here and I write a little more or try new software.

Media ideas to keep going? The 'What Bitcoin Did' interview with Aaron Van Wirdum about the Genesis of Bitcoin. If you've heard it before, skip to 1:19:20 and put it on 1.75x "Both Bit Gold and b-money where '98, Hashcash was '97, ecash was also 90's, RPOW was 2005"..."Interesting backstory is at this point most of these people, the cypherpunks, had kinda given up on this idea, they kind of figured, it can't be done. Also noone seems to care, everyone is very happy to just use credit cards, and everything else. Paypal was launched at this point, people don't care, whatever I guess we are going to get on with out lives" But not Hal Finney. Skip to 1:34:50 "[Bitcoin whitepaper] was met with indifference and skepticism for the most part, and famously Hal Finney was the one exception. Again Hal Finney of course, as I mentioned, he still had this idea for digital cash in 2005, RPOW, long after everyone else had given up on the idea essentially. And then when bitcoin launched, he got interested and had one of the few positive responses." I don't have timestamps, just my own notes of trying to shake people down to listen to a different 'What Bitcoin Did' episode with Fran Finney, where she goes over Hal's eternal optimism. When he couldn't walk - okay. Before he lost the use of his hands, he built an arduino project that would track his eye movement so he could still type with his eyes. Later he didn't like his Stephen Hawking speech program so he reprogrammed it...WITH. HIS. EYES. And kept right on going. Every one of those Earth shattering roadblocks, was just another problem to solve. On more than one occasion, the path that led us all to bitcoin would have come to a griding halt if it wasn't for Hal's out of this world optimism and work ethic. So, to answer your question, if you want a motivator, bring up picture of Hal kicking asses and taking names WITH ALS, and try to muster a hundred millionth of that drive. https://image.nostr.build/922b3f19f950c5b1becf0fadfad295e1326de8a1da37fc829f86bf69bbaa9a33.jpg

I've never sold a thing but I do it cause it makes me happy. Period. https://nostrcheck.me/media/134743ca8ad0203b3657c20a6869e64f160ce48ae6388dc1f5ca67f346019ee7/5c3a30d48dacb9c84577310f2de0b70e05fac78ba5958b631ac4156555fdbfc2.webp

The Futur has been very formative for me as a visual artist. I don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for but Chris Do's content is excellent and the principles apply across disciplines. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-b3c7kxa5vU-bnmaROgvog He has a few videos on burnout and pushing through creative block if you do specific searches in the channel.

Your content is top notch but you're also still early. Continue to be consistent and persistant in what you do and it will pay off. Just don't burn yourself out in the process. Sometimes it's beneficial to slow down, do a few hours less and then get back to it fresh and recharged

Lol getting zapped is encouragement enough, the best kinds are the unexpected ones. Just don't worry about it, I imagine the floodgates will open up once tiktok is banned and X demands ID. Slowly, but surely people are waking up to the dsytopia especially after the flu. They will come, first slowly then exponentially.

Dude KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING! It is such high quality, and high quality will attract people, even if it seems slow at first. You never know when it could explode organically or maybe turn into a dream offer from someone else.