What do you really care about? A response.

Yesterday, I literally googled “how to know what I really care about”. Iʻve been obsessed with personal branding recently because I want to become famous. Lol. Not like overly famous, but just famous enough so that I can just post whatever I want and people just care about me for no reason.

Is that shallow?

I donʻt know and I guess I really donʻt care (or at least Iʻm trying not to).

Anyway, a lot of the results for that search were not relevant at all. Google thought I was looking for signs of when another person cares about me and that did not hit the mark at all. Very weird of Google.

However, there was one article on Medium that captured my attention completely. It was called “What Do You Really Care About?” by Sergey Faldin. I read through it quickly and then binge-read a ton of his other articles. Iʻm speaking in past tense, but after writing this, Iʻm probably going to go read some more.

You ever just read something and resonate so hard with it? 

This is how I feel about Sergey. Like heʻs putting all my thoughts into words. 

Iʻm in shock of how many times Iʻm just like “exactly!” while reading his posts. 

And whatʻs even a little crazier to me is that he is not American. He is from Russia. Iʻm not going to bring up any war stuff because frankly, Iʻm uneducated about it.

But the point is that he grew up in a totally different country, with a different culture, different upbringing and yet here I am, totally resonating with the majority of his work.

How cool is that. Can we just think about that for a second?

And heʻs a dude. Not that it matters a whole lot, but just adding another difference in our lives. 

If anyone needed a reminder that we really arenʻt a whole lot different from each other than this is it. 

I digress. 

You might be wondering, why am I googling “how to know what I really care about” at 7:58pm HST. And the reason is… because I donʻt know sometimes. I wanted to get to the bottom of it. 

That was the goal.

I wanted to figure out my deepest, darkest secrets about myself. Okay, maybe not so dark. 

How do I figure it out? I wanted someone to help me.

Though I didnʻt figure it out last night, I was greatly inspired by Sergeyʻs words and thoughts. What he was doing with his platform. 

In this modern world of the creator economy, itʻs easy to get lost in the madness. 

There is so much stuff to learn and a million people want to teach you how to do it. 

Itʻs information overload. 

Itʻs refreshing to read an honest opinion. 

I might be extrapolating off Sergeyʻs posts, and maybe he wouldnʻt even agree with me, but a lot of the advice and courses for becoming creators just doesnʻt sit right with me anymore. EVERYTHING is about monetization. 

How can we monetize this? How can we monetize that?

How can we take the very thing that youʻre passionate about and turn it into a job that you eventually become sick with?

Because the whole idea was trying to quit your salaried job, so that you could hustle for yourself and actually burn yourself out. But hey! Youʻre not doing it for the man, youʻre doing it for you so it feels better right?

This narrative is getting old for me. 

Now, something to know about me is that I am privileged financially and Iʻve grown up that way. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. 

I was so into side hustles and figuring out new income streams (I still am a little bit), but Iʻm not sure any of that would make me happy. 

Everywhere I look, I am constantly being sold to. And Iʻm easily persuaded so itʻs very hard for me to not want to buy what people are selling. There are a lot of great sales people out there. They know the science. They know the right words. They know your “pain points”. 

Iʻm not trying to put these people down… you do you man! But personally, Iʻm tired of it. 

I donʻt want to see it anymore. But itʻs everywhere. 

Itʻs on instagram, itʻs on tiktok, itʻs on twitter… thereʻs no way to avoid it. And I like spending time on social media.

I think there are some people who love the hustle and are so determined to win that theyʻll put hours and hours into their work. And there are a lot more people who donʻt want to do that at all. I realized that I am in the second category. 

Iʻve bought my fair share of courses ranging from SEO, digital marketing, how to start a sustainable fashion brand, facebook ads, etc and I have not turned any of those skills into my occupation. I learned a whole lot and Iʻm still glad that I took them, but I learned I donʻt really want to sell anything. Lol. Fucking finally figured it out. 

I donʻt want to sell anything. Thatʻs not me. I donʻt like it. And you donʻt have to either. 

When you start to sell something, thereʻs ulterior motives behind everything you say. Not on purpose, but thereʻs a financial reward you receive for getting someone to buy. And to be clear, I am not bashing these people for selling. Thatʻs business and a lot of people enjoy it and end up helping a lot of people along the way. 

Iʻm just personally tired of it because Iʻm not the right target. 

Remember this is about me, not you. Haha. 

So when I think about what I care about and what I would want to do with my platform, I think about self-awareness. I think itʻs fun to learn more about yourself and find out new things you didnʻt know before. 

Itʻs possible this changes in a few months because Iʻm literally learning this about myself as Iʻm writing this article. 

But for now, I want to help you figure out more about you. Even if you donʻt agree with me, at least Iʻm giving you a side to put yourself on. 

I care about trying to be the closest version to yourself you can be. 

I care about people being happy with their lives. 

I care about feeling safe. Physically and mentally. 

I donʻt want to sell you on anything. That doesnʻt mean that if I build up an audience one day, I wonʻt throw in some affiliate links because I definitely will. But Iʻll try not to lie to you. Iʻll try to be the realest I can be. Recently, I think Iʻm gettin closer. And in turn, I hope I can help you too.