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How to Fail at Medium (and Life!)
Five tips for scorching and salting the digital earth.
Tip #1 — Forget that the internet is made up of other people.
It’s all pixels, anyway.
You are the center of the digital world. The entire universe is a funnel for getting eyes on your stories, and putting money into your bank account.
It’s kind one of those coin-spinny collection bins that you see at McDonalds. Other people are supposed to drop in their coins and their affirmation and their love and respect and admiration, and they’re supposed to watch with eyes agape as it spirals down to you.
Only you. Forever you. And, if something in the love-money-attention-affirmation vortex isn’t working, it’s time to troubleshoot. It’s time to find out why the universe is off its center of gravity.
Never mind that all of those other people are people, just like you: with their own hopes and dreams and desires and artistic visions. Never mind that they’re all trying their best, all trying to do their own thing, all trying to eke out a little bit of happiness, comfort, and security out of the world.
They’re not people, they’re pixels with wallets. Everything flows to you.
