I don’t know what to write about this morning. No clue. So I just start typing, like I am doing right now.
When I start typing, I am always reminded of Annie Lebowitz’s (is that the right person?) book Bird by Bird. Wait, is Annie Lebowitz the person that makes those weird baby in a pot pictures? If so, that is not the author and you will have to google it yourself.
Anyways, Bird by Bird has this amazing passage or chapter about “Shitty First Drafts.” And I give myself permission to create a Shitty First Draft when I don’t know what to write about or if I have an idea and I don’t know the details surrounding that idea.
I did it to start a major presentation that killed (in a good way) last week.
So what am I interested in?
I am currently debating the Candy Digital MLB project. I don’t think it is going well; if you get on the Discord you will see major supporters grumbling about prices dropping. That is never a good sign. But it is the freaking MLB NFT project. And if NFTs have any staying power at all, then you know that professional sports will capitalize and win in that space. So I have thought about making some strategic (minor) investments in that project with the plan to sit for the next ten years.
There is a big moment coming in the blockchain world — the merger. Seriously, I don’t really understand it. However, I do know this:
Ethereum as a technology is amazing (automatic payments + codified contract terms)
Ethereum is way too expensive currently because mining is expensive and slow
With the merge, Ethereum will move from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake (something I still can’t fully grasp)
However, I do know that Proof of Stake means that Ethereum will become less expensive, faster and more energy efficient, which are all great things.
I have no idea if this analogy is right, but it kind of feels like the advancement from gold (literally exchanging pieces of gold) to dollars. I know that is not right, but someone smarter than me can explain why.
I have a crypto strategy: buy a little bit each month on the bet that this is the technology (not currency, but technology) of the future and sit on it for the next ten years. That’s it. I see investment in crypto as a bet on a startup of sorts, but instead of one startup, I am betting on the foundation of many, many startups (for example, Candy is a startup reliant on crytpo so I kind of am investing in them). Another way I think about it: if you could invest in the internet (yes, the thing that was created by the government back in the 70s-80s or maybe Al Gore) would you do that? Of course you would.
So here we are.
Now, let’s circle back to the beginning. That is what a Shitty First Draft looks like. I am not going to go back and edit this post. I am going to leave it so you can see what it looks like in case you ever get stuck and need a mechanism to write or sing or whatever you do. Just start doing it and see where it leads. This works when I don’t want to ride a bike too — within 2 minutes I am happy to be on the bike. And within 2 minutes of writing this post, I was happy I was writing it.
Seriously, try it. Give yourself permission to write a Shitty First Draft.
Thanks Annie Lebowitz.
Anne Lamott