There Has Never Been a Better Time to Create

His name was Elan, and he loved to paint.

He would paint scenes of the small village he was born into, the playful dance of the fall leaves as they donned their autumn colors, and the dreams that whispered to him in the night.

Everything he had, he put into his creations.

When he was awake, he thought about painting. When he was asleep, he dreamed about painting.

Thousands of hours, thousands of creations. He might have been the best painter in the world.

But nobody knew it.

For most of human history, the reach of creativity was limited by distribution.

You could only share your creations with those in a close vicinity around you.

A little boy in a little village might have created paintings someone two continents away would love. There might have been hundreds, thousands, or millions of people who would be awed by the splendor of his creations, but he would never know that.

He would never be able to share it with them, and they would never be able to enjoy it.

His art reached the hundred people around which he was born and nobody else.

Even as recently as the 1900s, only the best of the best were able to distribute their creations across borders.

Then, the internet opened the entire world to creators. You could reach anyone, anywhere. But as one barrier crumbled, another was built. With access to everything from everywhere, how did you stand out?

Forget geographical borders or printing presses. The barriers for creators became SEO and follower counts. Just published an article better than anything Malcolm Gladwell has ever written? It won’t matter unless you know how to get backlinks. Just created a mindblowing video that would even impress Mr. Beast? It won’t get seen by anyone if you don’t have subscribers.

Now, algorithms have changed everything. All of a sudden, the majority of creation can be boiled down to a single idea.

Make great stuff, then share it.

The naysayers say that this isn’t true. That the market is too crowded, and there’s too much competition. It’s so easy to create that everyone is doing it, and you’ll get lost in the noise.

But this is not about building creative businesses. It’s not about becoming the next Taylor Swift. It’s about creation, for creation’s sake. Creating something and being able to share your passion with the world.

You might not be able to share your work with millions of people, but if you do it long enough, you’ll be able to share with thousands.

If you want to sing Viking hymns, there’s an audience for that. If you want to write creatively existential contemplations about life, there’s an audience for that.

Regardless of where you live or the resources that you have, you can find an audience. You can find a community.

Competition is only a concern if you’re trying to make money.

Elan didn’t care about earning passive income or making a big name for himself. He loved painting, and he wanted to share that love with the world. For most of human history, that was almost impossible. Today, anyone can do it.

You’re living in a better world for creation than Shakespeare, Beethoven, or Elan.

So, what will you create?