Creative people are seduced by an art form, such as writing, playing music, or drawing.
That’s Job #1. It’s what we signed up for. It’s what we LOVE.
But then… we expect to have an audience.
“I need to promote myself.”
Maybe? Maybe not. But everyone else is doing it!
That becomes Job #2.
Job #2 is small at first. We don’t mind it. Write a blog, upload a song, post a sketch. No big deal. We get some likes. It’s encouraging. We still have time for Job #1.
But of course, an evil algorithm robot soon modifies our behavior through intermittent rewards. Our subconscious notices: “When I do Job #1, people don’t like me. When I do Job #2, they do.”
Guess what we will do more of?
Fast forward, and we’re saying, “Hey guys,” while wearing a hat and sunglasses in a vertical video. If it gets really bad, we might even say the word BRAND.
And huh… we don’t even notice we’re spending very little time doing Job #1.
Like a parasite, Job #2 has consumed its host, Job #1.
Maybe we should ask these questions:
Am I spending the majority of my time and energy on Job #2?
Is Job #2 actually helping me do Job #1? Or am I only pretending it is?
And am I now getting WORSE at Job #1?
More reading: So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
[ P.S. The thumbnail for this post is kind of meta, since AI is also a parasite eating people’s jobs, especially those of illustrators. And I couldn’t get it to fix the drummer’s extra arm. Oh, well. ]