Don't Consume, Research

I am a big fan of EDM (electronic dance music), why?

Because there are hundreds (if not thousands) of genres and subgenres.

My favorite is bass music, which can be broken down into:

Dubstep
Riddim
Drum N Bass
Future bass
Melodic bass

The list can go on for another 20-30+ subgenres.

Why should you care?

Because that’s exactly what the creator economy is.

Traditional music was limited by physical instruments.

Traditional business was limited by physical environment.

Digital music has no limits. We are creating new sounds which open up room for entirely new
and innovative music.
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Not to mention how often the artists remix each other and Accept
completely change the song.
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People are attracted to the unique combination of sounds, synths, rhythm, repetition, tone,
and everything else that makes up a subgenre or “niche.”

When EDM producers go to create a song, they have a library of sounds, textures, synths,
plugins, and other things that allow them to be creative with their production. They develop
their unique sound over time.

I can’t get enough of Space Laces while others despise the screechy sounds he produces.

Since I love and trust that his music will give me a specific feeling — I will buy almost
anything he creates outside of music (especially if it's something I will use in my day-to-day
life… be it information, a physical tool, gadget, apparel, or anything else).

Even MORE bonus points if he creates a compelling argument as to why and how I can
implement it in my daily life.

As a content creator, it is your job to create, produce, and remix from a database of
content, quotes, anecdotes, metaphors, problems, benefits, topics, ideas, words, and other
things that will lead to you creating truly unique content.

Over time, your voice develops.

Your “live shows” attract more fans.

You attract more opportunities from “record labels.”

People start talking about your “music.”

They eventually keep your “music” in a regular rotation. It becomes a part of their life.

You spread your name by leveraging other people's listener base by doing collaborations and
sharing each other's creations.

This is what Intelligent Imitation is. Curating and developing an arsenal of mental weapons to
shoot your addictive creations out into the world.

Throughout this module, we will be turning you into an EDM DJ — but for content production
instead of dance music.

You are speaking about what you learn through the lens of your vision, values, mindset,
experience, and expertise — that alone will attract the right people to you.

If you want to read the original Intelligent Imitation article and the theory behind it, here it
is.

Cornerstone Curiosity — Don't Consume, Research.

I can guarantee one thing:

Ifyou aren’t consuming (or “researching”) quality information, you aren’t producing quality
information.

That is the underlying problem of most engagement, writer's block, and creative problems.

Cars need the right fuel to operate correctly.

Your job is to become an Epistemic Researcher.

In other words, a knowledge researcher.

The first step is pursuing your curiosity (your Domain Of Mastery should allow room for
pursuing your curiosity within the depths of those interest areas. They run deeper than you
think. Each interest is an iceberg that connect with everything else).

While diving deep into this Interest Iceberg, you will be taking note of ideas, content,
inspiration, and anything else that can apply to a project you are working on.

These “projects” are:

Your weekly newsletter outline

Your content as a whole (noting content ideas)
Any area of your life where you can apply what you learn and write about the lesson or
experience you had
Everything you are developing in your life is a project (you can think of it as a science
project).

Everything you consume (or research) now has practical application. Which areas of your life
can it apply to? You will only know this if you are intentional when improving your personal
and professional life — life itself is inspiration.

This will be dependent on what works best for you — so again… you need to treat this as a
project itself.

Create a consumption habit and routine for yourself, observe problems that come up,
experiment with new ways of doing it, and slowly create a system you can stick with.

We will talk about creating a content synthesis system in the next section.

For now, understand that you MUST be curious about what you are consuming.

Read things that make it hard to keep your mouth shut. You should feel compelled to
take notes and talk about it with those select few people that “get you” (your eventual
audience).

Ifwhat you are reading is boring and not sparking excitement in you — your content will be
boring and not spark excitement in others.

Even if you want to post about business, you will write better business content when
whatever you are researching gives you inspiration and energy. Even if its something as
“unrelated” as web development.

(Hint: it’s still related. Everything is and can be used as firepower for stories, metaphors,
analogies, etc — like how I talked about EDM above to bring a unique angle to this post.)

Iwill often cycle through different audiobooks, physical books, summaries, YouTube lectures,
and everything else based on what I feel will interest me at the time.

This may seem counter-intuitive. Don’t question it yet. Try it out and tell me it doesn’t
increase the impact and energy of your content (relating to ANY topic).

Pursue your curiosity.

Don't Know What To Consume?

Start with your favorite book.

I guarantee the second time you read it you will get new insights, ideas, and be able
to make more out of it with this process.

Writing Down High-Signal Information

We are finally getting to the good stuff.

“The Queue” inside your Notion Daily Writer's Hub is where ALL of the magic begins.

This is where ideas with high potential energy are stored before they are moved to anywhere
else in your Command Center.

For this module, we are focused on content ideas.

When content ideas are put in The Queue, we need to run them through a process to dissect
them, develop them, store them, and start creating a database of Genius Ideas we can pull
from through our creative endeavors.

This entire process is how you actualize your life’s work in a fun, unique, and impactful way.

When you are researching information that interests you, look for:

Words and better vocabulary

Examples and metaphors
Stories or anecdotes
Ideas and concepts
Interesting facts
Advice that hits just right
Quotes that make you stop and think
Novel perspectives
“Aha!” moments that give you clarity

It doesn’t matter what you read.

Most of the time, the inspiration you need comes from a random string of words that sparks
the right idea in your head.

This brings up 2 important points:

You need a project to apply your learning to — otherwise, you won’t pick up on
random information that has the potential to apply to the project you are working on.
A project can be as simple as a tweet or newsletter in this case.

You need to consume information from a congruent voice — you won’t read or listen
intently if you aren’t interested in it. You will miss crucial pieces of information that
could be woven into your newsletters, tweets, or content in general as new
perspectives.

It’sless about what you consume and more about who you consume it from. Do you
understand what you are listening to? Is it challenging your understanding and potentially
kicking you into flow?

What you are reading should have a balance of challenge and skill to make your brain
light up with ideas and potential connections.

This alone shows that it doesn’t matter what you are consuming, as long as you are curious.

Consuming something that makes little sense to you will close your mind off to potential
connections and make it difficult to formulate novel perspectives.

If I study spirituality, but I am writing an article on business, a lot can transfer over.

Ifwhat I am reading says “Stop worrying about the future, focus on the present” (as a bad
example).

I can use that in a business article about creating content. I can introduce the source I got it
from, start to write a story, and help people “stop worrying about how well their content will
do, focus on writing highly impactful content.”

Another example:

I am listening to The Social Matrix by Actualized.org on YouTube right now.

ILOVE these kinds of visionary concepts. They make my brain light up with excitement and
make me want to put the ideas to use.

Leo (the creator) paints a picture of society as a whole and how it is interconnected.

Iwant to apply this concept to the creator economy… how there is a “school system,”
government, indoctrination process, and more.

Ifyou are a web developer — could you spin that concept to describe developer culture?
Maybe freelance culture?

ANY of the points that he brings up can be applied to any domain.

Ifyou are talking about health — you could use his example of how the school system raises
people to have poor conditioned health views. If that was an introduction to your newsletter,
you would get your point across 10x quicker than the next health account.

It’s about applying what you learn to what you write.

It’s not about learning what to write itself.

This will continue to make sense as you experience it.

What can you start consuming right now?

Information related to the principles, mentors, or sub-topics of your interests inside the
Domain Of Mastery.

Once you have fully immersed yourself in that domain, you can start consuming anything you
want.

At that point, you are just generating building blocks and new perspectives to attack your
Domain Of Mastery from.

Let’s talk about where and how we research and capture information.