Beware: Shiny Platform Syndrome

Every few weeks, I’ll get the bright idea that?I should really be putting some energy into YouTube.

I mean, come on – it’s a search engine. That’s?organic traffic?to the things that I create! And the successes I’ve seen from creators on Creative Elements like Ali Abdaal, Roberto Blake, Amy Landino, Charli Marie Prangley…

I could do that, right? YOUTUBE is where the opportunity is!

…and then I come to my senses and put it the idea right back onto the shelf where it belongs.

These are moments of?Shiny Platform Syndrome.?I fall prey to them all the time. Luckily, Mallory helps me notice these moments too!

I understand?why?we fall prey to Shiny Platform Syndrome…it’s?exciting?to start something new. When something is new it has LIMITLESS potential…and because we don’t have any data yet, our imaginations run wild with what could possibly happen for us.

THIS platform could be?where I find my luck!

And to further complicate things, we tend to get a (false) positive response when we launch new things. When we make a big deal about, “Hey come over here! I’m doing something new!” the people who care about us get excited too!

So the?beginning?on a new platform or medium truly DOES feel like something is different, because people tune in to see what we’re up to.

But, slowly over time, the people who aren’t truly invested in following along on that platform fall away, and your engagement normalizes back to the slow growth, plateau, or even decay that you were seeing on OTHER platforms.

And even worse: now you have to maintain all of them!

That’s the?real?cost of Shiny Platform Syndrome.

I care more about Creative Companion and Creative Elements than anything else. THIS is where I put my best energy, and THIS is where I want people to find their way to.

But growth can be slow. It can be frustrating. And when I see someone else go viral on TikTok overnight, I think,?“Maybe?TikTok?is the move! I can Tik…I can Tok…”

If I followed that impulse, I immediately make the work I truly care about (Creative Companion and Creative Elements) worse – because I’ve taken time and attention away from those projects.

By taking away time and attention, my work gets worse, it’s less remarkable, it’s less likely to be so good that people share it, and I’m digging myself into a deeper hole chasing TikTok glory that I’ll never achieve.

It’s not that I?can’t?achieve TikTok glory…and it’s not that YOU can’t achieve TikTok glory! It’s that we shouldn’t expect to be GOOD at something without doing it a whole bunch of times.

And we can’t expect RESULTS until we are good at something.

So when we follow our Shiny Object Syndrome, we’re just signing up to become 1.) bad at something new and 2.) more mediocre at the things we’ve been practicing over time!

Shiny Platform Syndrome is a trap. It can make you excited to start and you may even see some initial (inflated) results…but now you have a huge, new commitment. You have new maintenance costs.

And, let’s be honest, will you truly maintain that new platform?

“If I was really ready to take on YouTube, wouldn’t I already be doing more video on?my Instagram?”

Please. If you want to be known for your work – if you want to create something that people truly love – focus on that thing. Minimize your time and attention into other things for the purpose of getting?great?at the one thing.

Dividing your focus has a cost…and it’s usually the very goal you’re working towards.

#74: Bad Bunnies NFT [Design] – From idea to sold-out NFT project in less than 3 months

c4nopener?is one of the creators of the?Bad Bunnies NFT?project. Bad Bunnies are 5,500 randomly generated, gamified NFTs, released from captivity to the Ethereum blockchain.

The project was created by c4nopener, a product designer bunny with 15 years experience in the industry, his brother poopli, and their friend bdub.

The project opened to the public for minting on Sept. 18 at a price of 0.0275 ETH and sold out in a matter of 48 hours.

In this episode, we talk about the origins of Bad Bunnies, their sold-out launch, a step-by-step guide for how you can launch your own NFT, the role of hype in an NFT project, and why the Bad Bunnies team valued Design over all else.

It's available on any app you use to listen to podcasts.

→?Listen to the episode???

→?Show notes???

Hey, I'm Jay Clouse! And I'm here to help you find?creative independence.

Most of my creative energy is directed towards my podcast,?Creative Elements, and my newsletter,?Creative Companion.

I've created a number of courses and?workshops?including my best-selling?Podcast Like The Pros?and my?Freelancing School Course Bundle.

I want to support YOU on your own journey to creative independence.

The path is long, but you can do it. And I'll be right there by your side, encouraging and inspiring you the whole way.

You can also connect with me on?Twitter?or?Instagram.