How to Make Your Business an Extension of Your Soul
Are You Fulfilling Your Potential, or Just Someone Else's Plan?
You escaped the system. You refused the path society laid out for you. You had the courage to follow your passion and build something of your own.
That takes guts. You should be proud to have chosen your own path.
But here’s a question that might feel uncomfortable: How much of this path is truly yours?
Getting rid of the old programming from society and family is hard work. Much of it runs on autopilot, wired deep into our nervous systems. It takes relentless self-awareness to even notice it's there.
You fought hard to break free from that. But you've traded one form of indoctrination for another.
Instead of your boss, you have gurus. Instead of corporate values, you have viral threads. The system is different, but it’s still a system. And you are playing its game.
It’s called the Creator Economy.
Understanding the Game You're Playing
Let’s be clear about what a "system" is. It's not a conspiracy. It’s the collection of rules, incentives, and feedback loops that quietly shape our behavior. It’s the "what people like us do here."
Instead of parents or professors, the new voices of authority are successful creators and entrepreneurs. Their stories are amplified. Their methods are copied. If you are a creator, you are part of this system.
The primary goal of any system is its own survival. It has its own interests. A creator platform wants growth. It rewards activity that fuels that growth. Your deepest personal goals are secondary.
This is why you must learn the difference between working in the system and working on it.
Working IN the system: You follow the established rules. You chase the same metrics, use the same "proven" headlines, and optimize for the algorithm of the day. You are a predictable node.
Working ON the system: You understand the rules so you can consciously choose when to follow them, when to bend them, and when to create your own game entirely.
You will always be part of a system. This is a fact of human connection. The strategic move is to see the system clearly. This allows you to understand the game you are playing and its rules.
The Trap of "Being Useful"
The creator system has one, single, unifying command:
“Be useful.”
You have heard it a thousand times. Create value. Solve a problem. Find a pain point.
And let's be honest, it feels good. When someone claps for your post or buys your product because it solved a small problem, you get a hit of validation. It proves you're not shouting into the void.
The system rewards this. It offers us these small, transactional wins to keep us running on its treadmill, because a validated creator is a productive creator.
But this small reward is the very thing that keeps you from your great work.
This advice isn’t wrong, it’s just profoundly incomplete. It’s a command designed to keep you in the system.
Usefulness is a byproduct of authentic creation, not the source of it. Chasing usefulness first is the fastest path to burnout and creative irrelevance.
When you confuse the system’s goals with your own, you lose your game. You think you’re following your passion, but you’re actually just following the blueprint handed out by system. Let’s call this the External Blueprint.
The External Blueprint wants you to “create value” in a way the market can easily understand and categorize. It demands you fit into a pre-existing box.
It forces you to compete on tactics. It pushes you to become a commodity. This is how you become a slightly better version of everyone else.
You get stuck in the trap of taking whatever path is offered instead of deliberately choosing your own. Understand this distinction is essential if you truly want to fulfill your potential.
From Transaction to Transformation
Forget being "useful." Your new objective is Resonance.
Resonance is the powerful alignment between your inner world and your outer work. It’s the feeling of truth your ideal audience recognizes instantly because it mirrors something deep within them.
Usefulness is transactional. Resonance is transformational.
Usefulness answers a search query. Resonance builds a true fan. It is what makes an audience choose you when they have infinite options. It is the foundation of a business that doesn't have to compete on volume or hustle, because it competes on depth.
Usefulness can be copied and automated by AI. Resonance is generated from a place that is uniquely yours. That is your ultimate defense against creative commoditization.
Moving from usefulness to resonance? Demands a new type of blueprint.
Your Potential vs. Your Destiny
The most important project you will ever work on is becoming yourself. The blueprint for that project is not found in the opinions of others. It is not in the expectations of society. It is not even in your own most carefully constructed plans. It is hidden deep within you. Let’s call it the Internal Blueprint
This is where the journey gets interesting. Our real job is to discover and live out our destiny.
Destiny is not the same as predetermined fate.
Fate is what happens to you.
Destiny is what you make out of that.