Reading time: 1.57

463 words

Hey Reader,

Sometimes, when I’m feeling super enthusiastic or fired up, I want to change the world.

I want to fix everything that’s wrong with it. Eliminate suffering caused by humans. Eradicate war and hunger. Nuke from orbit people who watch YouTube videos on their phones on full volume without headphones in public places. Eradicate horseflies.

That kind of thing.

Then I think about the magnitude of that task and want to crawl into my bed for all eternity because changing the world is hard.

Might as well try to push a mountain over by leaning heavily on it.

At Atomicon, Rory Sutherland said this:

His talk was about marketing.

But isn’t this why we write?

Isn’t this why YOU write?

When I write anything — my books, this email, my social media posts, my zines — I’m trying to change how you see the world, in a tiny way.

I know it works, because people tell me it works.

I get emails and notes and letters from people telling me about how something I said changed something in them.

I see it in the work I do with people, when I help them see that they can write a book of their own and it will make a difference in someone else’s life.

The thing that stops us changing something is when we try to change everything.

We can’t. No single person is that powerful that they can change the world. We are part of systems, communities, and groups.

But we can change ourselves and our own behaviours.

And we can change other people’s minds!

This is what communication is — it’s why we write books, create silly social media videos, write emails. It’s what podcasts, TV, and movies are for. It’s why artists paint and musicians create music.

It’s our way of saying, “This is how the world looks to me. Does it look that way to you, too?”

Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. But after they’ve read your words or listened to your music or watched your movie, they will see the world differently, and that, my friend, is magic.

Don’t try to change the world. Change minds.

TTFN,

Vicky

p.s. I wrote Don’t Eat the Frog because I wanted to show people with brains like mine that there is more than one way to get things done, and if “eating the frog first” makes you feel broken and lazy and wrong, it’s not you. It’s that other book.

Other people think it’s great too look:

If you’d like to maybe have your mind changed about the “best way” to create things and work, you can get a copy here:

​