No. 24: What's your unfair advantage, the anonymous generation Z, and there's no right path
What are the skills that could bring you an unfair advantage?
First, some numbers:
1st - Top suggestion request for Airbnb? Accepting crypto payments.
82% - of Americans have been infected with COVID at least once according to IHME
2030 - Census data projects by 2030, there will be more seniors over 65 than children
Eight Basic Skills That Can Pay You Handsomely
Sometimes the most meaningful skills aren’t the ones they teach in school. These 8 skills are ones Tim Denning has identified to bring you an unfair advantage.
The ability to evoke emotions in others.
Emotion is one of the most powerful forces on earth. It can force people to make crazy decisions they’d normally never make.
I’ve become an accidental master of this skill. Here’s how I did: I stopped caring what people thought, so I could tell the whole story, not half the story.
The ability to persuade
The ability to turn your back on drama
Most of the time the drama is an elaborate scam designed to siphon attention over to an adult baby who didn’t get enough love from their mommy. Once you’ve seen this scenario on repeat, you can’t unsee it.
The ability to keep going when you feel like giving up
The human experience is defined by tragedy.
Rejection, failure, and unfortunate events will find their way into your life. When this happens the average person gives up.
Read Tim’s 8 basic skills on Medium
Gen Z would rather be anonymous online
When I was 21, the cool thing to be was famous on Instagram. Now the cooler thing to be is a mystery. Anonymity is in.
The youngest adult generation and the most online generation is frustrated with being surveilled and embarrassed by attention-seeking behaviors. This has instigated a retreat into smaller internet spaces and secret-sharing apps, as well as a mini-renaissance for Tumblr, where users rarely use their full names. (The majority of new users are Gen Z, according to Chenda Ngak, a spokesperson for Tumblr’s parent company.) The voice- and text-chat app Discord, known for a culture of anonymous and pseudonymous discussion, now has 150 million users; anonymously run hyper-niche meme accounts are suddenly the coolest, most exciting follows on Instagram. The group-therapy app Chill Pill offers a “world of future friends and better days” but does not permit the sharing of any personally identifying information. (I downloaded the app but can’t make a real account—I’m over the age limit, which is 24.)
Something has shifted online: We’ve arrived at a new era of anonymity, in which it feels natural to be inscrutable and confusing—forget the burden of crafting a coherent, persistent personal brand. There just isn’t any good reason to use your real name anymore.
Read The Personal Brand is Dead (The Atlantic)
There are many paths…it’s normal and okay
Till next time:
They prefer their distractions, dreams, and illusions, never aware of the higher pleasures that are there for those who choose to master themselves and a craft.
- 50 Cent, The 50th Law
Image: Mariano Nocetti