The Pressure Is Killing The Magic (Set It Free)
What happens when the thing you love becomes the thing you measure
A few months ago while travelling through Colombia (currently in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 🇲🇽), I found myself staring at a blank page and realising something had changed.
For years, I’ve loved writing. Journals, stories, blogs, travel notes, business ideas, observations about life. If there was a notebook nearby, I’d fill it. (My Mum was convinced I was going to be a writer or a journalist or something similar).
But somewhere along the way, writing stopped being writing and started becoming strategy.
Would this article attract subscribers?
Is this the right topic?
Will people share it?
Should I be writing about this instead of that?
How do I make it more useful, more valuable, more marketable?
Before I knew it, I wasn’t really writing anymore. I was performing.
And I don’t think I’m alone.
Whether you’re building a Substack, a business, a YouTube channel, a book, or simply trying to create something meaningful, it’s very easy to lose sight of why you started in the first place.
The goals shift almost without you noticing.
What began as curiosity becomes optimisation.
What began as joy becomes pressure.
What began as self-expression becomes measurement.
The irony is that most of us start because we love the thing. Writers love writing. Artists love creating. Photographers love taking photos. Travellers love exploring.
But once money, growth, followers, subscribers, likes, algorithms, and expectations enter the room, the thing itself can start to disappear.
Of course, most of us still need to earn a living. I’m certainly not suggesting we all disappear into the woods and create art while living on fresh air and good intentions.
But I do wonder if we’ve got the order wrong.
Do we build something successful by forcing ourselves to create what we think people want?
Or do we build something successful by becoming so engaged in what we genuinely love creating that other people can’t help but notice?
Zig Ziglar famously said:
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
I’ve always loved that idea because it shifts the focus away from us.
Maybe the question isn’t how do I make money from this?
Maybe the better question is:
How can I create something useful, entertaining, inspiring, thought-provoking, or enjoyable enough that other people are glad it exists?
Sometimes I think we overcomplicate things, particularly as we get older.
We start analysing, planning, strategising, and second-guessing ourselves when perhaps the better approach is to ask a much simpler question:
What do I actually enjoy doing?
What would I happily do even if nobody applauded, shared it, or paid for it immediately?
Because that’s usually where the energy lives, and I think energy matters more than we give it credit for.
Why? Because I think people can subconsciously feel it, through the screen, the post, the article, the picture or whatever it is you’re creating.
They can tell the difference between something created out of obligation and something created out of genuine enthusiasm.
So if you’re building something right now, whether it’s a business, a publication, a side project, a book, or a dream you’ve been carrying around for years, maybe take a moment to ask yourself:
Are you doing it because you love it? Or have you become so focused on growing it that you’ve forgotten why you started?
The answer might tell you exactly what needs to happen next.