As humans evolve, we develop new ways of getting our needs met.
One of the strategies we are seeing nowadays is merging self-actualization and transcendence with our careers.
This is about collapsing the distinction between work and play.
The best place to see this is in the creator economy.
The creator economy is a new paradigm where individuals create and distribute content, products, or services directly to their audience.
This emerging trend has been created by the rise of social media, online marketplaces, and various platforms that enable creators to monetize their:
Skills
Talents
Passions
This new way of working has huge potential for merging self-actualization and work.
Traditionally, work has often been seen as a means of survival.
People engage in careers to earn a living and meet their basic needs.
However, the creator economy offers the opportunity for individuals to turn their hobbies, interests, and creative pursuits into fulfilling full-time occupations.
Ten major qualities that characterize the creator economy are:
Empowerment: The creator economy allows individuals to create, distribute, and monetize their content, products, and services independently without relying on traditional methods.
Creativity: Creativity drives the creator economy. It encourages people to express their unique perspectives, skills, and talents, fostering a diverse range of content and offerings.
Direct-to-Audience Engagement: Creators have the ability to engage directly with their audience. This creates deeper connections and builds community around a creator's content.
Authenticity: Audiences seek genuine and relatable content. Creators often succeed by staying true to their personalities and values.
Flexibility: Creators are able to set their own schedules, work from anywhere, and adapt their content to personal changes, trends, and audience preferences.
Community: Successful creators often build strong communities around their work. These communities provide support, feedback, and a sense of belonging for both creators and their audience.
Entrepreneurship: Creators in the creator economy function as entrepreneurs. They manage various aspects of their business, such as content creation, marketing, finance, and partnerships.
Monetization Channels: Creators have access to diverse monetization channels, such as ad revenue, partnerships, merchandise sales, crowdfunding, subscriptions, exclusive content offerings, and more.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Creators use data and analytics to understand their audience’s preferences and behavior, helping them refine their content strategy and business approach.
Global Reach: The creator economy breaks down geographical barriers, allowing creators to reach a global audience and collaborate with individuals from different cultural backgrounds.
These qualities have contributed to the growth and influence of the creator economy.
More and more individuals are finding opportunities to turn their passions into sustainable careers while also fostering meaningful connections.
This is a huge step for the future of careers.
You can get your self-esteem and belongingness needs met while pursuing self-actualization, monetizing your passions, and being creative.
This gives every individual with an internet connection a radical opportunity.
It’s important to note that success in the creator economy requires:
Consistency
Adaptability
Creativity
Authenticity
An entrepreneurial spirit
Engagement and interaction
Resilience
Versatility
Marketing and Promotion
Data Analysis
Collaboration
Time Management
Continuous Learning
Responsible Content Creation
Passion and dedication
Innovation and risk-taking
and more…
Possessing all of these qualities is beneficial, but I also need to stress this one point.
Every creator needs to learn how to provide genuine value to people.
We all love the sound of doing what we want and making money doing it.
But I need to emphasize that in order to be successful, you must care about how to transform the lives of people and provide real value.
The creator economy is not about quick viral hits but building sustainable, long-term careers.
You can’t do this without understanding how to bring value to people.
Leaving a positive impact becomes much easier when you make value production one of your core drivers.
Without it, you are bound to fail and upset a lot of people.
Some ways you can create value are through:
Entertainment
Education
Inspiration and motivation
Community and interaction
Solving a problem
Without creating value, your audience will lose trust in you.
You’ll have a negative reputation, which will make it difficult for you to succeed in this environment.
So avoid that.
Instead, obsess over how to genuinely help people.
Creating genuine value should be a top priority.
Actually care about and understand your audience’s needs, problems, interests, and pain points.
This is crucial for tailoring your content to resonate with them.
By focusing on delivering authentic value, you naturally build a loyal and engaged audience, foster a positive reputation, and increase your chances of long-term success.
Not providing value also leads to a lack of personal fulfillment.
It feels extremely rewarding to be able to help other people and actively do so.
Not providing value leads to dissatisfaction with your work and a lack of fulfillment in what you do.
Another thing I want to talk about is the power of AI to merge self-actualization with career and work.
I believe one of the biggest things AI will do is automate repetitive and mundane tasks.
This will free up time for individuals to focus on more meaningful and creative aspects of their work.
This will allow them to channel their energies into areas where they can add unique value and derive a sense of fulfillment.
AI will also enhance creativity by:
Generating ideas
Providing inspiration
Assisting in creative processes
Offering valuable tools
and more
Unfortunately, a lot of jobs are repetitive and mundane and do not contribute towards self-actualization.
AI will help mankind change this.
By taking over routine tasks, humans can now devote their creative capacities to higher-value tasks that require critical thinking, deeper awareness, problem-solving, and innovation.
AI is a powerful tool for personalized learning and education, skill development, mentorship and guidance, career planning, and matching career opportunities (and more).
Through the use of AI, mankind will naturally gravitate towards self-actualization.
The reason this will occur is because our basic survival needs will be more easily taken care of.
With the absence of the need to pursue repetitive, mundane, low-skilled work, humans will naturally seek something higher.
It’s like having access to consistent, clean water.
Once we could give millions of humans clean water every day, they no longer needed to constantly focus on finding water.
They could move up in the hierarchy of needs.
They felt more relaxed and energized, and they were able to pour their attention into a higher, more complex need that is less essential to survival.
Humans are creating ways to move upward in the hierarchy of needs through our own creative solutions to modern problems.
This happens automatically.
Humans feel a sense of disharmony with the present circumstances, and we seek to alleviate suffering and solve problems.
At one point, the pain and problems of our current level of consciousness become too obvious (to the point where we can’t ignore them).
So we seek growth and change.
And nowadays, we have a lot of people feeling negative about their jobs.
They don’t like how numbing the repetitive lifestyle is.
They feel depressed, stressed, bored, numb, dull, anxious, etc.
So we see this.
And naturally, we build systems that allow for the rise of self-actualization in our work lives.
And of course, two huge ways modern society is doing this are through the creator economy and AI (like I’ve been saying).
It is getting to the point where it is undeniably the case that many jobs that were once needed are going to be phased out.
What we see as valuable will change over time.
The old model of going to school and then doing traditional work for 40 years just isn’t good enough.
We need a better system for living life.
This is too unfulfilling, and many of us know it.
It’s the norm to dislike school and work.
Not because it’s some act of rebellion.
But because a lot of what goes on in those places is genuinely unhealthy for the human body and mind.
The school and work systems are loaded with glass ceilings that prevent humans from reaching their full potential and expressing themselves authentically.
In fact, in many places, we would be encouraged not to reach our full potential.
Once you start moving beyond the center of gravity of your school, work, social groups, etc., the people there will begin to ostracize you.
They won’t do it because they’re evil.
They’ll do it because they’re ignorant.
It’s something to have compassion for.
They will not want their precious way of life to be challenged or changed.
And of course, growth means change.
We cannot grow and then continuously follow the same old patterns.
We need to let parts of ourselves and our way of life die off in order to allow new things to enter.
Pursue what excites you over mundane, repetitive, and monotonous work.
It will be phased out sooner than later.
Sincerely,
Lucas