Hype Doesn't Pay The Bills

Welcome to the Cook Up, a weekly newsletter full of interesting reads for curious, intelligent people who want to sharpen their minds

Hey Everyone,

Last week I published two articles I would like to share: Making it as a Creator and The Law of The Instrument: Stop Using The Same Strategy For Everything.

Making it as a creator boils down to one thing. And that's giving more than you take. I used several verses in the bible to illustrate my point on why creators should be more generous with their information if they want to succeed.

The law of the instrument is also known as Maslow’s Hammer because it was Abraham Maslow, who once stated “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” 

I used SEO professionals as an example of people who commit the law of the instrument.  

SEO professionals commit the law of the instrument by using the same strategy every time they run into an issue.

If you are an SEO professional or someone interested in SEO then the article might be worth a read.

The Law of The Instrument: Stop Using The Same Strategy For Everything

That was a lot.

Now let's talk about this week's newsletter.

One big idea this week is hype doesn't pay the bills. It's a tweetstorm from Zach Sims Co-founder of Codecademy. I'm also sharing ideas on the microwave economy, NFTs, and Virtue Signaling.

Feel free to hit reply and share what you liked, or disliked.

Let's start cooking!

Interesting Reads

Codecademy — Hype Doesn't Pay The Bills

The Microwave Economy

“America has become a Microwave Economy. We’ve overwhelmingly used our wealth to make the world cheaper instead of more beautiful, more functional instead of more meaningful. We don’t value what we can’t quantify, so our intuitions are given short shrift. In the name of progress, we belittle the things we know but can’t articulate.”

What Are NFTs and How Do They Work?

“Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are digital assets that represent a wide range of unique tangible and intangible items, from collectible sports cards to virtual real estate and even digital sneakers.”

*My thoughts on NFTs: While I do like the idea of NFTs being used as a currency for creators and the creator economy, it's important for consumers and most normal people to understand that right now purchases made with NFTs are conspicuous consumption. Meaning people are only buying digital flowers for $20,000 and looping video clips for $26,128 as a way to display their wealth and status. NFTs are being used to single wealth and status on the buyer's end, not the creator.

I can only see NFTs and their purchases being used to flaunt wealth, for the time being. Think of them as being a fancy toy car collection, and only people who collect fancy toy cars will view them as valuable. The rest of us will look with confusion at the money being spent on digital assets with no real-world value.

Virtue Signaling: When People Try to Show Their Goodness

“Virtue signaling is the act of speaking or behaving in a way that’s meant to demonstrate one’s good moral values.”

Learning

How to Unlearn Anything

“Unlearn: to make an effort to forget your usual way of doing something so that you can learn a new and sometimes better way.”

Tools and Resources

The COMPOSE Framework for Writing

“The COMPOSE writing method helps writers move faster, escape ruts, and improve continuously.”

The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide (2021)

“Local SEO is the practice of optimizing a business’s web presence for increased visibility in local and localized organic search engine results. Proximity, prominence, and relevance are the three pillars of local search.”

Fun Stuff

City Guesser

“City Guesser is a game that plops you into a random city and forces you to guess where you are at!”

Film

A search engine of screenshots from movies.

Quote of the Week

If you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy?

— Naval Ravikant

End

If you enjoy reading the Cook Up, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up. I want to make it one of the best emails you get each week.

Also, if you come across anything interesting this week, send it my way! I love finding new things to read through members of this newsletter.

With gratitude,

Will