My Content Philosophy

Hello! 

The intention of this post is to inform the reader of my Content Philosophy.

This serves the purpose of informing the reader about what to anticipate in the future and establishes clear guidelines for me to follow publicly. Even though this is my blog, I still want to have some editorial principles.

It is easy to get lost in one’s writing journey, so I took quite a bit of time reflecting on what I want to accomplish. There is quite a bit of division in the world for the simple fact division sells. If a writer primarily works on market feedback — with no content philosophy and editorial principles guiding them — they will inevitably degrade their writing to the shock-value, emotional spiking, division seeding nonsense we see proliferating today (see: The Perils of Audience Capture). It is almost a constant function of the content marketplace.

In preparation for this work I read:

1. The Hype Machine by Sinaan Aral

   1. To better understand the social media ecosystem.

2. Contagious by Jonah Berger

   1. To better understand the nature of how content spreads online.

Both these books led me to the conclusion that following the trends will lead me to publishing content that may get views, but serves no purpose in helping people build balanced psyches and prosperous lives. The majority of content that goes viral today is nothing more than content that puts readers in negative states of mind, encourages them to focus on things they can’t control, and degrades their life. The most insidious part of it all is the audience (including me) can’t escape the pull of this content because it preys on our most fundamental psychological drives. It takes a conscious effort to avoid this type of content.

This is evidenced by the following:

Now ask yourself, are these political writers providing well balanced feedback with the intention of wisdom? Some are, no doubt, but their financial incentive is typically otherwise. A high percentage is just espousing political theories they really have no credibility to be espousing.

This type of sensationalist content is also encouraging people to focus on what they can’t control — a proven formula for disempowerment, as evidenced by Stephen Covey’s circles of influence:

By focusing on what you can influence, your circle of influence grows. By focusing on what you can’t control, your circle of influence shrinks.

These conclusions led me to contemplate what I want to achieve with my content. I don’t want to publish anything that adds to the chaos and division we are seeing in our world.

I want to build people’s lives up - regardless if my content reach suffers because of this. I want to focus on things the reader can control.

This leads to my Content Mission:

In short, “Elevate Others” means to produce the most valuable, uplifting, motivating, or thought-provoking content I can — with the intention of improving the life of the reader.

In long:

• Serve others.

• Help people along their journey.

• Create inspiration and joy.

• Create cascades of positivity.

• Elevate peoples consciousness.

• Help the reader experience a piece of the passion for the magic of life I have.

• Uplift our spirit, enhance our knowledge, deepen our emotional stability.

• Help people evolve to systems thinking - seeing complexity with curiosity.

• Encourage unity and push people to the next level of consciousness.

• Bring others to sensational places doing sensational things in their own lives.

• Develop my content to be the gateway to amazing things for others.

• Help create an epic lifestyle for others.

• Elevate others and their life through my content.

• Use social media to drive human evolution for the better.

• Share my research and clarity.

• Make wisdom entertaining.

• Spread peace, love, and joy.

• Open people's minds/make people think.

• Challenge people's perceptions (because everyone’s perceptions are somewhat inaccurate distorted and incomplete — including mine).

• Finally, to entertain and captivate.

Will I accomplish all of these? Probably not. But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have these goals. I swing for the fences.

We need some values to aid us in the accomplishment of these goals. To me all the observations I recorded boiled down to two primary values:

1. Authenticity

2. Reader Value

To me, “Authenticity” can be broken down to the following:

• Awareness

• Integrity

• Candor

• Emotion

• Un-Pretentious

• Organic Processes

• Courage

• Humility

• Genuine

To me, “Reader Value” can be broken down to the following:

• Quality

• Remarkableness

• Realistic

• Relevance

• Practical Value

• Clarity

• Restorative

• Creative

• Unifying - Divisive (Yin-Yang)

  • In order to have a commitment to the pursuit of truth there will be times when being divisive is necessary.

• Actionable

Organized but not rigid. Relaxed but professional.

In my content creation journey, I intend on assuming the following identities:

• Human

• Life Explorer

• Truthseeker

• Commentator

• Analyst

• Coach

• Anti-Troll

• Semi-successful private investor.

I hope this gives you an idea of the principles that will guide my content creation.

I’m not even sure if I can accomplish all of this. It could be a fools errand. I am also reserving the right to adjust this Content Philosophy as I evolve along the writing journey. This of course opens up the possibility of straying from the path, but this is a risk anyone managing anything faces as they evolve.

I will do my best to adhere to this Content Philosophy.

Harry