Few ideas of real value take off immediately.

Ideas that hold our attention and create change require time to digest & grapple with, multiple listens, rereadings.

These ideas are complex, risky, unproven, and must first run the gauntlet of ignorance, derision, and rejection before finding their way to curiosity, experimentation, and ultimately, adoption.

While there might come a time where it feels as though they’re bursting onto the scene overnight, that moment has been in the works for years, decades, perhaps generations.

When it comes to ideas that matter, the foundation runs deep.

Time and care must be spent in laying it.

Of course, the option also exists to skip the foundation and instead shoot for the quick win of immediacy, shock value, clickbait, listicles.

Sure, you might win your corner of the internet for the day, but by tomorrow, the attention will have faded and you now face the prospect of doing it again.

This time a little bit more shocking.

A little bit less nuanced.

A little bit cheaper.

Competing for attention is always a race to the bottom. One that degrades your work, your audience, and yourself the further down you go, selling them each short of their potential.

Ideas that uplift, that capitalize on, and fulfill potential require vision, rigor, and consistency.

These traits are hard to come by when you’re busy simply seeking attention.

But they’re what’s required when building anything that lasts. That continues to move and change the people who engage with it months, years, or decades after its creation.

It’s a tall order.

To shun attention in the short run to invest in impact in the long run.

But it’s the only way to develop and spread the ideas that truly matter.

It’s never too late to stop spending your energy on the hamster wheel of immediate attention.

And spend it instead laying the foundation of something bigger.

---