Stop! Why Are We Spectating?

We live in a time of YouTube, Twitch and Medium. These are just a few of the platforms that make it easier now, more than ever to create and share your passion with the world.

Yet we’re also in a time that we have more spectators than ever.

It’s bizarre that most people would rather follow the life of someone else and watch them become successful, than see that success for themselves.

“Twenty people in the field and eighty thousand in the stands. The spectators are the ones who paid to watch, but its the players on the field who are truly alive.” -Seth Godin

Being a Spectator doesn't Help You

Chances are, being a spectator is benefiting someone else more than it is benefiting you.

The YouTube creator gets more out of making a video than you get out of watching it. The beer maker gets more from selling a beer to you than you get from buying and drinking it. The marketer gets more from you viewing their ads than you do from watching and getting sucked into them.

Nothing Comes to a Spectator

How can you possibly become successful, how can you possibly become the person that you want to be if you keep standing on the sideline, watching from a far, merely dreaming of what you want to be?

It’s not going to happen.

If you don’t choose yourself to be a participant in your own dreams, you’ll be trapped. Trapped being a spectator and trapped by the instructions of those you have chosen to follow.

Ever wondered why you don’t see ads for Tesla’s or Ferrari's on TV? Because anyone who’s got the money to buy those sorts of cars aren’t watching TV.

The people at the peak of success aren’t spending their time or money on consuming things made by other people. They’re spending it getting where they want to be in life.

Flip it Around

Sure, there’ll always be spectators. But they don’t have to be you.

Stop spending time consuming what others make. Flip around and have others consume what you make.

If you’re interested in anything, it could even be that you’re really fascinated by different bookshelf designs. If you just share that passion with the world, whether it be in blog post, video or any other sort of medium. You’ll find other people are interested in the same thing.

It doesn't have to turn into an income, it doesn't have to turn it into a business, but it could. Just by putting something out there, it could turn into anything, who’s knows it could completely change someone’s life. But you’ll never know if you don’t step away from the stands and do the work that really matters.

In Conclusion

Do we really need to consume all the products we buy?

Do we really need to watch the Patriots game or the latest video from Casey Neistat?

Probably not, we could go without these things.

Stop being a spectator. Stop waiting to be picked. Strap up your boots and take the field.