Why do I write every day?
Two reasons.
It helps me refine my thinking.
It is a way for me to give you a gift.
It’s only recently that status has been associated with excess. For the vast majority of civilization, the best way to show status was to give gifts. The more you gave, the more status you exuded.
It’s one of the most universal human cultural norms. It’s existed since the birth of civilization and can be found it almost every culture who never had contact with each other.
Why?
Industrialism created abundance, and recently, our culture has shifted to seeing the ability to leverage industrialism as a proxy to intelligence, safety, and status.
But for most of civilization, there was no way to leverage up the ability to produce. Your status was the sum total of the people’s willing (or forced) labor.
As such, abundance used to mean a lot more than it does today.
The best way to show you have more than you need is to give it away.
“Here, I don’t need this. I have so much that I would rather give this to you.”
This is exactly why content marketing works. This is the reason why creative work, human insight, and free content is so effective.
Because you are showing the world that you have more than you need. You have so much and you are so secure in your safety and status, that you are willing to give away the majority of your knowledge, skillset, and insight.
This makes people want to work with you, because they want what you have.
Gift giving builds trust. Trust is the foundation of interconnectedness.