Substack or substance?

What chasing growth on substack says about the demise of humankind.

I have been a writer of various forms for over 20 years, making my living predominantly from my use of the written word.

In that time I’ve seen periods of exciting creative development quickly overtaken by overenthusiastic, win-at-all-costs types who destroy the very thing they were trying to take over.

First it was blogs: We all loved our shitty looking Wordpress blogs, but the space was completely commoditised and destroyed thanks to advertising-based content focused on maximising your time on site that made it increasingly difficult to get to the meat of the story or the god damn steps for the recipe.

Social: We all loved it for heavily filtered photos of our breakfast, but it was destroyed by brands, influencers and spon con who formed the worlds biggest and most confusing polyamorous relationship focused on selling you yet another pair of leggings. Via subscription.

LinkedIn: Did we ever love it? No, but we understood its purpose. It has historically been a great professional network that has served me extremely well, now unfortunately it is in the thick of a make-or-break period thanks to the prolific use of AI and promoted posts. The only way out of this one is through it, with more of us stepping up to post actual thought leadership.

Substack: Whilst currently a lovely place for long form content, it runs the same risk of being completely and utterly destroyed by algorithm manipulators, growth hackers and content regurgitators, a story I see unfolding in real time every time I open the home page and see one “Notes Boost” after another.

Why do we insist on destroying the very things that bring us small ounces of joy in this wild, wild world?

I came here with no intention other than to write. To create a little corner of the internet that was all my own, where I could write unfiltered thoughts about whatever came to mind that day/week/month. Then I felt the pull. The pull to do more, grow more, be more - a natural and unavoidable part of the human existence.

And the growth metrics made me feel good initially, but when I focused on growing I felt less connected to my writing. What once felt easy, liberating and personal, started to feel calculated and chore-like. The love for writing my newsletter was fading away and I knew it was because I wasn’t writing organically or from the heart.

I made it on to the Substack global “rising” recently list and was tickled pink, only to have the feeling followed by complete and utter confusion as to why I was placed on the “business” list. Was I writing business content? Sometimes, but this newsletter is predominantly about personal growth. Did I need to write more business content? Was I not conveying my message well? Could people not see me in any other way post frank body? Why did I care about being on a list? So on and so forth went the mini identity crisis.

In my most Carrie Bradshaw moment to date, I couldn't help but wonder, what did all this growth chasing say about us at large? Why are we so bad at just being? In our never-ending quest for validation via metrics, are we missing an opportunity to grow in the most meaningful of ways - though self discovery and self expression?

It was a line in the sand moment for me; the establishment of the camps “Us” vs “Them” (Beings and chasers) and a promise to myself not to fall into old habits. Purposeful ambition is great, but chasing growth at all costs and for all intents and purposes- chasing it for no good reason- is a wasteful endeavour. Purposeful ambition has a heartbeat, a reason for existing and often, an outcome that provides some benefit to the world. Whether it changes the way one person views themselves or creates positive systemic change, it changes something for the better.

Wasteful growth reminds me of war, conquering territories for the sake of having more. It reminds me of hedge funds, betting on the collapse of someone else in order to gain more. It all feels like it was done just…because?

So when we look in the mirror and remind ourselves why we did the thing, whatever it is for each of us, is the answer heartfelt, aligned and true to you or is it just…because?

And perhaps that’s the filter through which we need to make every decision moving forward in order to get to the end of our lives, look back on it, and feel happy with how we spent the limited time we are given.