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"Light yourself on fire with passion, and people will come from miles around to watch you burn"
​read time 4 minutes

I heard that line on a podcast that I love (My First Million).

I don't actually know who said it first, but I do know that it changed my life.

Let's back up a bit.

Before I do what I do now, I had a string of jobs, all of which I was pretty uninterested in. Not because I'm lazy (I think hehe). I just couldn't find motivation for them.

I'd always start pretty strong, but as soon as the tasks became repetitive and predictable, I'd lose interest fast.

Then I went through a pretty bad breakup, and instead of dealing with it, I poured all of my attention into the wrong stuff.

Drinking too much.

Partying every weekend.

Waaaay too many dates.

All the energy I should have been putting into healing was going somewhere else entirely.

Eventually I started journaling, which helped me identify that something was missing.

I needed a creative project. I needed to be building something myself, and that something, in this case, happened to be starting a TikTok page (original stroke of genius. Thank you thank you).

And the changes came pretty much overnight....

The moment I had a project I actually cared about, all the energy I'd been wasting finally had somewhere to go.

I was probably still not facing the breakup properly, but at least I was pouring that energy into something productive instead boozing my problems away.

Pretty quickly, I started gaining an audience. It was small but it was something and that was exciting to me.

The passion was real.

I was lit up.

And that translated through the screen.

But the story doesn't end there...

Fast forward a couple of years. The content was working. The followers were growing. Things were going well (on paper).

But quietly, I started to notice something.

I wasn't on fire anymore. The whole thing had become routine. I was going through the motions. The numbers were still climbing, but inside, the spark had dimmed.

I could feel it.

This isn't why I started my own thing, just to get stuck in another unfulfilling loop.

So I made a decision.

I grabbed a skateboard(?) and rode the length of Spain. Top to bottom. Solo. With nothing but backpack and a hammock (and lots of tortilla and beer).

The result?

Millions of views.

The most followers I ever got in a month-long period.

And of course, the most life-changing experience I've ever had.

I felt alive again.

People weren't watching for the daily skateboard videos. They were watching someone who had found purpose.

Here's what I've learned: passion isn't a permanent state. It's not something you find once and keep forever.

It dims.

The important job is to notice when it has, and to actually do something about it.

For me, that means real adventure. Something I can throw myself at and feel that fire again.

Because if I don't, the audience can tell. The work can tell. I can tell.

But when I do?

People come from miles around to watch...

That's the titbit for today.

Tom

P.S. I work with people on a one-on-one basis to help them build their personal brand, just like I have. If you'd like to apply to work one-on-one with me, reply directly to this email and introduce yourself. I read every reply personally.

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The Builders Podcast

Curious about building community and personal brand, we've also launched the Community Builders podcast 🚀

Chris Giles shares his journey from a corporate job to content creation and personal branding, highlighting the pivotal moments that led to his decision to quit and pursue a new path.

We talk:​
- The impact of alcohol on mindset and motivation
- Development of a storytelling system
- The journey of leaving a corporate job to build a personal brand
- Coaching others in storytelling and personal branding.
- We also chat about the importance of vulnerability, the impact of viral content, and the evolution of content creation strategies.

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