You Can Be Anyone (So Why Be a Copy?)

Online, nobody knows you're a dog.

Or that your hairline is receding. Or that you didn't go to the right school. Or whatever else you think disqualifies you from having a voice. The internet handed everyone the same deal: show up however you want. No gatekeepers, no dress code, no credentials check at the door.

So it's wild how many people use that freedom to become a photocopy of someone else.

The tracing problem#

You've seen it. Borrowed voice, borrowed takes, personality assembled from podcast clips and Twitter threads. Given an infinite canvas, they trace. Same frameworks, same morning routines, same "here's what I learned" format, same conclusions. It's like watching people customize their character in a video game and everyone picks the default skin.

I get it. When you don't know what your voice sounds like, borrowing one feels safe. Nobody ever got roasted for sounding like Naval. But you can always tell when someone's running on borrowed personality. It's like watching someone laugh at a joke they didn't get.

The mirror thing#

I don't know what you tell yourself when you look in the mirror. What reasons you've invented for why you can't do the thing, say the thing, be the thing. Some abstract asymmetry between where you are and where you think you need to be. Some comparison to someone who started earlier, had better luck, knew the right people.

You're probably rationalizing inaction. And you know it. That's the annoying part. It's not ignorance. You're just negotiating with yourself and you keep folding.

I've done it. Spent months "researching" instead of starting. Reading about how other people built things instead of building my own. Consuming someone else's story about doing the hard thing because it felt almost like doing it myself. It doesn't count. We both know it doesn't count.

The self-help trap#

The self-help aisle is a trap. Not because the books are wrong, necessarily, but because they're someone else's coded instructions for someone else's life.

You don't need another framework. You don't need someone else's morning routine. That's their choreography. You're rehearsing their version of growth instead of doing the scary thing, which is figuring out your own.

The useful move is boring: act on the thing you're afraid of. Not read about it. Not plan to eventually do it. Just do it badly, today, and fix it tomorrow.

That's it. That's the whole book. You can have it for free. 😄

Find your crew (or be your own)#

No one is truly an island. Even if the island has one person on it, that person probably has a group chat.

But the crew should amplify you, not replace you. If you didn't go to the "right school" and don't vibe with people who won't let you forget they did, then don't. Walk away. It's a sandbox nobody missed you at anyway.

Imagine how freeing that is. You don't owe anyone an explanation. Just "we don't vibe" and you move on. Opt out. Find people who make you more of yourself, not less.

The best collaborations I've had were with people who were different and thought differently than me. Agreement is comfortable but it doesn't sharpen anything.

Use the cheat code#

Your self-presentation is the one thing that's actually yours. The internet gave you a blank page. Fill it with your own stuff, not someone else's.

Ship yourself. Or at least be a good fork. 🚀