How to start a revolution.
How giving up, going crazy and having a baby accidently started a revolution.
I’m taking a break from writing.
At this time of year I slow down, reflect and look back on how the year went. I see what went well, what didn’t and then pivot for the following year.
This post is a reflection on my creative journey in 2025 and how 18 years of prior failures turned into the biggest creative year and accidental revolution.
I’m going to share a bit about my story and why I had a massive breakthrough and how you can too.
Note: If you’re a paid subscriber, your payments will be paused. That’s right, you’ll get 2 months for free. And you’ll be in for a treat once I’m back.
At the beginning of the year I was lost.
It had been 14 months of writing on Twitter and my newsletter and I realised I wasn’t writing about what I was passionate about. I didn’t feel creative at all and I hated what I was doing.
So I did something every creator hates. I stopped creating.
I felt like a failure because stopping felt like giving up.
I really thought that my writing adventure would take off on Twitter and the dreams of quitting my full time job to write would come true. But after a year of consistency I realised I had built something I hated.
This isn’t the first time this has happened.
Between 2005 - 2025 I had started and stopped multiple creative ventures.
Drummer in multiple bands
But kept quitting due to diverging interests
Writing, that quickly turned into digital marketing
Realised very fast that I was chasing money not passion
YouTubing on personality content
Failed due to lack of continuing interest in the content
Influencing on Instagram/TikTok
Highly successful but quit due to feeling like a circus monkey
Back to writing - with the idea of personal development
Realising my passion was writing, but couldn’t quite figure out WHAT to write about.
I kept repeating a similar pattern. I’d get excited about a new creative venture, then get quickly bored due to feeling trapped in a niche I hated.
After multiple creative failures and struggling to find my thing. I was desperate.
How does someone with multiple passions chose a niche?
Baffled by this thought, I ended up going bat shit crazy.
I posted about every random thing I could think of. Forest walk and talks, lake dives, drum covers, random photo dumps, strange thoughts and even workout videos.
It was chaos, but I was loving it. I felt more creatively alive than ever.
That’s when it hit me.
I recalled a conversation with a mentor and friend, Daniel. He asked me what I was passionate about. I told him creativity and creative people.
I envisioned all the people I knew. Those who had multiple creative hobbies or have considered learning a creative skill. But, had either given up or hidden these interests behind their fears.
I told him I was passionate about seeing people create. I want people to explore all their creative passions and break the fear holding them back. That’s when I realised society is facing a major problem.
Lingering beliefs from the post industrial relvolution world is STILL killing passion and destroying curiosity. So many people with creative minds are going to waste.
Then I realised, WHY am I not writing about this...? The very thing that gives me energy and fuels my passion?
That’s when I discovered purpose.
The Start of a Revolution.
Stopping my content direction, letting go, and exploration is how I found my purpose and how I discovered I am multi-pasionate.
But questions were still lingering in my brain.
How does a multi-passionate person pick a niche? How do I turn myself into a brand?
Still living in creative chaos and posting random content. I shared my frustrations with my creative sister and brainstorming buddy Claudia Pombo.
We bonded over creative freedom, entrepreneurship and the perils of a creative mind. This motivated me to build something. Multiple conversations, challenging beliefs and deep reflection is what birthed the Create or Die philosophy.
This is what I needed.
I didn’t need a niche, or a single passion to talk about. I needed a belief, a purpose, a WHY.
But it wasn’t just a belief that started a revolution. Something else was coming that would light a massive fire in my ass.
Create or Die
My wife, was due to give birth.
Knowing you have a child on the way forces you to be focused in ways inhumanely possible. His pending arrival added an insane layer of pressure to build.
I thought if I don’t create now, my life is over. Everyone says how your life ends when you have a child. So with my pending death on the horizon I needed to act.
But thanks to my incredibly supportive wife (who is the rock and foundation in my life) she reminded me that I wasn’t infact going to die, nor would my life be over. She encouraged me to keep a creative hobby amongst raising a child.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my son and being a father is the most amazing experience I’ve ever had. I’m in love. But most people complain about not having time for themselves while raising a child. I’m incredibly grateful to know that is a lie.
Create or Die now had 1000x more meaning.
My life was reduced down to 2 priorities, my family and my purpose.
I had to build, this was it, there’s no more going in circles, what I build now needs ALL of me, I need to channel all of this energy and creative chaos into a mission. It’s all or nothing, create or die.
It has become the philosophy that is shaping my life. So now with belief and an inner flame, I needed somewhere to channel the energy.
Launching a rocket.
My creative sister reminded me of a writing platform: Substack. I had noticed many of my favourite creators started sending their newsletters from it. It sounded interesting.
So I checked it out. I read Substacks vision and fell in love.
Finally a platform built for creators not consumers. So I spent a few weeks, consuming the content, and figuring out how it works.
It was time. New purpose, new energy, new platform, new mindset AND urgency.
Create or Die came to life.
In June I started the publication and created my first post.
It was a mission statement, chapter 1 in my content journey and it’s where the multi-passionate idea came to life. I channeled all my beliefs, my frustrations, my energy and urgency into a mission statement and this became the foundation of my content journey.
It blew up.
A few weeks later and 3-4 posts down. Create or Die blew up.
I did not expect it at all. People resonated with the multi-passionate struggles. They believed in me and my mission.
I had people reach out to me, reshare my work, and mention me in their posts. And I got invited to podcasts. It was a rush. But it wasn’t just the idea of multi-passionate. It was the idea of “create or die.” A call to arms, a revolution, a kick in the butt that I and others needed. Urgency.
Regardless of what is happening in your life, what chaos you’re experiencing, if you are mentally stuck, then you must create. If you don’t you will die: mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.
Create or Die is still in the early days. It’s been 6 months and the momentum is not dying. I’m incredibly grateful for the support I’ve received and I’m excited for what’s coming!
So to recap:
How to start a revolution
get frustrated with where you are
If you’re not experiencing negative feelings, you will not act. You’ll stay in your comfortable buble and never build your dreams.
quit, and go crazy
Once you’ve acknowledged your frustration, stop what you’re doing. If you’re creating content and hate it, take a break. Stop everything and let that creative energy out chaotically without structure.
find a brainstorming budy who equals your craziness
Rant and share your frustrations with your best friend. Share your dreams, what you’re passionate about and what you want out of life. Be real and be crazy. This is important.
passion and purpose.
Find your purpose. Get passionate and share what you believe. Use that energy as fuel to never give up.
urgency
Create urgency. What happens if you don’t build your dreams? You’ll be stuck in the same boring situation you are in now. If you want to die living a boring life, keep doing what you’re doing. OR stick a chilli in your butt, get off your ass and create.
give it a name.
Tie it all together. What change do you want to see in the world? What is your purpose? distill it down into a name/philosophy/mantra. Now go all in and commit and make it your life philosophy.
Thank you friends.
If you relate to any of these struggles, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Here are some other posts you might find interesting:
It’s hard to find your niche when you’re good or love so many things. It was hard for me too
Love the create or die philosophy. I relate to this. I feel this creative energy or insight spewing into me. It bubbles up and wants to manifest into physical form. Some of this gets expressed into a painting and a piece of art wills itself into being, or into writing and content gets created. Yet, there are other ideas and concepts I've downloaded that aren't as easily transmitted and I haven't received instructions on how it wants to take form yet. This drives me crazy and I feel frustrated attempting to figure out how it needs to be expressed, what the final form will be, even though I know it will figure itself out within the doing.
The multipotentialite curse. "Channel all of this energy and creative chaos into a mission", Yes! My ideas and interests are obviously connected yet scattered along so many different disciplines. I've tried and failed and procrastinated. How do I bring it all together into a coherent project that allows everything to be held within it? I'm grappling with that now transitioning from psychedelic pharmacist to this next iteration that can hold all of me and grow with me as I and it expands.
And, the more I neglect it, postpone it, rationalize crafting it into perfection... something within me feels it's dying, decaying. This next iteration feels like life or death... if I'm not working on it, life feels dead.