The Decline

How Your Attitude Towards Decline Determines Your Next Actions

Introduction

I’ve not gained a subscriber here on Something Greater for a few months. In fact, I’m losing them. I took a short break a few months ago before I started travelling, and when I came back with a new idea, it hadn’t landed how I thought it would.

Over on Geopolitics Explained, I’ve lost multiple paid subscribers in the last two months. In such a situation, it’s easy to reflect inward and blame myself. Is the quality of my content dropping? Should I change what I’m doing in an effort to bring these people back and attract new subscribers? In my opinion, the answer should always be no, and it comes down to our motivations for doing what we do.

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Why We Do What We Do

In any pursuit we undertake, if we can gain motivation and drive internally, without the need for external validation, then we’ll approach a potential decline with a more positive outlook.

I write Geopolitics Explained because I want to understand the world around me and why nations and leaders act the way they do. I'm eternally grateful if you read Geopolitics Explained and gain something from it, but that isn’t the reason I write the posts I do. Slowly collecting knowledge about history and geopolitics gives my life structure and purpose. Almost three years later, I still wake up looking forward to opening my list of tasks for the day ahead.

As for Something Greater, it’s my pursuit of understanding myself. If through my self-reflection, you can gain some deeper understanding about something you’ve gone through in the past, or maybe something you’re experiencing currently, then that’s amazing. But once again, it’s not my primary motivation for writing. I took a break from writing Something Greater a few months ago because I didn’t know what to write. In his latest post, Zan said he was taking a break to gain experiences, through which we can then write. I like this principle, and it sums up perfectly where it was a few months ago.

Photo by Leio McLaren on Unsplash

Now that I’ve returned, and things aren’t going as well as they have been in the past, I could panic and change course. I could force myself to write about things I’m not truly experiencing with the aim of appealing to a wider audience. But that’s not me. This messy, unorganised guy rambling into his phone and then posting it on the internet is me. Sure, we can pivot when we see something isn’t working, and we should pursue new strategies. But external validation shouldn’t be the main influence in a decision such as this. It should be internal.

So, if there’s a pursuit you’re undertaking in which you feel you’re stagnating, or even declining, focus on the reasons you undertook such a pursuit in the first place. Whichever reason aligns most internally within you should be the reason you continue to do exactly what you want to do, whenever you want to do it.

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Concluding Remarks

When I have something meaningful to say, I’ll write longer pieces like this. When I don’t, I enjoy returning to principles I’ve discovered over the years that have formed me into the person I am today. Maybe they’ll resonate with you too.

If you’re worried about decline, step back and remember why you started. I remember why I wrote to not a single reader for six months. My motivation for writing then was internal. It wasn’t for the benefit of anybody else. Your pursuit should be the thing that serves you first. Everything else is a second-order effect.

Perhaps this is why I currently see myself in “decline.” Progress is never linear - it’s a sequence of peaks and troughs, with many troughs. The real challenge can be staying true to your purpose through this journey. Even if I am in a sustained trough, I do this for the reasons I stated above. If I continue to do this for those internal reasons, I’ll continue to find people who align with my views and beliefs. In fact, I’m lucky enough to already have.

When we experience decline, we could lose motivation and stop altogether. We could also try some new things, but the most important thing is ensuring we continue to motivate ourselves internally. I write because it matters to me, and regardless of anything occurring externally, I will continue to do so!