Dear Jeff,

Nobody cares.

They just don't give a damn about what you're doing.

But here's a secret: They're right not to.

I know, I know. You have moments of fear and frustration. You're putting in all this work — creating thought-provoking articles that tie into a larger picture.

Doesn't matter. Nobody cares.

So are you wasting your time? Is this yet another uphill battle that will end in disappointment?

No.

Because what they need is exactly what you need.

IF YOU BUILD IT...

Look, you can't get disheartened when nobody leaves a comment ten minutes after you post a new article. You can't get frustrated when the whole world doesn't immediately perk up and say, "Wow, man, that was amazing!" You can't let your enthusiasm sag when you haven't even given them enough to sink their teeth into yet.

You've written 11,000 words across 5 articles on a website nobody knows about, that nobody's linking to... that nobody has any way of knowing is relevant to their life.

Google hasn't even found you yet, and Google finds everybody!

Give it time.

You know the plan. You know the vision. You know "what it looks like when it's done".

...THEY WILL COME

Trust it.

Trust yourself.

Trust your reader — that they'll find you when the time is right. That they'll see the value of what you're doing. That they'll act upon it and "live accordingly" exactly as your lead demonstrates.

They just need to see it first. They need a reason to care. They need to see a demonstration of value before they'll embrace something new.

And just because you tell them it's valuable does not make it valuable to them.

You need to prove yourself.

And you're doing that. Right now. With these articles.

Just like you planned.

WATCHING THE DANCE UNFOLD

The irony, of course, is that by the time everyone finds you — after Phenomenal has reached the tipping point, and people discover this website retrospectively — you'll already have dozens of articles online here (maybe hundreds). It will look easy to the reader of the future. The words will already be written. They'll be able to take a full day or two or five... and read everything as if it was all magically pouring out of you.

They won't see the blood, sweat, stress and tears you're giving up today.

They won't see that, despite your unshakable confidence in your project (which they will fully appreciate because they'll already know the end result), it still takes work to get it written. They won't see the struggle you have to go through every day — the discipline — to put the words on the page. Because they won't be watching it unfold in realtime.

They'll only see the result. Just as you only see the result of successful people today. You didn't watch their daily effort, either.

Plus, they'll have the book.

And you know from looking at the access logs that most people who visit the site in these early weeks aren't looking at the pre-order page. They don't know anything about the book. It's impossible even for them to understand what the book is.

(But, c'mon. You know that even if they read the description, they can't possibly understand what you're creating until they read the book itself anyway!)

CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

So relax.

You're doing a great job.

You're writing every day, and gradually chipping away at something that will eventually exist. You're creating something — bringing it into being. You're adding something of extraordinary value to the world — by gradually, day-by-day, pushing forward.

That's the way it works. That's the way anything of value comes into existence.

I know you want instant gratification. You want to write a handful of articles and click "Publish" and watch the whole internet instantly buzz with excitement. You want links re-tweeted on Twitter, thrust to the top Digg's homepage, spread virally through Facebook, voted up on Reddit, and celebrated across all the media.

That'll come.

Right now, that's not the thing to focus on. Right now, you're building the foundation.

WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS

And in case you've forgotten, let's go over the plan again:

STEP 1: You build The Phenomenal Experience website by publishing about 3 articles each week. By August 1st, you should have 12 or 15 articles online, so that when you kick off the pre-order phase of the book, people will know they can trust you to deliver something of value.

STEP 2: You continue expanding The Phenomenal Experience website by publishing about 3 articles per week, so that by the time the book is launched, you'll have between 65 and 100 articles online to support the publicity push.

STEP 3: Throughout all this, you continue writing the book. The outline is solid — four major sections: The Insight, The Implications, The Need, and The Opportunity — and the early chapters are getting written. You're on target to have at least a solid draft finished by the end of August.

STEP 4: If the book is ready, you go to the printer in September, so you can launch in November. If it needs more time, you work on it some more, and send it to the printer in November, so you can launch in February. There's no rush here. The book needs to be what it's destined to be: phenomenal. So you just keep writing articles for the Experience in the meantime.

STEP 5: When the book goes to the printer, you put your live presentation together. You create the talks, and begin organizing a speaking tour. In the presentation, you start revealing the insights of the book. When the audience discovers precisely how and why "you are phenomenal" and what the implications and opportunities are that come out of that, the word will spread.

STEP 6: As the word spreads, the website will find its audience. The book will attract its interest. You'll start to promote the book, everywhere you go. The promotional tour will begin alongside the speaking tour.

STEP 7: When the book is released, everything will finally make sense to the readers of this blog. Those that have been following along from the beginning will instantly be energized — they'll have watched a global phenomenon from its very inception (something you don't get the opportunity to do very often). Those that only find the blog after discovering the book will feel the same thing — only in retrospect — so they'll pore through this website looking for clues, to live the experience vicariously. Either way, the blog's value will shine when the book is released. You know that.

STEP 8: The book itself opens up new opportunities. People who fully grasp Phenomenal will respond passionately to the book. You'll find exciting new adventures to explore, and fun ways promote the ideas of the book. You might even sell the movie and TV series that inspired the book in the first place. Either way, an array of projects and opportunities will open up.

STEP 9: As you continue to share the Phenomenal insight, and explore and create the new opportunities, you will start to see your creation have an extraordinary and positive impact on the world. The fruits of today's efforts ripen tomorrow. And that's when we start rounding up the elements we need to do the work that will push us to the next level.

You know there's nothing to worry about.

In fact, you know this path is the right one. And you know that the end result will live up to the title you've selected for this whole thing. You know it. You've planned it. And since you've brought other plans to fruition in the past, you know you'll bring this one to fruition, too.

THE EXPERIENCE TO COME

You've even put together a great website that will become extraordinary in time. You've got more articles planned than you have time to write them all:

• Always Reach Beyond What You Think You Can Grasp
• Empower the World
• You Are Phenomenal
• The Single Best Day of Your Entire Life
• Hyperdestiny
• Twitter is the Borg >
• Your Life — 100 Years from Today
• Instant Gratification
• 15% to Life
• The Caveman with a Cell Phone
• Swimming on the Water Planet
• What is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
• Looking Into the Eyes of the Singularity
• Failure is a Figment of Your Imagination
• The Infinite Growth of Value
• I Look Ridiculous When I Dance
• The End of the Phenomenal Experience
• Finding the Courage Amidst the Fear
• The Human Organism in 2,000 Words or Less
• The Extraordinary Power of Certainty

...and every day, you come up with a handful of new article ideas that take it even further than all this. And it doesn't matter if the order changes, or the subjects combine, or the titles shift around, because you have an unlimited source of material inside you.

You can attract interest with your plans to add video. When you start asking people to share their "phenomenal experience", the community will grow. When you take it all out on the road, you'll be able to light up people's lives.

It's all there.

And, frankly, it doesn't matter that no one else can see it yet.

SHARE WHAT YOU SEE

In fact, that's actually the whole point of Contribution.

You're contributing something only you can see. They can't see it until you've shown it to them. They can't embrace it until you've done the hard work of putting it into a presentable form.

Even if they want to... they can't see what's in your head. Just like you can't hear a song that's in a musician's head until after they've written and recorded it.

You have to do the work first.

You have to prove yourself.

You've got to

draw the painting,
play the music,
dance the move,
build the house,
dig the treasure,
shape the steel,
cook the dish,
climb the mountain,
run the mile,
write the script,
lift the weight
— do the thing —

before you get to be disappointed that nobody cared.

And once you do the thing, those who can see what you've done... will care.

STAY FOCUSED ON THE GOAL

You are finally using your voice. You are creating something phenomenal, and designing a phenomenal experience. You are in the process of proving yourself, just by doing the work.

So focus.

And when you start to doubt or wonder or get that itchy sensation, sharpen the focus.

There is an end result here. And it's not the book. And until you've achieved that end result, there's still work to do.

Keep on writing. You're doing a great job.

And you're getting lots of knowing smiles
from readers in the future.

Your fan,

Next up, Article #7
Twitter is the Borg