Enter the Digital Arena

Newsletter I’ve been reading: Bulletpitch

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Now onto today’s piece:

When I was a junior in high school, I was curious about Stoicism.

So, I drove to my local bookstore and purchased Meditations by Marcus Aurelius — because everyone knows Meditations is the best starting book.

It teaches you:

• The core principles of the philosophy

• Real-world examples of its power and effectiveness

• An actionable operating system for how to approach life

Meditations is like the beginner’s manual of Stoicism. You can’t call yourself a Stoic if you haven’t read it.

Recently, I discovered something that I believe serves the same purpose — but for the internet.

If there was ever a foundational text that teaches you:

• The core principles of the world wide web

• Real-world examples of its power and effectiveness

• An actionable operating system for how to approach the internet

It would be The Great Online Game — a blog post written by Packy McCormick in 2021.

Now, I’m aware of the absurdity of comparing a 2-year-old internet blog post to a 2,000-year-old text from the greatest philosopher-king of the Roman Empire.

But I will say this:

The benefits in acting upon their ideas can be equally as powerful. This has been my experience, at least.

If Meditations is required reading for those interested in leveraging Stoicism, The Great Online Game should be required reading for those interested in leveraging the internet.

Today, I’m going to break down the greatest lessons from the blog post, combined with examples from my own journey to paint you a more vivid picture.

Whether you’re a creator or consumer, this will open your eyes to the behind the scenes of how this whole internet-social-media-attention-economy thing works.

Let’s get into it:

The Beginner’s Manual for the Internet Economy

Whether you realize it or not, every time you turn on the screen, you’re effectively logging into a video game.

And with the average person spending 6 hours and 57 minutes per day on the internet, this means humans spend the majority of their waking lives playing a video game. 

This scared the shit out of me, mostly because I realized I was horrible at this game. Mindless scrolling had wrecked my attention span, motivation, and mental health.

But once I became aware I could use the internet as a positive force instead of a negative force in my life, I asked myself:

“How can I get good at this game?”

If you’ve ever played a sandbox game, like Minecraft for example, you know there’s no set path you have to follow. It’s an open world where you can explore and build whatever seems interesting to you.

You can kinda just do whatever you want.

The internet works the same way. When I first started writing online, I really didn’t have any clue what I was doing. I just began posting Twitter threads about topics I enjoy talking about, such as meditation, Japan, and travel.

As a result, the Twitter algorithm pushed my content to people who also enjoy these same topics. And over time, I gradually built a community of like-minded people. Some of them have turned into:

• Friends

• Clients

• Business partners

I’m even hanging out in Buenos Aires with one of them right now. 6 months ago, I would’ve called you insane for telling me this was possible.

The greatest thing about this game is that it’s free to play. It costs nothing to tweet, post, DM, or upload content.

People in developing countries get to play on the same level playing field as those in developed countries. The barrier to entry is practically 0.

Realizing this forced me to consider:

“What do I have to lose?”

The best-case scenario is you achieve financial, geographic, and creative freedom.

The worst case scenario is you:

• Make some friends

• Explore your interests on a deeper level

• Learn some new skills

• Share your thoughts online

Besides maybe an old high school friend making fun of you, you have nothing to lose.

If you’re any kind of rational decision-maker, the choice should be quite obvious.

One of my biggest regrets of my entire online journey so far:

Not starting sooner.

I kept moving the goal posts of when I planned to start posting online:

“I’ll start in April.”

“OK, actually I’ll start after the semester ends.”

“Nevermind, it makes more sense to start after my summer job finishes.”

In reality, there’s never a “perfect” time to join. The switch from consumer to creator might seem like a daunting task, but the truth is it’s really as simple as typing a few sentences and pressing “tweet.”

Take yourself lightly and have fun with it.

I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve changed my bio, banner, profile picture, and “niche.”

I even went under a pseudonym at first — “Matt Milos” — out of fear of my friends and family finding out (shoutout to all you OG’s who remember).

And guess what? I’ll probably rebrand several more times. But that’s a good thing.

Your brand evolves as you do.

As Packy mentions in his full blog post, you’re playing an “infinite video game.”

This one’s self-explanatory, but necessary to include. I’ve seen firsthand people ruin their reputation online through some whack, heat-of-the-moment type comments.

The consequence? Word spreads, and people won’t want to become friends or work with you anymore.

Nobody I’ve worked or connected with has ever asked me about my degree. This is true not just for my experience, but also for some of the biggest creators in the game. It’s simply not relevant in this world.

In fact, I dropped out of college after realizing the depth to this truth.

The difference between the Great Online Game and other video games like Fortnite, FIFA, or Call of Duty? The former gifts you real-world prizes.

In the little over 6 months since I started playing this game, I’ve been blessed with:

• An incredible global network of like-minded friends

• A 6-figure income

• A “job” that feels like play

Sure, getting Messi or Ronaldo in a FIFA Ultimate Team pack is cool. But it doesn’t quite compare, does it?

One of my least favorite aspects of society is how much people identify with their job titles. When you meet someone, it’s always “What’s your name?” followed by “What do you do?”

Technically, I could call myself many different things:

• Ghostwriter

• Blogger

• Content creator

• Digital marketer

• Writer

• Internet entrepreneur

(I still don’t know quite how to answer this question when people ask me).

But your job title should not define you. “I’m a car salesman” is a bullshit statement. You’re much more than that. You’re multi-faceted with a wide range of skills, passions, and abilities. You’re a human.

As Robert Heinlein says, “Specialization is for insects.”

And that’s the beauty of the internet — you’re not defined by any silly job title. You’re not pigeonholed into any specific career model.

You’re simply you. 

And because the Great Online Game is an open world, you can pursue whatever you like.

Get out there and play.

Matt’s Discoveries

My 3 favorite finds this week:

Perplexity AI has completely eliminated my use of Google Search. That’s a crazy statement to make after all these years, but their Chrome extension and iOS app simply delivers a much cleaner and more enjoyable search experience.

Neil Gaiman’s 2012 graduation speech was an incredible watch.

Readwise Reader is the beautiful app I’ve started consuming most articles, blogs, and newsletters on.

Thanks for reading.

Go have yourself a killer week.

Matt Mic

P.S. For those of you who want to take this full-time creator thing seriously…

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If you want personalized help with content creation, online business, social media, or anything else, book a 1:1 call with me.

I use Tweet Hunter to schedule all of my tweets and threads in advance. I love this tool. It’s the main hub of my Twitter workflow.

I’ll see you next Monday. In the meantime, catch me over on Twitter.