The Continuum of Creators
And Why Atomic Habits makes True Artists Cringe
If you spend any time online you’ve probably noticed a lot of people seem to be recommending the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I'm sure it's a lovely book, and it's probably helped a ton of people develop habits to improve their lives and livelihoods. But why is there so much hype for this one particular book? Everywhere I turn it seems to top Twitter threads and book lists with titles like "The Top 10 books you must read to be successful, happy and attractive."
I wondered about all the hype, so I tried to read it. I’m a voracious reader, and it's one of the few books in my life that I found so blindingly obvious that I put it down and never finished it. It’s still sitting, mockingly, in my Kindle library attempting to shame me into finishing it. Since my failed attempt to read Atomic Habits, I've connected with a number of like-minded folk who also don't understand the hype. We occasionally make fun of books like Atomic Habits and the Twitter threads they “inspire”, and it’s become a slight mental badge of honor to me that I was unable to finish it.
But, something about this topic has been lurking in the background of my mind for a while, something that feels vaguely important, and I think I now know what that is: Why do so many people think it's the most important non-fiction book you can read? And why do other people feel like it's not worth your time, and possibly not worth the paper it’s printed on?
After noodling on this for a while, I think I might have an answer or, at least, a theory as to what is going on.
I'm in my fifties now, I'm fairly comfortable with my work, with my habits, with my life and with my livelihood. It felt like, to me, that Atomic Habits simply isn’t saying anything new, and isn’t saying anything I haven't heard before. And, in all fairness, it probably isn't, there is nothing new under the sun, after all. So, it feels like, from my perspective, that there isn't anything it can teach me, and so, I'd rather read something else. But, when I think back to when I was younger, and trying to build my business, to make my way in the world, to be more “productive”, and to be more effective, I admit that I did devour a number of similar books. The types of books we would refer to as “productivity porn” today. And, at the time, I honestly felt like they helped me.
The power of habits may be obvious to me now, after spending two decades building good habits, but I'm further along on my journey than many people, so I need to think back to what my journey was like at earlier stages. It dawns on me that an enlightened guru wouldn't need to read a fictional book called Atomic Meditation, because, at some point, one leaves techniques behind and they simply become part of you. But a beginning meditator might learn a lot from Atomic Meditation. Similarly, someone just getting started, who didn't read whatever the 90s version of Atomic Habits was (which I'm sure I did read), might learn and internalize a lot from Atomic Habits. Perhaps it depends on where you are on your journey. Especially your professional journey.
Content vs. Art
One reason so many people are reading, and reviewing, books such as Atomic Habits lately is that the internet, and the proliferation of platforms it has enabled, has created a situation where, for the first time really, just about anyone willing to do the work can, fairly easily, become an entrepreneur running a single person creative business. These businesses are sometimes called being a "solopreneur", sometimes called being a "creator" and, in our parlance at BoldBrush, called being a "Sovereign Artist."
In the past half decade, the internet has gone crazy with talk of the burgeoning "Creator economy." On Twitter, it seems every other person is referring to themselves as a "Content Creator." Somehow, the word "content" has overtaken the words "writing”, “images”, “art”, and “videos.” And the word "creator" has overtaken the words "writer", "artist", "photographer" and "filmmaker." That is a tragedy of modernity and deserves a separate essay to explore further. Perhaps I’ll write one someday, but in the meantime it’s been written about by several writers more insightful than me.
In any case, people exploring the ways to make money from creating, a primal drive by the way, quickly discover that they can simply talk about “content creation” and have some modicum of success and thus, may start calling themselves a "content creator". And usually, they quickly discover that they can then charge money selling courses, eBooks and communities to other people who want to become "content creators." And so the cycle continues.
Now, there's nothing wrong with people discovering how to create content and how to profit from it. But, as someone who has spent more than thirty years in the art world, selling art, interacting with artists, writing about art, creating software for the art industry, I'm left wondering "what about the artists?" They seem to have somehow gotten simply lumped in with other "content creators" as if they're all doing the same thing on some high level. And, in my gut, that always felt wrong.
Luke Burgess recently interviewed Thomas J. Bevan about this topic in a discussion titled "Transcending the Transactional." And Thomas made a compelling case that what we call "content", which is transactional and metrics driven by nature, is actually the polar opposite of "art", which is forged out of the artist’s soulfire and driven, not by metrics, but by an insatiable hunger to create.
And I think he's spot on. True art, and “content” are opposites. While superficially similar in that they both are presented online on the same sites and social networks, the reasons one creates them, respectively, are completely different, and, it turns out, that matters. Some art might accidentally back into being effective content, but metrics-driven content will almost never accidentally become art. And the (unspoken) goal of a content creator is to stop being a content creator, but the goal of an artist is simply to create. Big difference.
The Content/Art Continuum
As I muse on this topic, and I've been dancing around it for months, I've had an epiphany that while "pure content" is the opposite of "pure art,” they exist, not atomically (pun intended) as yin and yang, but instead live on opposite ends of a continuum, much like the Space/Time Continuum. Think of this as the Content/Art Continuum. And while you may become materially rich by living exclusively on the content side, you can not and will not become spiritually rich until you move to the art side.
I've identified four basic levels of being a "creator" on the Content/Art Continuum:
Level 1 = Learning about Content
Level 2 = Independent Content Producer
Level 3 = Unique Content Creator
Level 4 = Artist
If you’ll forgive my poor graphic design skills, it looks something like this:
Level 1 Creators
Most people seeking to make some sort of solopreneur income start at Level One, obviously. It is often triggered by a change in their circumstances. Perhaps they lost a job. Or came across an online course. Or saw someone they follow start producing content and posting about it on Twitter. The pandemic created a huge new wave of people exploring their online options.
Whatever the motivating factor, there is a moment where they see others online making money and think "Maybe I could do that." And so they start following content creators online. They start buying courses. They start experimenting with writing their own blog. They set up a Substack. They tentatively start Tweeting. They subscribe to all the famous and not-so-famous productivity newsletters. And, because they've brought these resources into their lives, mimetic desire kicks in and they start mimicking what they see the more successful creators do. And before long, they have a small following of their own.
So they create a small course, which says much the same thing as the courses they previously bought, and start having some sales of their own. At this level, these people aren't bringing anything unique to the table, but they are encouraged that they can make some money outside of a traditional job, and they see a path to a nice side income. And perhaps they can even envision a day of becoming financially independent. These are all good things, and my heart soars that the Internet has enabled people to escape dismal situations, financially or otherwise.
But what I want to point out is important: this is just the beginning of the real journey. And at this level, a book like Atomic Habits may seem like gold to someone who has never before encountered such ideas.
As Level One creator grows he will, at least those who stick with it, eventually have enough momentum going that he kinda/sorta knows what he’s doing, and he will have a big enough following, that he can gradually move up to the next Level of the continuum.
Level 2 Creators
Level Two is where people begin to hold themselves out as an "expert" content creator. They typically have a newsletter, a blog, an active social presence, and a number of courses. They may even have a large Twitter following. At this level it's common to start offering consulting services. After all, you've built a "successful" brand and following - you can teach other people how to do it too!
Here’s a refreshingly honest tweet by a creator who offered consulting services in his early days and admits that he “had no idea how to do it.” and was “Just slightly better than the guys paying me.”
He even admits he was a B-Level talent!
As a creator progresses through Level Two, they can build quite a following - don't forget that there are hundreds of thousands of people at Level One that they can market and sell to! And at Level Two, these people can be quite effective at helping Level One creators move from a bad situation toward financial independence. In fact, Level Two creators are probably best positioned to help those at Level One. They have achieved what the creators at Level One want and are still focused on the practical aspects of solopreneurship, rather than having moved on to something that looks more like art for art’s sake. Many people at Level Two have achieved financial freedom and are making a full time, sometimes lucrative, living completely from their "content creator" work.
While I often poke fun at people at Level Two, I do want to pause and give them praise for making it this far. It's a big achievement and makes a difference in people's lives. I too once was what I now call a “Level Two” creator. And remember my poking fun at Atomic Habits above? Well, it turns out I wrote a post along similar lines all the way back in 2006! Chasing the Sweet Embrace of Success by Developing Habits. If Atomic Habits had been released in 2005, I likely would have recommended it in that post. And I recall vividly how many people wrote to tell me how that post had helped them.
So why do we cringe? The reason many of us find Level Two creators so annoying is because, well, how many Level Two creators do we need? They're all basically saying, and selling, the same thing. And they're not, usually, adding any new, unique knowledge to the world. They are second graders teaching first graders.
While it’s OK for second graders to teach first graders, at Level Two you'll find far too large a mass of “content creators” posting information along the lines of what one would find in Atomic Habits exactly because that’s the content that will appeal to Level One creators. And there are more people at Level One, or who are considering trying content creation, than any other level. So Level Two creators, in a way, have the largest potential audiences. And thus, every other Twitter thread recommends Mr. Clear’s book as “one that will change your life.” And, if you’re still at Level One, it might. But if you’re at level Two, you need to push yourself further.
Here’s why: in the early days of the internet, we dreamed of unlocking an explosion of knowledge and art. We dreamed of a new renaissance. We did not envision, and certainly did not dream about, an army of people who write banal content online about nothing except how to write banal content online. If you're going to write, your topic should be unique in some way. You should not simply constantly teach other people how to write. You need to bring some unique idea or point of view to the table. You need to make art. And so, I guess the crux of my problem is simply that far too many people seem to just stop at Level Two. I implore would-be creators to realize that at this particular level, like a musician who has finally mastered his scales and sheet reading skills, you have only finished understanding the most basic skills needed to create art and are now, finally, ready to take your first real step of composing your own art.
Level 3 Creators
Level Three is where things start to get more interesting. And rarified. At Level Three, people are often still creating “content.” And Level Three creators, especially at the beginning of Level Three, are likely still metrics and money driven. At this level, there is probably not much of what I call “soulfire creation” happening, but we are likely starting to see some real passion starting to creep into the work. Level Three happens when a content creator, for whatever reason, starts to create and share unique ideas and knowledge.
These folks start writing about things that you can't find anywhere else. At Level Two, most of what is produced consists of all the same ideas re-written over and over with different words. But at Level Three, you will start to see much bigger differences between what the individual creators are saying. Level Three creators start to develop "niches" and start to become known for specific expertise and for specific styles.
At this level, the ideas in Atomic Habits start to seem obvious to the individual creator because, to get to Level Three, if you make your money from your online creating, you've been practicing, whether you think about it or not, the very habits you need to practice to be successful in an online business.
Interestingly, Level Three also re-introduces people who are creating simply for the love of it. I’ve read many unique blog posts written by people who don’t try to make money by creating online, but simply have unique knowledge that they occasionally share with the world. Either way, at Level Three it becomes more about sharing unique knowledge and less about making money, even for those who are making money (which is another interesting topic to explore at another time).
Level 4 Creators Artists
And so we arrive at Level Four. At Level Four you're no longer creating content, you're starting to create true art. Your motivation is now intrinsic. You’re probably starting to cringe at some of the things you created in your past. And the money and metrics, if they happen, are a sideshow to the main stage of your creativity.
Since you're now an artist, in many ways, Level Four marks the end of your time as a “content creator” and the beginning of your journey as a true artist. So, in many ways, Level Four is where your true journey starts.
Within Level Four, you can be a beginner, an established artist, or master artist. But artists at this level are creating first and "monetizing" second. Or, possibly, they monetized so well at Levels Two and Three, that they simply don’t need to worry about the money as much anymore. Having a trust fund, or a day job, is the ultimate source of FU Money for the True Artist because it eliminates the temptation to become a captive creator and to pander to the audience. (Again, a topic for another day). I myself, I think, have followed this path. I hope, that my professional writing is now at least at Level Three and provides something unique, something gleaned from my more than thirty years in the art industry, for our artist readers. But even BoldBrush, FASO, Musero and The Sovereign Artist, in a way, represent a “day job” of sorts for the creations of my soul: my guitar playing, which is for my ears only, and my personal writing which I share online here.
The point is, once you become an artist, you are creating to fill your soul. You are creating to share something unique with the world. You are creating because you simply must create. As Kurt Vonnegut said, "The practice of art isn't to make a living. It's to make your soul grow."
Now, About Atomic Habits
Now, let’s assume you are writing/creating/painting/making music online at Level Four for a moment. If you aren’t, just pretend that you are. Imagine being at this level and scrolling through Twitter, and seeing tweet after tweet and thread after thread talking about how “Atomic Habits will change your life.”
Imagine watching people say the most banal things like “Eat right and exercise and you’ll 10X your results in life.” You roll your eyes but notice these same people attract hundreds of thousands of followers. Meanwhile, you, as an artist, likely know and follow dozens or even hundreds of other true artists. And you watch these other true artists, who have real, and interesting things to say about our world being ignored. These people, who have unique ideas that can’t be found anywhere else, languish in seemingly relative obscurity.
It’s disheartening. And it’s annoying. Can you imagine writing world-class fiction or truly novel ideas while watching first and second graders get book deals and attract millions of followers? It’s the opposite of the renaissance we hoped the internet would enable and, if you let it get to you, it can be maddening.
And that, I think, is why a frustrated, but immensely talented, minority of people roll their eyes and smirk, or lose heart, or check out of social media completely once they see “Atomic Habits will change your life” posted by yet another well-followed second grader for the 453rd time.
Until next time,
Clintavo
PS - If you’re interested in connecting with Level Four true artists, writers and flaneurs you might consider subscribing to the Soaring Twenties Social Club newsletter. STSC has no affiliation with BoldBrush other than I am, personally, a member.
I think books like Atomic Habits and other self-help/pop psychology books are useful to read, cause it helps to understand how people who ONLY read that kind of books think.
Your essay made me smile. There's a good reason I avoid social media, and especially Twitter, like the plague. Keep playing your guitar, and let your music feed your soul.