For those who find it exhausting to earn by inciting readers. The 'Knowledge Creator' way of working: turning your thoughts into assets

I started the morning determined to have perfect task management today, but before I knew it, I had spent three hours scrolling through X.

It feels like the ultimate resource allocation error in my brain (tears).

I am Mentally Tsuyoshi.

Now, today I want to talk about 'money,' or more precisely, about 'how to monetize.'

When you keep writing on platforms like note or Kindle, you inevitably run into the problem of 'how to sell.'

I have been thinking about this for a long time, too.

But the more I tried to fit into the world's 'formulas for success,' the more I felt an unsettling, restless feeling in my chest.

Today, I want to write about how I found my own landing point for monetization while dealing with the 'difficulties of living' unique to ADHD.

I will write about the conclusion I reached: the 'Knowledge Creator' way of life.

The more I thought about how to sell, the more painful it became

In the world of marketing, there is a golden rule.

It is to 'poke at the reader's anxieties and pain points.'

Methods that use this kind of 'fear' as fuel certainly sell well.

But when I try to do it myself, my fingers stop moving.

'To sell, I have to scare someone.'

It seems this structure itself was not built into the blueprint of my soul (sweat).

I didn't want to turn my readers' anxieties into products

What I want to do is not to make someone 'dependent' on me.

It is actually the opposite.

I want to provide the criteria for judgment so that people who are hesitant can reach a state where they can decide for themselves.

I don't want to take responsibility for the result of 'making them earn money,' but rather share the 'process of organizing thoughts' that comes before that.

Rather than deepening readers' anxieties to make a sale, I want to deepen my own thoughts and leave them behind.

That is how I have come to feel.

This might be 'inefficient' as a business.

But for me, the survival risk is much higher if I force myself to mimic a 'successful person' and stretch beyond my means to sell.

Because a mental 'forced shutdown' is clearly visible on the horizon.

Overseas, there were already 'people who grow and sell knowledge'

When I was lost about my own position, the movements of overseas creators caught my eye.

They were not selling 'anxiety,' but rather growing and sharing their own 'systems of thought.'

For example, these are the kinds of people:

• Dan Koe: A standard-bearer for solopreneurship who turns his knowledge into a 'small education business.'

• Tiago Forte: A knowledge management professional who advocates for a 'Second Brain' to externalize memory.

• Anne-Laure Le Cunff: A practitioner who scientifically explores ways to maintain creativity without burning out.

Watching them, I was struck with a powerful impact.

'Ah, there is a path to grow my own trial and error as an 'asset' without having to incite readers.'

What they are doing is not just selling off information piece by piece.

It is the work of organizing the 'chaos' inside their own brains and converting it into a 'structure' that others can use.

It was exactly what I wanted to do.

That is why the term Knowledge Creator felt just right.

Knowledge Creator.

When I encountered this term, I felt as if a scattered puzzle had finally come together.

This is a label for a 'practitioner who turns knowledge into assets,' not a 'guru' or a 'successful person'.

• It is not about selling know-how as a one-off and being done with it.

• It is also not about posting random thoughts and being done with it.

It is about taking the intense trial and error within myself, the failures due to my ADHD, and the 'survival strategies' derived from them, and refining them over and over into a concrete form.

I want to turn my knowledge into assets, rather than monetizing people's sense of lack.

This way of thinking was the 'optimal solution' for me.

Looking back, what I have been doing was indeed this form.

The notes I have written until now were actually this 'accumulation of knowledge'.

• Reinterpreting ADHD failure stories as 'specifications'.

• Organizing emotional fluctuations using 'system terminology'.

• Redefining AI as a 'thinking partner'.

These are all 'debug records' for me, an individual, to survive without breaking down.

I compile them into Kindle books, use them as bonuses for paid articles, or turn them into blueprints as prompts.

I see, I had just been editing the 'project called myself' all along.

Once I realized that, I felt much more at ease.

That is why I want to shift my monetization toward 'accumulation of knowledge' rather than 'readers'.

From now on, I will shift my monetization further in this direction.

I want to monetize knowledge, not monetize readers.

I will not create funnels that incite people to think, 'I have to buy this right now!'

Instead,

'This person's past thought logs and blueprints are always valuable, no matter when I look at them.'

I intend to increase the value of my information as an 'archive' that makes people feel that way.

When needed, by the people who need it, at their own pace.

I am aiming for that kind of 'quiet monetization'.

It doesn't mean 'doing everything for free'

Of course, I don't mean to say that I will 'give everything away for free'.

Organizing knowledge and shaping it into a usable form consumes a vast amount of CPU resources (my time and energy).

I believe it is healthy as a professional to receive compensation for that 'organized value'.

What matters is 'what you are receiving money for'.

Instead of using the bugs of 'fear' or 'impatience' as fuel, I provide the function of 'conviction' and 'clarity' as value.

Receiving money itself is not bad.

However, I want it to be compensation for organized value, not for emotional pressure.

This is the one line I cannot cross.

I want to be a 'person who organizes thoughts,' not a 'person who pressures readers'

I am not the type to forcefully push someone forward.

I couldn't bring myself to say, 'You can do it! Keep going!' even if my life depended on it.

Because I know better than anyone that I am the one who 'can't keep going' (laughs).

But, I can stand beside someone who has stopped in their tracks,

I can confirm things like, 'The current situation has this kind of structure.'

Or, 'This part is by design, so it's fine as it is.'

I can confirm these things.

Not a guru, but a validator.

Not leading from the front, but standing by your side.

As such a 'thought organizer,' I want to continue building up knowledge.

Summary: I want to turn knowledge, not anxiety, into assets.

Perhaps there is no need to feel a cold ring to the word 'monetization.'

What I want to sell is not anxiety, but the accumulation of trial and error.

By defining it that way, my mind has become much clearer.

Operating under the obsession that 'I have to earn' doesn't suit us.

But with the curiosity to 'cultivate knowledge,' I feel like I can keep running forever.

Without breaking, but steadily.

My own way of knowledge creation will continue from here on out.

Key points summary

• Marketing that incites anxiety does not fit our 'specifications.'

• What I aim for is not reader monetization, but 'turning knowledge into assets.'

• The position of 'Knowledge Creator' from overseas feels just right.

• Organizing my own trial and error into a 'structure' that others can use and sharing it.

Articles digging deeper into five people you can link to are included in the 'Design Philosophy' magazine.

You don't have to decide anything right now.

However, if you feel that 'it's exhausting to incite people too,' please keep this perspective of 'cultivating knowledge' in the back of your mind.

Editor's Note

While watching videos by overseas marketers to write this article, I found myself about to click 'buy' on the equipment around his desk before I knew it.

Starting with the gear. This is truly the traditional art of ADHD (rolling eyes).

That was a close one.

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