The Power And Danger Of The Red Pill

"I can't write Twitter threads anymore."

He's a big hit on Twitter... has more than 100K followers... but once he took the red pill, he couldn't pretend that everything was the same as before.

What this friend revealed to me on that Zoom call made me realize how powerful and dangerous the red pill can be.

Once he took the red pill, he became aware of the mechanisms behind social media…

People think it's all about the addiction to consume...

But the biggest problem is the addiction to conform. 

The algorithm rewards the creatives who follow its rules. And the rules are designed to keep you in the loop of mediocrity.

It shifts your focus from creating unique and meaningful work to chasing attention at all costs.

There are a few rare exceptions, of course. But for most creatives, there are only two paths on Social Media:

1. Imitate what's working and grow fast
   

2. Uncover your own path and grow slow

The second requires patience and resilience, traits that are rarely cultivated nowadays.

So when my friend told me that he was struggling to sit down and write threads...

It was clear that he could now see the social media game with 100% clarity. He had swallowed the red pill.

In my last newsletter, I talked about the 1 ingredient most creatives are missing:

A strong message.

A message that helps create a change in your niche.

But to help people embrace your message, you first have to present them with the red pill.

For example:

• Tim Ferriss’ red pill: 9-5 is bullshit. You can build a remote biz and live on your own terms.
  

• Justin Welsh’s red pill: Scaling a business is tiresome. You can make $1M+ as a solo entrepreneur.
  

• Shane Parrish's red pill: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. You can learn the first principles of the most important disciplines (mental models), and use them to make better decisions.
  

• Gianni Cara's red pill: Social Media is designed to turn creatives into copycats. If you want to create unique and meaningful work, you have to uncover your own path.

And it's important to understand one critical thing about the red pill:

Before your audience is ready to take it, they need to experience the matrix. Only then you can offer them the antidote.

Because if they're not aware of the problem, they will not seek change.

And you also have to acknowledge the fact that on the other side, they're being fed the blue pill every single day.

• Tim Ferriss’ blue pill: 9-5 is the most secure job you can have.
  

• Justin Welsh’s blue pill: successful entrepreneurs focus on scaling.
  

• Shane Parrish’s blue pill: make more money by specializing in one single thing.
  

• Gianni Cara's blue pill: imitating what works is the easiest and fastest way to grow.

You see how compelling the blue pill can be?

That's why you can't expect people to take the red pill right away.

It takes time.

You need to be consistent and show them different perspectives until they are ready to take it.

Now... at the beginning of this newsletter, I said that red pills are powerful but also dangerous. Here's what I mean by that:

If you make people aware of the problem, but you don't offer them a solution... you just get them in a state of confusion.

"I knew how to live in the blue pill world. How do I operate now in this red-pill world?"

In The Matrix, once Neo took the red pill, Morpheus trained him to acquire the capabilities to fight the Matrix. Without that, Neo would be helpless.

You and I have to do the same for our audiences.

In my case, my responsibility is to show you how to uncover your unique message and communicate it effectively.

So as a creative, you a have choice to make:

You either keep people on autopilot...

Or remove them from the matrix (even if for a few minutes) to slide through a message.