Howdy Reader!

A little while back I wrote you about that squirrel study I'd been reading. The one where the squirrels kept climbing past the easy pumpkin seeds to reach the almonds at the top of the pole. But I left out the part of that study that's been rattling around in my head ever since.

Not every squirrel climbed.

The researchers noticed something. The less dominant squirrels, the ones lower in the pecking order, were way more likely to grab the easy snack instead of going for their favorite. And it wasn't that they didn't want the almonds. It's that climbing higher meant being up there longer, exposed, with a real chance a bigger, bolder squirrel would show up and snatch the reward right when they'd done all the work.

So they played it safe. They took the pumpkin seed they could grab fast and get out.

Here's the thing. I do this too. You probably do too.

When I'm not feeling sure of myself in a space, I reach for the safe content. The post I know will be fine. The video that looks like everybody else's video. The caption AI spit out on the first try, because hey, it's good enough and nobody's going to call me out for it. It feels smart. It feels efficient. It feels like protecting the reward.

Let's not be squirrelly about it, and let's talk about what's actually happening.

“Safe” content isn't free.

The cost just shows up somewhere quieter. Nobody remembers it, nobody shares it, nobody feels anything when they scroll past it. You spent the energy and walked away with a pumpkin seed.

The almonds, the creative stuff that's actually you, the weird specific take, the story you're a little nervous to tell, the opinion you keep biting your tongue on, those only happen when you're willing to climb where you might get noticed. Where somebody might disagree. Where it might flop.

And I get why we don't. The bigger squirrel is real. Somebody might copy you, somebody might criticize you, the algorithm might bury it anyway. But playing small to guard a reward you never actually reach for isn't protection. It's just a slower way of settling.

So this week, climb for one almond. Pick the single piece of content you've been talking yourself out of, and make that one. Not the safe version. The “you” version.

See ya around the interwebs,
​
-Jeff

P.S. What's the one almond you keep talking yourself out of? The post you keep kicking down the road, the take you keep sitting on? Hit reply and tell me. I'd love to hear it.