先对自己有用 Useful to Myself First
我最近越来越确信一个道理：内容创作，必须先对自己有用，再谈对别人有用。
如果你自己写出来的东西你自己都不执行，做出来的东西你自己都不用，又凭什么指望别人会去用，去实践？
看了这篇文章后，再联想到前段时间看到笑来老师 2017 年写的关于知识付费的内容，
以及在 X 上刷到继刚老师的一些话，我对这件事的感受越来越强烈。
再加上最近 FreeGrid 的宣发突然起量，前几天还几乎没什么流量，这两天不知道怎么就爆了，这些事情叠在一起，让我更加确认：我过去很多关于内容创作的想法，确实走偏了。
FreeGrid 本身是我从创造后一直在用的工具。
我知道，自己心动不代表别人一定心动，但至少它给了我一张“入场券”：我是真的使用它，真的从中受益。只有这样，我在推荐它的时候，才不会心虚。
回头看以前写公众号，方法我自己也用，可有些方法没有一直用、一直执行。后来转型做图文，更是因为图文流量高，于是陷入了“为了流量而做内容”的怪圈，内容连自己都不信，平台凭什么给你流量？
最近在看笑来老师的新书《The half-second》，不得不佩服他的一点：他在开篇就说这本书他初稿很久之前就写了，但是一直没有出版，怕自己的烟瘾再犯，那这样本书的方法就是没用的。
他只写自己真正做到过的事情，只讲自己真正验证过的道理。我想，这也是为什么他的很多思考过了十年依旧不过时。
所以我现在越来越相信一个内容创作守则：
想创作对读者有用的东西，首先要创作对自己有用的东西。
以前觉得要用量去堆，觉得100篇总有1篇会爆，可连自己都不觉得有用的内容，平台又凭什么给你推流量？
选择这样做，更新频率必然下降，也必然更加痛苦
因为你每次都要斟酌自己发布的内容对读者是否真的有用，是否在浪费他们宝贵的注意力。
但这也必然会将你引向更深层的能力进阶。
我不知道这次 FreeGrid 的起量是不是偶然，但它确实把我带向了更深一层的思考。
还有一句话，我也一直记得很深：
做一个靠谱的人。
我记得这句话来自卡兹克的一篇文章，他提到这是 AI 时代非常重要的品质。当时看到以后，我记得特别牢，甚至慢慢变成了我的一种身份叙事。
这里也不得不再次感叹身份叙事的力量，你一旦认领，就真的一下子变成了那种人。
每次我使用 AI 交付某个东西之后，都会再仔细检查一遍，确认 AI 生成的内容有没有问题，确认结果是否准确，然后再发送。每次做完某件事，脑海里都会响起一个声音：
“做一个靠谱的人。”
很受用，很受用。
认知确实是最牛的东西——前提是你真的笃信它、践行它。不是我读了多少认知，就拥有了多少认知；而是我践行了多少，才真正拥有多少。
没做到，就是没有那种认知。
最后，也很感谢每一位愿意认真读完我文章的朋友。
坦白说，我自己也有过类似的问题：看到熟人朋友写的内容，有时只是匆匆扫几眼，并没有真正认真读完。所以我更知道，一篇长文能被完整读完，本身就是一种难得的信任。
见贤思齐焉，见不贤而内自省也。古人已经把道理说的很明白了。
我只需要跟着做就是。
祝大家六月快乐～
Lately I've grown more and more certain of one thing: content has to be useful to you first, before it can be useful to anyone else.
If you won't even act on what you write, won't even use what you build — why on earth would you expect anyone else to?
After reading this essay, and thinking back to something Li Xiaolai wrote about paid knowledge back in 2017,
plus a few lines from Li Jigang that crossed my feed on X — the feeling only got stronger.
And then FreeGrid's promotion suddenly took off — almost no traffic a few days ago, then out of nowhere it popped. All of it stacking up made me even surer: a lot of what I used to believe about making content was simply off.
FreeGrid is a tool I've used myself ever since I built it.
I know my own excitement doesn't guarantee anyone else's. But it at least hands me a ticket in: I really do use it, I really do benefit from it. That's the only thing that keeps me from bluffing when I recommend it.
Looking back at my public-account days — I did use my own methods, but some of them I never kept up, never really practiced. Later I pivoted to image-and-text posts, mostly because they pulled more traffic, and fell straight into the trap of making content for the traffic's sake. If you don't even believe your own content, why would the platform hand you reach?
I've been reading Li Xiaolai's new book, The Half-Second. One thing I can't help admiring: right at the start he says the first draft was written long ago, but he held off publishing it — afraid his smoking habit might come back, which would make the book's whole method worthless.
He only writes about what he's actually done, only teaches what he's actually verified. That, I think, is why so much of his thinking still holds up ten years on.
So here's a rule about making content that I believe in more and more:
If you want to create something useful to your readers, first create something useful to yourself.
I used to think it was a numbers game — a hundred posts, surely one would blow up. But if even you don't find it useful, why would the platform push it?
Choosing this way, my output will inevitably slow down, and it'll inevitably hurt more —
because every time, you have to weigh whether what you're publishing is truly useful to the reader, whether you're spending their attention well.
But that's exactly what pulls you toward a deeper level of skill.
I don't know whether FreeGrid's spike was a fluke. But it did carry me to a deeper layer of thinking.
There's one more line I've always kept close:
Be a reliable person.
I remember it came from an article by Kazik, where he called this one of the most important qualities in the age of AI. It stuck with me hard the moment I read it — to the point that it slowly became a kind of identity narrative for me.
And here, again, I can't help marveling at the power of identity narrative: the moment you claim it, you really do turn into that kind of person.
Every time I hand something off with AI, I go back and check it once more — make sure there's nothing wrong with what it produced, make sure the result is accurate, and only then send it. Every time I finish something, a voice goes off in my head:
“Be a reliable person.”
It serves me well. It really does.
Cognition really is the most powerful thing there is — but only if you truly believe it and truly live it. It's not that I own as much cognition as I've read; I own only as much as I've practiced.
What you haven't done, you don't actually know.
Finally, a real thank-you to everyone willing to read a piece of mine all the way through.
Honestly, I've been guilty of the same thing: skimming a few lines of something a friend wrote without ever really finishing it. So I know all the better that having a long piece read to the end is itself a rare kind of trust.
“When you meet someone worthy, think of becoming their equal; when you meet someone unworthy, turn inward and examine yourself.” The ancients said it plainly enough.
I just have to follow.
Wishing everyone a happy June.