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Once You Are At The Top, Appreciate The View

In January I wrote an entry over at Expert Idiot titled Looking Back where I reflect on what used to be in the life of Scrivs. You ever have those moments when you see a celebrity fall from grace and wonder how could anyone allow themselves to get in that situation? They have everything in the world and just give it up like it is nothing. That happens on the web as well, but on a much lesser scale. Being relevant today doesn’t make you anything tomorrow. I learned that the hard way.

One of the problems is taking your accomplishments for granted. On the web successes come easy. Back in the early days of blogging they came real easy to the point where you weren’t even sure if you put any effort in to get to your position. Write an entry, be a bit controversial, write a great tutorial and you were guaranteed star status. It really was that easy.

Even though the web was open it still acted like the print world. There were a couple of major publications with a few independents sprinkled around. Now? There are way more major publications and thousands of independents looking to take your traffic, fame, money and audience. The tight-knit feeling that made the web design community feel so great isn’t there anymore. It’s almost like leaving college and entering the real world, you are on your own and it is up to you to keep up with the pace.

I remember when 9rules was the king of the castle. You didn’t get much more relevant than us in the field. Now? We are larger, get more traffic and money, but for me it doesn’t feel as relevant as it did before. In a way we didn’t keep up because we were lost in our own world and the worse part is I took it all for granted.

Maybe we will be able to recapture that feeling with our upcoming changes, maybe we won’t. I know in most cases if people had the choice of being relevant to people or huge and making money, they would take the money because you have to pay the bills. However, there is an intrinsic satisfaction to knowing that you touched people. That you changed them even if it is just a tiny bit because you aren’t just another large site they come across on the web.

I’ve felt that way twice with my old blog and 9rules. I know many people who don’t get that feeling once. Unfortunately, I didn’t appreciate it enough to look around and respect what I had. In this day and age it is never enough to simply get to the top because the mountain keeps on growing. People’s interests change and the game you are in changes. If you aren’t mindful enough to keep on playing you will end up on the bench for life.

I’m not telling you to forget the money and the fame because if those come then more power to you. What I am telling you is that if you are in the position where you find that even one person embraces what you do, enjoys what you do, thanks you for what you do then you should take a second and understand how important that is in the grand scheme of things.

Don’t take the view at the top for granted because you might not see the sun rise again. I know because I’ve been there and it’s a tough climb back.