Building a Framework for the Category of One
I don't have an all encompassing universal framework.
But I realize I need to just start.
I have been playing around with the idea that the Category of One, most importantly of all, needs something related to your human essence.
I need to research much more what I mean by that. But I recall reading that there is something about a human being that makes them who they are.
Some would refer that to their soul. Other their spirit. Some talk about energy or aura.
That's not very actionable. So I prefer to think about Energy. Specifically, what is the thing or set of things that you are in fact passionate about and energized by?
This had been a trap for me in the past.
Why?
Because I thought this meant an activity of subject: knitting, golfing, specific programming, cars, photography, guitars. There were people I read about who had these hobbies that they could monetize.
What I didn't know and what I should have done was looked at what I did like and find a way to make it valuable.
I really liked learning about marketing and sales and design. I wasn't awesome at it. But I spent a lot of time reading and practicing.
That means something.
I was constantly reading about the topic. And that is a strong signal -- what attracts you when you subscribe to a newsletter? When you follow someone on YouTube or Twitter?
I believe starting with this is so critical now because whatever you are working on you need to have enough energy to stick with it.
That can be defensible.
What happens if I have several interests?
I believe this is good. You should have several interests. And if not, find a way to cultivate them.
Perhaps you have several interests as a way to not get bored. Or because you are afraid of going into depth in any one area?
This is actually more real and applied to me.
This is a point of self awareness to address. It doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong.
But in my case, depth does matter. Being willing to face the gaping void of what I don't know was something I was missing. And I am trying to address this now.
One way to build more depth is to write about the Throughline.
In fact, this is one way to make things far more interesting and compelling.
Yes, I know the famous Steve Jobs quote about not realizing how everything connects until you look back.
It doesn't mean it can't be done with what little signal you have.
Category of One -- my own energy
For me, category of one combined a number of interests that I had. It was a throughline.
Even though other people have written about it and will continue to write about it, at this point, I shouldn't care.
Here's why.
Those other writers haven't solved my problem. Maybe they solves it for other people.
But I need to keep pushing, staring at the gaping void of my own ignorance, until I found some insight or truth.
This is what I mean by Energy.
It's a little different from tropes like Find Your Passion which just never worked for me. I don't know what my passion is. I don't know where to look for it when phrased that way.
But I know I have an incentive to answer this question for myself and hopefully, along the way, it is helpful for others.
Your Passion Meets The World's Pain
I dislike the word passion when used as something to seek and find. It has just been too elusive.
What worked for me is to uncover a pain for which I desires to lean into helping others to solve.
That came from my own struggles and being honest with dissatisfaction not finding it.
In this context, I like the phrase.
The direction that can help is tying into Problems to Solve.
Now this was an example where I read an article and it changed my perspective.
Problems not Passion.
Where I failed was not being able to identify a problem because, in part, I didn't know how to look for them in the right way.
Part of that problem was because I didn't have a deep, deep desire to help others with their problems.
I mean, I did in a way: if someone mentioned that they had a problem, I would jump at the chance to talk to them about it, start coming up with a business to help them.
One time just over beers at a table, I overheard someone talk about the challenges he had working in a diabetes lab. Immediately I started chatting with him, asking him what the problem was (he needed a better way to report on the data), and by the following week I was reaching out to diabetes labs around the country.
The idea was a flop. There wasn't a good market. I learned a lot about liver transplants.
To me, that kind of reaction to hearing about a problem is a bare minimum. If you can't get to this point when a problem appears, you may have a hard time becoming an entrepreneur. And a difficult time crafting a category of one that stands out.
However, what I lacked was a deep searching to connect and "feel their pain".
Even though people roast Bill Clinton for using that phrase, I always felt a kinship and longing to be able to do so.
This is different from intuitive empathy. One of the things I loved most when talking to customers as a product manager and in my earlier days in sales was listening for the deeper pain. This is essential these days.
But I mean finding your category of one goes deeper than that.
It's not a show stopper. It's an endless journey.
But it's perhaps both a desire to tune to that deeper pain and longing of a person. And forge that Point of View from this longing.
Dutch painter Piet Mondrian pioneered the abstract geometric style of Neoplasticism. His paintings used only lines and primary colors to reveal deeper truths through simplicity and harmony. Mondrian believed art could express spirituality within material forms. His pursuit of balance and contemplation through precise abstraction aligns with the goal of developing a personal philosophy by filtering out the inessential to reveal inner structure