Less, But Improved and More Powerful

Every so often, I remind myself that this is a blog, and I enjoy sharing insights from my career as a VR developer, entrepreneur, and blogger. My hope is that my experiences can offer useful lessons to those facing similar challenges. Today is one of those sharing days, and I’d like to discuss a new strategy I’ve adopted recently.

For those familiar with me, it’s clear that Virtual Reality—or as Meta might describe it, Mixed Reality—is a significant passion of mine. This passion often leads me to juggle multiple projects, whether it’s blogging, attending events, taking on contract work, or attempting to develop my products. In my earlier days, I had a habit of saying “yes” to every opportunity that came my way. While this approach brought me success across various endeavors, it also spread me thin, causing stress and lack of focus, which can hinder making a real impact.

A few months back, with some guidance from books like “Antifragile” and personal experiences, I realized what I’m now setting as a guiding principle for my professional life: it’s more effective to concentrate on fewer impactful activities than to scatter effort across many minor ones. Let me elaborate on this.

I began re-evaluating my activity on social media. My usual routine involved sharing a plethora of XR-related articles on Twitter/X, driven by a desire to inform the community of interesting finds. The process was straightforward: read an article, hit the share button, add a few hashtags, and post. Over time, I noticed these posts garnered little to no engagement. It wasn’t a pursuit of validation through likes, but rather a revelation that these shares were ineffective since they reached hardly anyone. Researching others’ strategies and my observations suggested that posts lacking emotional engagement or debate weren’t favored by the platform’s algorithm, especially those linking to external content.

Recognizing this, I opted to change tactics. I stopped indiscriminately sharing every intriguing article, prioritizing only those that I deemed truly noteworthy. Moreover, I began putting more effort into my shares—making them more engaging than simply posting a title and link. I’m cautious not to provoke contentious debates just for visibility, but I abide by platform dynamics to encourage more meaningful interaction, resulting in increased readership and often, new connections.

The same theory applies across other aspects of my life. Previously, I was fixated on producing at least one article a week, alongside regular roundups. Even if I had nothing substantial to say, I’d hastily put together something, whether it was a festive announcement, an event notification, or some quick XR software tips. However, like those social media shares, this content yielded little return for the invested time—no new followers, engagement, or professional links. Now, I prefer to skip a post entirely unless it offers real value, redirecting that time to more important endeavors. When I do write, I ensure it’s worthwhile, offering readers substantive insights and maximizing my effort’s impact. Notably, this approach once landed my blog feature mentions in several online publications, boosting both my reputation and SEO—far more advantageous than numerous inconsequential posts could have been.

In terms of development projects, the lesson is similar. Accepting any available contract work previously seemed wise, but I’ve learned that, collectively, a single $100,000 project is superior to ten $10,000 ones. Large projects often involve reputable clients, which can lead to profitable long-term relationships and are typically more showcase-worthy. Conversely, smaller projects, while providing income, generally lack notable prestige. More challenging projects, however, facilitate substantial professional growth—my experience with the VR concert platform VRROOM, developed over a year and a half, taught me more than several smaller projects combined.

Everything you undertake has intrinsic costs, particularly in time. Managing multiple projects means numerous contracts, meetings, and post-delivery issues to handle, compared to the singular responsibilities of a large project. While it’s more challenging to secure bigger projects, and I don’t suggest exclusively seeking ones worth over $50K (especially in VR’s current climate), it’s important to aim for it. Given a choice, prioritize bigger, more significant projects.

This isn’t groundbreaking—if you’re a fan of Pareto, you know 20% of efforts bring 80% of results. Hypothetically, eliminating 80% of tasks should only reduce output value by 20%. In theory, if you focus on key impactful endeavors, you’ll obtain comparable results with less effort.

The book “Antifragile” explores how impactful single actions often outweigh numerous smaller ones. Imagine dropping a boulder versus several pebbles; the large stone’s impact far exceeds the smaller ones combined.

Quality is another crucial element. When overloaded, the chance to produce quality work diminishes. Focusing on fewer things allows you to deliver superior results. Quality output not only fulfills us but ensures greater value for others and enhances reputation. I’ve always emphasized quality in my developer/entrepreneur role and now tie it to my professional image. It’s about offering clients high-value work, reflective of my hard-earned expertise, making fewer, but better, projects feasible. Thus, I work hard but in a more sustainable fashion.

Yet, quality alone isn’t sufficient for success. Unless your work is legendary alone (like inventing CTRL+ALT+DEL), consistent quality over time is key. Take social media again—occasionally a tweet goes viral, but without regular interesting content, followership growth remains minimal. Fans must consistently see value in your output to become loyal followers.

This applies to networking and events too. I’ve embraced the “fewer but better” philosophy for events—attending CES, for instance, maximizing its influence by connecting with many in the XR scene and gaining new online followers, although physically exhausting. Sporadic event attendance, however, yields minimal benefit.

Years back, with less entrepreneurial experience, I attended an event in Milan, encountering Francesco Ronchi from Synesthesia. While attempting to engage him with chocolate and insects (another tale for another time), I sought networking advice. His wisdom emphasized repeated visibility as crucial for meaningful connections—initial meetings rarely suffice; connections deepen over multiple encounters. I’ve found this true; sometimes bonds are instantaneous, other times they evolve slowly. Therefore, balance quality with quantity, consistently delivering good work.

Moreover, consider tasks with long-term impact. A viral LinkedIn post bringing temporary attention? Great, but how does it influence your career over the next decade? Hence, alongside regular tasks in my unusual professional life, I contemplate weekly actions that might significantly shape my career. It’s vital for strategic growth.

This wraps up my musings. To sum up this lengthy discussion: focus on doing fewer but more impactful things, both now and for the long term. By doing so, you’ll deliver greater value and gain more satisfaction with less stress.

Feel free to jot this down somewhere for those crucial moments in your day. Ultimately, whether anyone needed to hear this or not, I hope my reflections aid someone looking to enhance their professional journey. If so, share your thoughts in the comments (or share this post thoughtfully on social media).

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