Gifts Increase In Value When Given Away

A lesson from gifts to writing

I have never been one to get gifts.

Awards? Yes. I have been getting awards since elementary school. Gifts, in contrast, have an extra layer of importance. Awards are deserved, gifts are not.

I can count the number of gifts I have ever received. They are that few. But for the few I have received, I treasure them.

Ted Gioia

’s (TG) recent post opened my eyes to why we all value gifts. It also made me view all of Paul Graham’s (PG) essays as gifts. As invaluable as most of them are, these two figureheads do not paywall most of their work.

Reality reminds me that PG once confessed he has made enough money never to have to work for the rest of his life. Can I compete with that? Ted Gioia is one of the leading substackers. How can I compare myself to giants? I barely stay afloat every month.

After reading Gioia’s piece, I questioned the need to paywall my work. If a reader feels my articles and efforts to write daily are worth supporting, then that’s good. I will greatly appreciate it. But how would I sustain my work at a time when I barely make comfortable returns from my nascent penmanship? That was the question.

An oil of faith to keep the cogs of production ongoing?

My ability to post on Medium and Substack depends on my monthly payment and the paid subscribers from other publications, respectively. If we all shared our work without paywalls, would it be sustainable for these platforms?

Regardless, I want my work to be accessible to the world. Viewing articles and essays as a gift is a profound perspective shift.

I liken every article I write to an employee, working for me when I sleep or when I’m negotiating with death to secure the life of patients in the ICU.

Now, I think of every piece as a gift.

As someone who does not like to simply gift someone to scrap it off my list, I never thought that my writing would be packaged and wrapped to match the physical equivalent — to be taken as a gift.

I am more motivated than ever to share so much of what I know and have learnt for free as daily gifts to my subscribers and new readers.

This is more fulfilling than identifying the means of making a quick buck, because contrary to economic laws, gifts gain value when shared than when withheld.

Derived from ecology, economics also means managing one’s household. Art, however, is not meant to strictly follow economic laws. Unlike entertainment, art is a gift to the world. One can buy a famous painting, preserve it, and still share it with the world behind a shielded glass.

Standing on the shoulders of giants such as PG and TG helps, but I need to find a means to pay my bills. A healthy balance is necessary for budding writers of my stripe. I have a lifetime to experiment and position myself. That, I believe, is a gift to myself and my ardent supporters.