A story about the oft-overlooked inspiration you might find just one desk down from where you sit

Last week I wrote about the benefits of becoming a fan of someone online, compared to merely liking their work. This week, I met a few new colleagues at work. They each introduced themselves with what you might expect: their job title, the team they’d be joining, the company they’d joined us from. Later, I’d take them for a coffee and boy, did they have hidden depths! As they spilt the beans on their various passion projects, side gigs, and plans for both, I was honestly impressed and fascinated. I also grew wistful over all the exciting interests of others all around me which remain undiscovered.

The internet is making it easy-ish to reach out and connect with those you look up to. We even often measure the value of an individual to society by their online badges of likes and followers. Nowadays, going online might appear as the only way to connect with inspirational people. Despite their online footprint, these people do exist in the real world too (at least for the most part). We forget that almost everyone around us has passions and skills with the potential to inspire others. Sometimes it feels as though if you know someone in real life, this inherently means that they can not be a true inspiration, someone to follow. After all, they’re “just regular people”.

There is an undeservedly high barrier to sharing what you are interested in outside of work with those in your immediate vicinity. So this week I wanted to set up an opportunity to broadcast for those who might be more on the shy side, publicly inviting my network to share their newsletters in a comment to my post on LinkedIn. While some did so, others - who I know for a fact saw my message and write a newsletter - chose to remain anonymous.

What is it that makes us hold back the fruits of our personal passions? Humility and concerns over being seen as bragging. Imposter syndrome. Fear of feedback; of failure. I’ve previously written about how to change this mindset as a creator. More and more, I approach it as a potential follower, making an effort to encourage others to share their pet project with me. If that means racking up a long tab at the coffee shop down the street, it’ll be a price worth paying.

This story was originally published as part of the newsletter Seven Things.