He began, “Are Biographies and Autobiographies just an old-fashioned, fleshed out version of the extraordinary TikTok / YouTube captured moments we are so addicted to, and humbled by? There are thousands of published biographies, but are there not thousands of seemingly impossible moments ready to watch on YouTube? Moments that amaze in their improbability? So how can we put thirty years of life into a book and have it flow, and have it be interesting? By collecting the stand-out moments and accomplishments, and then editing out any of those moments that counter the overarching thesis or lesson we’re trying to achieve in the telling of it all. It’s editing. We focus on 1-10 years of action and failure and progress, and leave out the other 70 years of normal humanity. And even in that 1-10 years, we’re leaving out the part about how the guy didn’t have enough closet space, or bought too many cookies, or took out the garbage. This is why it’s so important to resist idolization and instead meditate about how the blanks left out might be so much more akin to your life, with it’s strengths in some area and weaknesses in others. How do these moments we’re reading about skew towards business success, and completely omit the hours in which their partner ran their home like a single parent in their absence? Or the hand-picked (because they’re interesting) moments related to the aftermath of trauma, with the omission of the hours spent paying their taxes and driving their kid from gymnastics to piano or just staring at YouTube. This man laid his head on a pillow at night just like I did. That woman took a shit 1.2 times a day just like I do.”