Last night, I dusted off a great book for a re-read:

Purple Cow by Seth Godin.

It’s one of his most popular, for good reason. Godin explains that in today’s world you can’t afford to be average. The only way to stand out is to be remarkable.

This has only become more true with time.

AI-generated content is flooding the market. Everyone and their aunt wants a personal brand.

But this email is not about being remarkable.

It’s almost the opposite:

The power of a simple idea.

As I approach my writing 5-year anniversary, I’ve learned to truly appreciate the power of a simple idea.

When I was a young whippersnapper, I thought ideas stood out due to their complexity. I believed you needed to be truly special to say something special.

But Godin’s book is based on a simple story:

He was on a train. All the cows look the same.

The message of remarkability is nothing new.

But ‘be remarkable’ doesn’t spread like ‘be a purple cow’. As a result, he’s coined one of the most popular terms in marketing.

Let me give you three more examples:

Life is short. Oliver Burkeman said it perfectly with his smash hit book 4,000 weeks.

You don’t need a big audience to build a great business. Kevin Kelly drove the message home with 1,000 true fans.

Mastery takes time. But Malcolm Gladwell said it better with 10,000 hours to mastery.

(although I prefer Naval Ravikant’s reframe of 10,000 iterations—a good example of how ideas evolve—you can stand on the shoulders of giants).

What makes these ideas so powerful?

They are unique and immediately understandable

And if you want to succeed as a writer in 2025, you need to craft your own concepts too.

You must build an ‘Island of Ideas’ so that when your audience finds you, they never want to leave.

I’m no expert at this.

But clients work with me because they enjoy my ‘Magnetic Writing’ approach—focusing on attracting, not chasing.

And I’ve created many other concepts.

Some work, some don’t.

And that’s the point.

The secret to having good ideas is to have many poor ones.

This is one of the few benefits of social media.

Especially X. It’s like a live auction place of ideas.

When something resonates, you keep saying it—testing new angles and approaches.

Because great marketing wears in, not out.

Here was the first time I mentioned Magnetic Writing:

As the market for attention sophisticates, the demand (and reward) for creativity increases.

It’s not who has the best ideas. It’s who communicates them best.

Spend more time thinking.

This is the work that will set you apart,

Kieran