I recently stumbled upon the Foolish Baseball YT page, which has held my fascination for the last few days. So of course I had to go read an interview with its creator, a 20-something named Bailey who recently did this AMA. There was one quote from it that stood out that is one of the primary keys to good content creation that so many people miss. Here it is.
Q: I love your show!! Seriously! After I burned through Sunday baseball with Indy Neidell I was so happy to find baseball bits. I’m curious, how do you find your topics?
A: That’s a tough question to answer. I like to look at players who are huge outliers, for starters. That’s kind of how I ended up doing videos on Locastro and Radbourn, for example. Often, a passing reference I hear in a podcast or read in an article can lead be down the rabbit hole. I think the best way to come up with topics is just to have an insatiable curiosity about the game.
It’s the last part — the best way to come up with topics is just to have an insatiable curiosity about the game — that got me nodding my head and that is also such a massive piece of the content creation formula that gets missed. You can have clarity, imagination, good ideas and the best equipment in the world, but if you don’t have an insatiable curiosity with what you’re doing, then it’s going to fall flat at some point.
I don’t know if this is what separates good creators from great ones, but I’m fairly convinced that it divides those who make it for a bit from those who truly endure and also that an insatiable curiosity is what helps your favorite artists, writers or creatives coat their work with an almost childlike wonder that we’re all naturally drawn to.