The Alchemist’s Guide to Converting Experience into Wisdom

Guide from a Pirate who doesn’t understand chemistry. But has a friend who does.

As I understand it, Alchemy is the ability to transform one thing into another. In this case, confusion into clarity.

Yesterday, my friend was telling me about his plans to grow his personal brand on social media. It’s 2025 and he has time on his hands — perfect timing!

After chatting for a while, he shared how his 180-day fitness challenge had inspired others (myself included) to create their own versions. Yet despite this success, he seemed confused about what his voice should be.

The problem? He was trying to be everything for everyone.

So I stole a page from his book and used a little bit of his own alchemy on him.

—

I asked: “Do you know what problems you’re solving for your audience?”

“Yes,” he said. “Sedentarism and excuses.”

So I followed up: “These people have consumed plenty of motivational content already, and you’ve been struggling to sound motivated in your videos. So how will you make them move?”

He said: “I’ll show them how great life will be when they do it!”

“Great,” I answered. “But how would YOU have been motivated to move?”

“With data that proves the results”, he said without hesitation.

—

Now he has a clearer sense of his unique voice — at least while he refines it further.

What’s funny is he didn’t notice that all I did was use the same alchemy he showed me when I asked if my ideas were good enough to make an impact and build my vision.

A Pirate doesn’t need to know everything. He just needs to dream, be brave, and surround himself with the best people!