Where do you go after you slayed the rap game?
Sporting a Gucci turtleneck and a cashmere trench coat, Snoop Dogg made his debut on the Big L.
We’re talking LinkedIn, baby.
“I’m not just an artist. I’m a force to be reckoned with,” says the D-O-double-G.
Is this how gangsters roll? Or is it an example of Relevance Deprivation Syndrome?
You know who else suffers from RDS? This guy 👇
Yup, after chasing the False Idol of Money for 15 years, I simply swapped it out for Internet Clout.
And in my wake I’ve left a path of digital detritus – tweets, posts, videos and god knows what else.
Isn’t it funny how regardless of how successful you are, there’s always a burning desire to chase something new?
In his post 31 Lessons I’ve learned about money, the author Ryan Holliday describes one common trait of “extremely wealthy people:”
[Few of them] like what they do for a living (for instance, half the ones I meet all seem like they’d rather be writing books for some crazy reason). Rarest is the one you’d want to trade places with.
It all makes perfect sense.
Writing a book is the perfect activity to combat Relevance Deprivation Syndrome.
(BTW, in 2024 I’ll be writing a book.)
The case of the washed up politician
The term Relevance Deprivation Syndrome can be traced back to the Australian Politician Gareth Evans. (S/o to Nick Ellsmore.)
After a long career in politics, Evans felt a giant void from the loss of prominence, status and influence.
Relevance Deprivation Syndrome was then used to label other politicians, who were jockeying to stay in the public eye by writing letters to the editor, attending conferences and pontificating to anyone willing to lend an ear.
Relevance Deprivation Syndrome extends far beyond politicians and rappers.
It’s joining a board to avoid the nagging question “What do you do?” and to preserve the semblance of a high-status title.
It’s going viral on TikTok, decades after a bust of an NFL career.
And it’s the countless thirst-trappy posts on LinkedIn about the secrets of growing a 7-figure business (supposedly from “exited founders).
Why do we care so much about relevance?
Irrelevance can be terrifying.
Especially if your identity is built on how others see you.
And how they talk about you.
But limiting relevance to how the outside world sees you misses the bigger picture.
What does relevance mean to your kids?
To your spouse?
To your friends?
And to the community that you serve?
And what does relevance say about what’s in your heart?
Maybe those are the relevant questions.
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