Over more than ten years of freelancing, people have sometimes told me I am caught up in too much competition, always pushing. It does not really feel that way to me.

I do not particularly like comparing myself with others in a circle, but when something interests me, I always want to investigate a little further. As I do, I discover other things to learn and keep going. Looking back, I have certainly done quite a lot. While I was doing it, though, I rarely felt I was competing with anyone.

Reading Liu Run's article today about his trip to Brazil, and his discussion of excessive competition, brought this back to mind.

Screenshot of Liu Run's article about his trip to Brazil

At first, when he discussed the absence of competition and poverty, I partly agreed. A person does need something distinctive to have more opportunities. Reading on, I came to the line, "At the root of involution is competition that creates no value." That was where the article touched something I truly recognized.

I have been making content for years. From painting, photography, and writing to more recently making videos with AI and trying to build tools, much of it began with an interest. I did not deliberately create to please a market, or first look at what everyone else was doing and insist that I keep up.

Of course, learning takes time and making things brings difficulties. But once something interests me, I want to understand it. When I understand a little, I notice something I did not know was there. Curiosity keeps moving forward like that.

What others may see is someone who is always learning, always making, unable to stop. What I feel is that, now I have explored this far, I really want to know what comes next.

"That urge to keep moving forward

does not really need another person to compare myself with."

But when it comes to whether I have created value, I feel that is not so easy to judge.

The videos I have made recently have brought this home to me. The same video gets noticed and appreciated in Wang Runyu's group. Put it somewhere else, and perhaps nobody cares, or even understands what it is about.

It is still the same video. I did not remake it when I moved it somewhere else. Yet the responses can differ so much.

I think the people in the group share certain experiences and background knowledge that make it easier to understand the meaning. In another place, people do not have that background. If they cannot make sense of it, it is hard for them to feel much about it. That is hardly their fault.

How, then, should I decide whether this video has value?

If I looked only at the place where nobody cared, I might feel I had made it for nothing. But the appreciation in the group was real too. I cannot treat that appreciation as nonexistent simply because the video did not interest everyone.

"When we talk about value,

we need to bring specific people and circumstances into the picture."

This also helped me understand a little more of what the article meant by looking overseas.

At home, many people may already offer the same product or skill, making it hard for you to stand out. In another market, if there happens to be a need and fewer similar offerings, a skill you take for granted may become useful.

Of course, that is only an interpretation I arrived at through my experience with the videos. It does not mean that moving abroad guarantees demand. Differences in language, habits, and background can also make it harder for people to understand what you do. Just as my videos do not automatically gain attention when placed in an unfamiliar setting.

So differentiation also needs to be considered in a specific place. It is not enough to be different from others; that difference has to be useful to the people in front of you.

Thinking about myself again, I really do not have a strong desire to cater to the preferences of every place. After all these years of making content, much of it still happens because I want to make it. The parts I am willing to invest in are often the ones I feel most connected to.

Still, I can pay a little more attention to who understands these things and why they like them. Seeing the same video receive different responses in different places has at least taught me to look at where a piece of work has been placed when I judge it.

Knowing that someone likes it already makes me happy. Whether that appreciation can become a work opportunity or income requires other conditions. I cannot simply put an equals sign between them.

People may still say I am pushing too hard. I probably cannot explain every time why I become so absorbed. But reading this far, I understand my own state a little better. Curiosity has taken me to many places I had not expected, and the things I make are gradually finding people who understand them.

I still want to keep exploring. I also want to know who else, beyond the places I already know, might be interested in what I make.

"Curiosity has taken me to many places I had not expected.

And the things I make

are gradually finding people who understand them."

This reflection began with Liu Run's WeChat article of September 13, 2026, on his trip to Brazil and observations about excessive competition. The creative experiences and further interpretations here are Tee Sang's own.