(2025-11-14) Barnett Taking My Interests Seriously

Olivia Barnett: Taking My Interests Seriously. Day 9 of building our mini app. We’re close to releasing — hopefully tomorrow!

This week pulled me deeper into the Farcaster ecosystem than I’ve ever gone into any crypto community. I’ve worked in the industry for nearly five years, but my interest was always the libertarian spine of the technology, not the sub-culture.

Work consumed everything, and whatever curiosity I had went straight into shipping code. I also convinced myself I needed to understand everything perfectly before saying anything at all.

That’s part of why I’m doing this year. I know I have a lot of energy, but it needs to be uncoupled from institutions that tell me where to aim it. I want my curiosity back — directed at things I actually care about. After letting it sit idle for so long, I need to relearn what genuinely interests me.

Watching Blaine helps. He follows the threads that draw him, even when he’s “supposed” to focus elsewhere.

It makes me realize the point of this year isn’t only to build products. It’s to stop waiting for permission to follow the ideas that pull at me.