What You Can Learn From a 114-Year-Old Piece of Cardboard

Authenticity is the new currency.

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In 2021, a Honus Wagner baseball card sold for a record $6.6 million.

Produced from 1909-1911, the card was originally sold in cigarette packs. It’s often said that Wagner, one of the first five inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame, didn’t want to promote smoking to kids.

Wagner demanded the American Tobacco Company recall his card. As a result, only about 50 T206 Honus Wagner cards exist.

While Wagner was one of the greatest shortstops in baseball history, his card didn’t sell for the price of a small yacht because he had 3,420 hits.

It set records because of its scarcity.

The supply and demand concept is Economics 101. The more people want something and the less of that thing there is, the more valuable it becomes. From real estate to natural resources to concert tickets (I read that Taylor Swift tickets were going for “as low as” $900 in Nashville last weekend), scarcity will almost always increase value.

The idea of scarcity, though, isn’t limited to physical items.

In every facet of life, you can reap massive financial, personal and professional rewards by finding and filling pockets of scarcity.

So where is that scarcity right now?

If you ask me, it’s in authenticity.

The rise in AI is threatening the $100 billion creator economy. Every day, I see posts from writers and artists who’ve been dropped in favor of AI as more and more art is created by algorithms incapable of authenticity.

But it isn’t just AI. Modern technology is hellbent on substituting convenience for authentic experience.

Instead of popping down the street to get takeout, we have our food delivered. Instead of chatting up the cashier at the grocery store, we go to the self-checkout.

In the most obvious example, social media has made it easy to share our lives with friends — but has sapped every ounce of authenticity from that sharing.

From a writing perspective, I’m biased. But I’ve seen it in my own work. The words I write with the most authenticity — those that are honest and real and shaped by experience — are the words that get the most engagement.

The generic platitudes? The stuff AI could write? It has no heart, no human experience, no binding ties. Surprise — it doesn’t get traction.

From a life perspective, I need to practice what I preach. We’re all just one chance interaction away from our lives changing forever. But by embracing convenience, we slaughter opportunities for authenticity, hamstringing the potential for our futures.

As authenticity gets scarcer, it will also get more valuable. Whether it’s in work or relationships, writing or shopping, smiling or sharing, those who approach life with authenticity will provide the world with something it’s lacking — and will be better off for it.

As Mark Twain said, “Whenever you find yourself siding with the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.”

The world is rejecting authenticity in favor of convenience.

Pause.

Reflect.

Go the opposite way — and become invaluable.

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