By the Ocean
Before Sunrise 73 Degrees
6:12 a.m.
I’ve never been one of the popular guys. In the coming year, I hope to be even less popular.
The mind prison that success comes only with popularity is an illusion that ruins lives. If you want to believe in the illusion, go ahead. There are plenty of tools available to make it all seem very real.
“That last post only got 15 likes. That video has a quarter of the views of the ones I did last year. No one shared that writing I did. The algorithm is completely ignoring anything I say.”
These are all thoughts that come when you want to be popular. It is a backwards, miserable and ultimately powerless view to carry through your business and your life.
Popular means you’re accepted by what is. People who are bringing in the new don’t generally get to enjoy popularity.
They often experience something very different! Some of them just get murdered. Wiped off the map. They are such a threat to the status quo that the controllers get freaked out and take decisive action.
Many others end up imprisoned. Even more get ignored because they are revealing things no one wants to see.
Some just quit because they came with a message the world is not ready to hear and they are looking for a specific RESULT from their efforts instead of understanding the role they are here to play is not about creating a specific result.
If you’re one of these people with something new to share and you venture out into the world of business, understand that searching for popularity as a path to success is a dangerous distraction that can keep you from your real work.
The reason business is such a valuable journey is because it forces you to confront all of the issues you don’t want to see in your life. You get all your lessons in an accelerated and very obvious form:
- If you’re afraid of confrontation, you’ll see what happens if you can’t resolve that issue.
- If you don’t believe in your own self-worth, you’ll get to live the result that creates.
- If you’re a people pleaser, just wait until your business becomes flooded with people who show you just how toxic that trait can be.
Chasing popularity is insane. It is no less insane than trying to change how the sun rises each day. It is a result that is not within your control.
CHANGING OTHER PEOPLE IS NOT A RESULT WORTH PURSUING.
Impact, however, is well within your control. Unfortunately, that’s much harder work. To figure out how to make the solutions you provide to the world better, more powerful, more effective, more complete.
That’s far less exciting but much more important work.
But you won’t get awarded by a Matrix algorithm for doing that. You might get rich though. And you certainly will transform lives. And you’ll definitely be filled with a type of satisfaction and contentment that no money or fame could ever provide.
The Matrix rewards the quest for popularity. Look at virtually every platform in existence today. They are race tracks for rats who want to be popular.
One of the most important decisions you can make in your business is to choose NOT to step onto that track.