Stop Defining Success Based On Outliers - (Matt D'Avella's The real truth about chasing your dreams.)

“I guess that is the problem with social media. We are now redefining what success should be based on outliers.” 
–Josh Janssen

In 2015 I started managing social media accounts. I followed a lot of the most popular accounts, and tried to steer my clients’ accounts based on those. I quickly learned that celebrities and public figures were exempt from the rules. Their social media strategies weren’t worth imitating, because they had fan bases that supported them regardless of their strategy. 

Today was one of those mornings in which I sat down at the keyboard and didn’t know what to write. After a few minutes of this, it became clear to me that I needed to go find some inspiration. Enter Matt D’Avella, a constant source encouragement and education for digital creators. I watched his video, The real truth about chasing your dreams. He says that creators often have an expectation that their work will gain traction much faster than it usually does. He interviewed The Daily Talk Show, an Australian podcasting group who have been podcasting for three years. 

Josh Janssen, one of the hosts of that podcast said, “I guess that is the problem with social media. We are now redefining what success should be based on outliers.” 

When we see creators who blow up on Tik Tok, YouTube, or Instagram, the low-hanging fruit is to imitate their style and strategy. We see our work as inferior simply because we haven’t gained a huge following yet. We get discouraged and stop based on someone else’s version of success. 

If you’re a creator, you need to define success on your own terms. Are you having fun? Is the process teaching you something? Are you having meaningful impact? These are the questions you need to ask yourself. 

You have no control over the algorithm, or whether your medium becomes popular soon. But you do have control over your consistency. Keep showing up, keep creating. Stop comparing yourself to others. If you’re learning something and having an impact, that’s enough reason to keep going.

Good luck out there.