It’s easy to distance yourself from their popularity, their status, their celebrity because they have such a large following. Surely you can’t be like them because they already exist and surely you can’t take away from their tribe, so why try?
It’s an illusion.
The most popular marketers, branders, bloggers, speakers, artists have far less true fans than you realize. They have a core tribe, likely 20 percent of all the people you think are their tribe actually are and provide for 80 percent of their status, income, and drive.
Just because someone views a blog daily, doesn’t put them as part of a person’s core tribe. Most often the core tribe is a collective of friends. You have friends, right? Then it looks like you’ve already started down the path of becoming noticed, appreciated, and respected. You’ve began growing your core tribe.
It’s not as hard as it looks. All it really requires of you is to befriend people (to be nice more than interesting) and to show up every day (give something and embrace vulnerability daily).
Stay Positive & 1 Million Followers On Twitter Is The Wrong Goal
We may have liberty, but we still have a lizard brain
Who has heard about the lizard brain? No one? Well I’ll have to change that.
The lizard brain is what makes us not do what we say we are going to do. It’s what stops us from checking tasks off our to-do list, it stops us from writing the book we want, stops us from sending that application in, it stops us from living a meaningful, adventurous, exciting life. The lizard brain can also be referred to as the Amygdala, the part of our brain which registers fear. This fear has a voice and it tells us to compromise, to play it safe, to stay where we are comfortable. This reference to the lizard brain was coined by Seth Godin, author, marketer, and revolutionary starter.
During this mass media age, I believe Seth Godin to be one of the most insightful and helpful authors to us digital natives. Seth Godin has written more than 14 books that have all been best sellers and translated into over 30 languages. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. Even if a five-mile wide meteor struck the earth today, you could still say that Seth Godin has made a larger impact on society.
You may think this author is important because you imagine him to be the motivating type. He is no more motivating than a rock. He is however a person who can bring you to understand why you do what you do, rather, why you don’t do what you don’t do. He explains in his most infamous book, Linchpin¸how the closer you get to delivering something, to accomplishment, to taking a risk, the harder the lizard brain works to stop you. This ability, to make us aware, is what makes Seth Godin so important.
If it’s not clear already, Seth is an idol of mine. Heck, I flew out to New York to see him and wrote about that experience here. Seth has taught me how to build a tribe, inspired me to keep shipping, and has helped me realize the inner workings of my brain and ego in such a simplistic manner. I continue to read his books and build off his ideas and will do my absolute best to get a one-on-one interview with him over the holidays because I am planning a trip to NYC. I truly owe it to Seth for getting me to where I am today. (HT to Seth Godin)
Side note: If anyone has someone they can introduce me to through email/phone/person that either lives in New York or has other contacts in New York, I would greatly appreciate it. I plan on spending the summer in New York to find an opportunity to become more of a writer and to connect with some of the most brilliant minded people. Michelle being one of them, she’s something special! Thank you!
Stay Positive & People Help People, Who Help People, Who Help Other People, Who Help More People …
Right now, you are doing one or the other. 20 minutes from now, you will be doing one or the other. Five years from now, you will be doing one or the other.
There is no middle ground, there is no hideout or escape from it.
It is very simple; if you are not using your highest potential, if you are not trying your hardest, then you are discouraging others. When people look at you, they may judge you and stereotype you, but at the same time, they are either encouraged by you or discouraged.
“Either they draw inspiration and want to do likewise or they draw discouragement because they see us not doing the most with our ability that we can be doing with that ability” – Zig Ziglar
If you’re not discouraging, then your encouraging. Simple as that.
That is just insane, but it doesn’t mean that you should ignore the golden fact that if you do the same thing you get the same results.
Want to be the best basketball player, do the same things Michael Jordan did.
Want to be the best writer, do the same things as Ernest Hemingway did.
Want to be the best, orchestrator, bungee jumper, marketer, personal trainer, artist, poet, entrepreneur, teacher, firefighter, changer of the world… do the same things as the best in that field have done.
Yes, you have to switch up what you are doing to get different results, but why risk getting more bad results when you can just do the same thing that the successful have done and become just that – successful.
Stay Positive & Once Your The Best, Then Do Different Things Better
