Comparison Isn't Just The Root of All Unhappiness

Who are you trying to impress?

Every content strategist tells me to pre-batch all of my newsletters, but I refuse.

Every content strategist tells me to have someone else write my newsletters, but I won't.

Every content strategist tells me to have an admin respond for me, but that's maybe the worst advice ever.

Why? Because that would be comparing myself to and imitating my peers. It's "best practices" for my cohort of writers and speakers. But it's not best practices for you, my readers.

Now, I don't say this to congratulate myself. I have enough typos and missed weeks that no congratulations has been earned. I say it to open up discussion on my point this week: You might be working hard to impress the wrong people.

This is a bug that got put in my brain by my friend Mike Ganino , who launched a gorgeous new website that is, well, not your usual "I help keynoters keynote" speaking coach website. It's branded, it's beautiful, it's bombastic... and it's boldly him. Recently I saw Mike tweet something along the lines of "Too many speakers are out there performing for the clicks and the likes of other speakers... and forgetting about their actual audience." (Not exactly, but something close to that and it's 5am in California where he lives and I can't find the actual tweet without waking him up.)

When we compare ourselves to our peer group, we think it's a race to the top, learning from each other and skimming tips and tricks. We've been told that we should imitate the best -- heck, I always tell you to surround yourself with people to whom you aspire. But, what happens when we aren't careful, is that we mistake popularity with prosperity, we mistake ideation for impact, and we mistake flash for fuel. We homogenize our offerings, and lose what sets us apart, what makes us special. And we end up not at the top, and not even at the bottom, just sort of treading water there in the big, fat, unremarkable middle.

I started to think about my content, about what I post, about what I write and how I present publicly, and who I am trying to impress. I started to think about the happy serotonin I get from the clicks and the likes. And I started to think about how my content could be (and has at times been) at risk of shifting towards the whim or fad or outrage of the day.

But then I thought of you. Because it's you that I'm always trying to impress. And I thought about how great it is that so many of you write to me each week, and how many of you are surprised that I write back. (I mean, come on... if you've taken your time to respond, isn't it the least I could do?)

And this brings me back to you, and my question of who it is that you are trying to impress.

How often is the work that you are doing guided by the problem you are actually trying to solve? How often is the work that you are doing guided by the customers you are actually trying to reach? And, how often is the work that you are doing simply guided by impressing your peer group?

Granted, this peer group matters. They open doors, they recommend your work, they champion you aplenty.

But forget about your real audience at your own peril, lest they forget about you at your own preening.

Because here's The One Thing to remember this week:

And if you haven't yet, sign up for my newsletter here , because I always send the best to my subscribers first.

Limitlessly Yours,

LGO