Don’t Join the Popularity Contest: Make It Happen Yourself

Many times a day, I hear from someone who asks for help promoting a cause. They have something they’re working on and want to share it with me—totally fine.

I generally like to help as many people as possible. Being helpful relates to feeling happy, at least for me, and it’s also a nice thing to do. A good third of my Twitter stream is composed of messages about other people’s projects.

Some of these requests, however, come in the form of “vote for me and spread the word” pitches—and these I...