3 Numbers to Ignore While Building a Dream

There is an audio version at the end. 

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Everywhere you look in our society, there is a comparison. The way we measure progress is by comparing where we are to where someone else is. There are times when this makes sense, but too often it’s a dream killer.

Getting into the comparison game can lead to depression and your dreams dying. The most important point to understand is that we are all different. Each of us is special and unique, and not designed to be the clone of someone else. We have different dreams and will make them our reality in different ways.

In the online business space—the space I make a living and love talking about—the comparison game is rampant. We are constantly looking at, and judging the numbers someone else has.

The result ends up being people feeling like an imposter because they don’t have a huge following. It stunts people from speaking out or getting their message out in a big way because of a false sense of accomplishment.

Here are three types of numbers you should avoid comparing, or focusing all your attention on while building your dream.

1. Social Media Friends/Followers

I’ve had more offers than I can count from people who want me to hire them to build my social media presence. They tell me to have “authority,” you must have a huge social media following. I call hogwash!

If I wanted a large social media following, I could just buy one. How many times have you seen offers to buy Twitter followers, Facebook likes, or Instagram followers? You can buy a HUGE following, but it will be worthless because there’s no engagement.

The truth is social media is only one part of what should be a diverse marketing strategy. The organic reach of social media is nothing these days unless you pay for it. When you’re building, it’s better to focus on 20% strategies that end up growing your social media presence anyways.

Every week I write for large websites. Since January, I have added 800 likes to my Facebook fan page, 1,600 new Twitter followers and a bunch on LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Instagram. All without paying for it or without focusing on it. The best part is that these people are engaged because they came from content that they liked. Don’t lose sleep over your social media presence while you’re building. It will come as your audience grows.

2. Shares/Comments on Content

When you’re starting out or growing, there is a danger in focusing on how much people share your content. You want people to come to your website and see huge numbers. If they don’t, you feel defeated when your numbers aren’t as big as someone else’s. If this is your focus, it will lead to disappointment.

I could tell you results from my blog, but let’s move to a bigger stage. I’m a senior editor at the Good Men Project—a website that gets eight million monthly visitors. One of the benefits I get as an editor is access to GMP’s Google Analytics account—I get to see all the numbers. I can tell you that I’ve seen articles that get shared thousands of times that don’t have a lot of views. There are articles that don’t get shared at all, but have over 100,000 views.

There is content that people like and absorb but aren’t comfortable sharing. So while the big shares and comments are nice, they can be deceiving. Your number one goal should be engagement, inspiration, AND action. You’re putting messages out there to help people in their lives, not to get shares. Your focus should be on helping.

3. Status and Accolades

One of the sad things about this industry is all the lying that takes place. In podcasting, there is a strategy called, “Twitter bombing.” Basically, a podcaster tweets out a direct download link of their show; they use a service to find high click hashtags. Every time someone clicks on the link, it counts as a download. There are podcasters getting over 100,000 of these “downloads” but only have ten actual listeners.

In the book world, there are authors who sell ten copies of their book and become #1 in a certain category on Amazon. There are even some who make their book free and claim to be a “bestseller” when the book hits #1 in a category, even though, the book was free.

In the blogging world, there are some who share their posts on Reddit and StumbleUpon and drive up huge numbers. The numbers are great, but those people come and go. The blogger brags about having 10,000 weekly “readers.”

I’m not trying to take a shot at anyone; I just want to demonstrate a point. It’s easy to fudge numbers or elevate your status through loopholes, but in the end, you don’t make money and still have to get honest with yourself. Status and accolades can be effective if you use them the right way and don’t try to deceive people.

My biggest concern is for those of you reading this who feel like you can’t do what you want to do because you don’t have the numbers. The numbers can easily be manipulated so don’t let them stop you.

Your numbers will grow—and the right way—as you build your dream. Just don’t get discouraged before you can get there. Focus on WHY you’re doing this and don’t look back.

Audio version: 

What numbers do you focus on?

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Photo: Flickr/ reynermedia