The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?

by Seth Godin

Do not expect applause. Accept applause, sure, please do. But when you expect applause, when you do your work in order to get (and because of) applause, you have sold yourself short. When your work depends on something out of your control, you have given away part of your art. If your work is filled with the hope and longing for applause, it’s no longer your work—the dependence on approval in this moment has corrupted it, turned it into a process in which you are striving for ever more approval. This is tricky, so bear with me. There’s a huge difference between the shallow pleasure of instant applause and the long-lasting impact of true connection. It’s easy to market and manipulate your way into the quick smile or the Broadway-theater obligatory standing ovation. What’s more difficult is to do the less-congratulated work of getting under someone’s skin, of changing the conversation, and of being missed when you’re gone.