How to build YOUR audience, rather than AN audience

An example of how to leave gold in comments

Here’s the world’s most famous brain scientist talking about how to use scientific research to cure procrastination by bouncing back to motivation.

Avoiding something hard that you should be focusing on because you don’t feel motivated? Do something that sucks! And you will find your motivation again!

For example: I have been avoiding turning my ideas into a to-do list because ‘creative wonderings’ is far more ‘easy fun’.

What if I started sorting completely random useless information instead, the pain and discomfort will almost immediately make me want to go back and make that to-do list!

That’s good knowledge, acurate! but just knowing this isn’t gonna make me do it! So essentially it’s intellectual masturbation!

So what will make me do it?

I went on to read the comment and I found gold in the comment section

Can’t do the hard thing, to do it I got to do something harder

Thanks doc. I was suffering with procrastination for more than a decade and watched all videos and read a bunch of books about it and nothing helps. Because it all always boils down to “Just do it”, but I can’t

️ What helped me really is working on my mind in therapy, getting into spirituality and shifting my mind set with one some trick that toppled the scale. Instead of thinking I got to do this, i catch myself and switch it to I GET to do this. Which takes me from fear mindset into gratitude mindset. I start seeing opportunities to learn and grow from this action, instead of all the energy costs, risks of being imperfect or failing. Simple but effective. We are emotional creatures and changing emotions is the key to motion. Maybe some people are logical and strong enough to just here neuroscience behind our brain and be like, ok now I’ll do everything right. But I think majority of people are like me, listening to all these videos and reading books and changing nothing

The key is to understand your emotions, don’t run from fear and sadness. Be chill. Appreciate small progress. Measure backwards instead of chasing perfection. Being in gratitude as much as possible.

What has any of this got to do with audience building?

Lets look at the subtle aspects of whats happening here

1. He is the world’s most famous brain scientist who has an audience on any topic that he talks about
2. His take makes sense to every one, sounds legit, doen’t actually work for most people! But no-one will object because very few will actually try!
3. That said it will feel shallow to some people who are facing the same problem but don’t fully resonate with his approach!
4. That’s where a contrarian thought comes in to the rescue, an approach that most people can actually try…
5. On the result side, contradicting the popular scientist gives Stan a chance to connect with a share of the doctor’s audience that actually resonate with his way of thinking!

Some of the things that Stan does right

1. Be authentic and share your deep insights from YOUR experiences: because if I crap out of a clueless mouth in a desperate attempt to impress people, they’ll know! People are smarter than we give them credit for! To state the obvious, you can only do that under your name!
2. Don’t TRY to build an audience, just try to share and genuinely connect: Your message will naturally, effortlessly and authentically stick with those who actually resonate! That’s YOUR AUDIENCE, your tribe!
3. Don’t try to be bigger than you are: Stan beat cancer and his story is inspiring as heaven In his comment he could use that to garner attention, in a cringy way to grab audience, but instead of that he settles for genuinely sharing his prospective!
4. Trust your growth: I try to be bigger than I actually am in my stories and I gloss over my flaws! Only if I am insecure, if internally I feel small! If on the other hand, I am secure in my way of being then I just don’t feel the need to be anything else! That’s what gives birth to the authentic expression that people actually connect with! That resonates at a deeper emotional level with people!
5. Be the nice hero disagree without losing your charm: He disagrees with the doctor but does it in the nicest way possible, without actually vilifying or undercurring the doctor! He disagrees with poise and respect! Not for moral reasons, but because that’s who he is! Find out and then trust who you are! If it’s a charming asshole, then be a charming asshole! Keeping your charm is the key!

Ways to make it cringy

1. Doing it for short term gains and conversions rather than just for authentically opening up to and connecting with the people who think like and resonate with him. Building your tribe is a marathon, can’t apply the rules of 100 meter dash here… knowing the diference is the job of a marketer who has depth and doesn’t go “influencer XYZ does it so it must be right”
2. Trying to scale the approach: the comment worked! What if Stan tried to scale the approach and paste the comment on every video on Youtube that talked about beating procrastination by doing hard things? That’s desperate! Exact opposite of authentic! People don’t connect with desperate, they cringe at it!
3. Overanalysing – this is what I am doing with this article right now: Overanalysing feeds overthinking and is the exact opposite of ‘being’ that which really connects! If I continue overanalysing and writing articles about how to connect with people rather than just putting myself out there, being vulnerable, sharing my story and prospective in an attempt to genuinely find and connect with my tribe, then I am just another cringy preacher marketer desperately trying to hack the numbers and the algorithm!
4. Turning it into a strategy and contradicting for the sake of contradicting: even when a strong voice doesn’t come from within. That’s just plain desperate, novice and inauthentic! I can even take it a step further, for example I can directly call the doctor stupid, that’ll create an outrage and help me quickly build an audience, but is that an audience that loves me for my core? Or just a bunch of outraged humans desperately and violently trying to protect their shallow beleif systems?

Putting this idea to test, will this work for a nobody like me who didn’t even have cancer

1. It doesn’t have to: It’s not a destination to be reached! A goal to be acheived! It’s a way of being, a journey with one beautiful destination after another!
2. How to take this from an idea to a practice, to my way of being?: Just try to be! That’s not a satisfactory answer but I will update when I do have one!

Notes from trying

1. Resist the urge to comment first thought that comes to mind on everything that you see! Ask where can my prospective actually help?