Don't always measure

Likes, subscriber numbers, revenue, analytics, these are all proxies for feedback loops. They help give you a sense of whether the thing you’re doing is resonating with people.

They’re helpful, worth studying, but also come with a price. Focusing too much on these can drain you, leave you spending more time in trying to read through the obscure—and never quite enough—information laid out in front of you, and less time in building and making the thing that matters.

Of course you rarely have the luxury to build on the side for years on end; usually that doesn’t end well for many reasons.

But sometimes it’s good to have a little separation between your time creating and knowing whether it’s resonating.

This, of course, goes against how many influencers are building. It could be your job to be the person that creates thumbnails and understands what it takes to get someone to click on a video and watch it.

That is a thing that must exist in the world, and at some point many have to embrace it, but somewhere something feels lost in the midst of all that.

So, seek out feedback, embrace it, but don’t make it the only thing.