We live in a world in which success is measured by numbers.
- Your number of Twitter followers
- Your number of Facebook “likes”
- Your number of comments, page views, and site visits
- Your number of clients
- The number of people in the crowd
It may not be the most accurate measurement, but there’s no arguing that it’s the one often paid the most attention to.
I walked away from this weekend’s Quitter Conference (which I had the pleasure of speaking at) with plenty of insight – possibly the most resounding of which was the following:
Play to the size of your heart, not the size of the crowd.
What does it mean? It means that success isn’t based on the size of the audience in front of you – rather, it’s grounded in the effort you give. It means getting up and giving the same effort for 5 people or 500. It means running as hard as you can even if you’re only racing yourself. It means providing excellent service to every single client – whether you’re working with 1 or 100.
How do you get the opportunity to get in front of a bigger audience? How do you build your following? How do you create a brand that people will demand to work with and buy from?
As Jon Acuff says: “The size of the crowd doesn’t matter. The applause of the audience doesn’t matter. The money you make singing doesn’t matter.”
What matters is the effort. The hustle. Giving 110% – the same 110% to one, or a million. What you give when no one is watching.