Sometimes Our Best Efforts Go Up In Flames

How you react is what really counts

This morning I opened my profile page on Medium and noticed something new. It was only because yesterday, I had reached a milestone number of 450 followers that I even noticed. Today, when I opened the page, I noticed the number had changed to 449 followers.

Someone has unfollowed me! Panic? Despair?

Of course not.

If there’s one thing I learned from my previous experience in business, it’s that no matter how hard you try or how hard you work, you will never win over everyone you encounter. This is a reality that is better to come to terms with, sooner than later.

Even when you know in your heart you have given a 100%, honest effort, it still may not just be good enough. At the end of the day, that’s okay. Why?

Did you catch the phrase I used here?

Honest effort.

As long as you can look in the mirror and say “I did my best”, and with authenticity, that’s all anyone can ask. No one is obliged to stay with you forever. People’s needs and interests change, and let’s be honest. No one hits it out of the park every time.

And, here’s the really hard part;

You may never know why they left.

There is any number of reasons why people change allegiances. Most of the time they’ll never let you know why. They could have disagreed with a stance you took on a certain issue. They could feel your writing strength has waned recently. They may have just left the platform and deleted their account.

What matters is, we accept these blips in our trajectory and keep moving forward. In the end, the only person you owe your best, honest effort to, is yourself.

As always, thanks for taking the time.