Why Courageous Optimism Keeps My Followers Coming Back for More

Turning the negative to the positive will build your followers two ways.

Building followers is the goal. First to build the number of your followers. Second, build the mindsets of your followers to grasp positive outcomes.

I guess you can choose other options to engage your readers

• I’ve been writing here on Medium since March 2018. Which means, I’m four years old in Medium years. I have over two hundred fifty stories in my writer’s vault.

A key

But, hold on a moment because I discovered a key, at least for me, to unlock growth in my readership. You want to know the one key that grabs my readers’ attention?

The key is, Optimism.

I know this because I read and respond to my reader’s responses. The thread going through most responses is my cheerful attitude about life. (That’s another key to build your following, respond to everyone.)

I like what Walt Whitman says about turning towards the sunshine.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine — and shadows will fall behind you.

Your key may be different

Now, this might not be the key for you, I agree. For some reason, people like to read stories of doom and gloom. These people live lives on the dark side of humanity. And that’s okay. Not me. I have enough of unfortunate things happen in my life, I don’t need to submerse myself in those kinds of stories. How about you?

My wake-up call

About a year into writing on Medium, I had two stories rejected by publications.

Being rejected is a teaching moment. It is a loss, but don’t get swallowed up with grief. It does create a gap in your writing life, move on.

The rejections perturbed me. After reading and rereading these two stories, I knew the problem was me, not the publications. I had drifted from my vision of writing articles having an optimistic tone.

Four years ago, I wrote a one-line statement. I detailed what flavor my writing would look like on medium. This is what I wrote.

I will write articles filled with hope and optimism.

This statement became the filter I needed. Each story I wrote would have to go through this filter before I hit publish. I’ll address difficulties people face but bring hope into the equation.

My two rejected stories were vindictive and accusatory. You see, I can be cynical if I don’t regulate myself, Ouch!

Have you written a statement your stories have to go through before hitting publish?

I discovered principles to keep my fingers dancing over the keyboard. I like to write uplifting stories to solve people’s problems. Not only that, but I am an intentional optimist. Optimism doesn’t come easy with the crushing weight of negativity swirling around us. Therefore, I put my emphasis on being positive rather than giving in to hopelessness.

Takeaways

1. People have enough distress in their lives, don’t pile on more.

2. Your readers are longing for hope, give it.

3. Draw people towards you with acceptance.

4. Acknowledge people’s problems, solve them.

5. Make happiness happen.

6. Optimism wins over pessimism every time.

And remember, Optimism does not ignore an issue, but finds the way through.

I like to have people face the sun, with their difficulties falling behind them into the shadows of yesterday.

Thank you for reading all the way to my Takeaways. Richard

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