Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of focusing on the intrinsic value of one's creative work rather than seeking external validation through applause or claps, especially on platforms like Medium.

Abstract

The author of the article discusses the reality of writing on Medium, where the majority of articles receive minimal engagement, measured by the number of claps. It highlights that a true artist must find motivation within themselves, as the pursuit of applause is often fruitless and can lead to an unhealthy addiction to validation. The piece argues that genuine appreciation may come silently and that the true measure of one's work is not the number of claps but the impact it has, even if that impact is not publicly acknowledged. The author encourages creators to focus on their craft and maintain consistency, regardless of the immediate response from the audience, suggesting that success and recognition are often unpredictable and can be a distraction from the real purpose of creating art.

Opinions

The author believes that the number of claps on Medium is an insufficient measure of an article's true value or impact.
A regular day for an artist involves working diligently without the guarantee of recognition or appreciation.
The pursuit of claps and external validation can be a meaningless and unfulfilling endeavor for writers and artists.
Artists should find internal motivation and satisfaction in their work, as external applause is inconsistent and can lead to laziness or addiction to validation.
The author suggests that silent appreciation exists and that the right audience will find and value one's work, even if they don't publicly clap or comment.
The article warns against the dangers of becoming addicted to the dopamine hit from receiving claps and praise, which can be detrimental to long-term creative work.
The author advises that creators should not let the lack of claps prevent them from achieving their dreams, as success can be just around the corner.
The piece encourages artists to prioritize the creation of their art over the pursuit of claps, making the act of creation itself the true reward.

Why You Should Ignore Your Claps On Medium

If you only show up for the applause, you might not show up at all

Maybe this is a stupid fact to admit, but in my case it is true: Most days very few people are clapping my writing. It is also the case for many of the writers I have known over the last five years. You may see the articles that reach lots of people, but there are thousands of others that don’t.

What is easily missed are the articles that very few people are clapping for.

Most of my articles get a small number of claps and reach less than a hundred people on Medium. Then there are those rare, unexpected, unplanned times where something resonates with a mass audience. It might be an idea, a way of life, a viewpoint.

You never know what will make people clap and the objective of wanting to make people clap, I’ve found, tends to be a meaningless pursuit.

The Dream Nobody Is Living

Here’s the thing: nobody is living a life where they receive an endless standing ovation. This is a life that doesn’t exist and is a picture painted by the never-ending success highlight reels we call our newsfeed.

Whether you are a writer, dancer or entrepreneur (all of which are artists in their own right), most days you will not be getting a standing ovation or even claps of appreciation.

A regular day in the life of an artist is sitting down and doing the work, even when there is little to no appreciation.

It’s a change in perspective, which says, “I am good enough and will do the work” instead of “I must be appreciated today to know my work is good.”

Your art is good enough; it’s just that it’s not meant for everyone.

It took me five years as a writer to understand that idea. Up until that point, I was struggling to write because I wanted the dream that all other artists online seemed to be living, which was one of never-ending standing ovations.

Most People Clap in Silence

An acquaintance the other day said to me, “Loved your piece on learning to speak slowly. It really inspired me.”

I checked the post and there was no claps or comments from him.

A day later, I got an invite to an event. The guest speaker was Gary Vee and I thought it might be useful to send a link to the person who invited me with an article about Gary that I wrote a few weeks prior. It was about his shift from marketing and the example he displays with his softer side and experiments with human traits.

The person replied: “Yes, that article was the one I read, which made me reach out to you again in the first place.”

Again, I checked the comments and clap history to find that they too were clapping in silent appreciation.

Not everyone will clap in public at your life’s art. That’s okay. People have their reasons and a lot of the time it comes down to how they will be perceived for clapping. If that lady who invited me to the Gary Vee event clapped my article, would her family and friends perceive her to be a Gary Vee fan? Perhaps.

Maybe that is a good thing and maybe it’s not. That’s a decision that is made in the mind of the person giving the applause, and frankly, it’s none of my business.

If your art is good in an audience’s eyes, the right people will eventually find it — although they may clap in silence.

Don’t Let Claps Stop You

You are one feature, story, or curated dream away from receiving a standing ovation of more than one thousand claps.

Whether someone is clapping your work or not isn’t normally a helpful thought to have as an artist. You need a reason that is deeper than the need for claps to wake up on those difficult days after a family member has passed away and you don’t feel like creating your art. On those days, claps are not enough.

Claps stop so many people from achieving their dreams and I wish that my writing, and the writing of bloggers like me, could be exposed for what it really is: lots of days where claps are scarce and applause is but a whisper in a forest where a tree falls and nobody hears it.

Claps Can Be Addictive

There are times in my blogging career — such as when I wrote “The Power of Saying Less”— where the Medium world clapped loudly and the dollars flowed in as though I’d won the lotto and nothing could stop the money entering my life.

I’m not going to lie; claps can be addictive. Claps can become an addiction the same way heroin can — or a modern-day version of heroin like Instagram or Facebook.

Getting clapped at, receiving praise, and having more emails in your inbox than you can reply to feels good. The dopamine lights up your brain and makes you feel invincible. This addiction is not useful if you plan on creating art long-term.

The claps can never last and the addiction will only hinder you from your work and cause you to check your notifications as though you have consumed ten strong coffees in a row.

Become addicted to creating your art instead. Make it a useful addiction, otherwise known as a habit.

Claps Can Make You Lazy

The times where I have been able to string together two to three articles in a row that have caused a loud roar, followed by a dopamine-inducing number of claps shortly after, have made me lazy.

Claps can tell you that you’ve made it and this is a convenient excuse to not put in the grueling hours of work it takes to write something useful.

Too many claps can make you lazy. It can cause the sleeping giant of your ego to wake up from its slumber and tell you to seek more claps in order to feed its hungry stomach.

The laziest day of my writing career was when over ten thousand people commented on my article about toxic work cultures back in June of this year. The amount of work and the quality that occurred during this time was woeful.

All the clapping distracted me from creating art.

The best advice I have ever been given, and still try so hard to follow, came from Joan Westenberg:

Looking at my writing stats and number of claps made me feel depressed, which is why I trained myself to stop looking at them and would suggest trying it for yourself.

That advice resonated with me because it came from Joan, who’d received more claps than I’ll probably ever get in my writing career. It is the same advice that might serve your art as well.

All that clapping can be counter-productive.

Make your art the focus, not the claps.