Audience Reactions vs Inner Vision

Which is the Best Audience Reaction?

(1) Audience is skyrocketing in wild popularity and raving ecstatically about how great your content is.

(2) Audience is steadily growing and somewhat pleased with your content.

(3) Audience numbers are modest, slightly increasing, and mildly approving of your content.

(4) Audience is holding steady, with mixed reactions, or general indifference, to your content.

(5) Audience is declining, with growing negativity toward your content.

(6) What audience? Universal contempt or apathy toward your content.


What do you think about these 6 common reactions of an audience?

Which reaction would motivate you the most to generate high quality content?

Which reaction would make you feel that your work was important, relevant, and may have enduring value?

Which reaction would you be most proud of?

Which reaction would increase your feeling of legitimacy, worth, and self-esteem?

Which reaction is ideal?

Which reaction would make it all seem worthwhile and would spur you on to greater and greater achievements?

ANSWER = None of the above.

Audience reactions are important only when selling product. Your marketing must appeal to and please your customers. Or when you're running for political office. Or trying to get a date.

Your personal output, self-expressive art or philosophical musings, should not be tied to any external standards of popularity vs obscurity. Your work must not be influenced by public approval and disapproval.

You should build a body of work and keep improving it and expanding it, according to your own vision, goals, and standards.

If nobody likes it, if everybody hates it, that should not matter in the slightest. In some cases, it may mean your work is horrible, ugly, destructive, or irrelevant, and you should consider examining your vision, standards, and goals.

If everybody loves it, if all people praise it, that should be more annoying than satisfying.

Universal admiration should make you wonder if your work is too mainstream, too similar to what's already popular, too safe, too trendy, too mediocre, or too much in tune with the vulgar, violent, and perverse interests of the masses and not representing any threat or critique of ruling powers.

But in most cases, indifference and hostility are the hallmarks of innovation or prophecy.

Biblical prophets, for example, were generally proclaiming unpleasant realities, antagonistic rebukes, and stern warnings.

Prophets were killed, not adored. Only many years later did the hypocrites erect monuments to the dead prophets, in an attempt to transfer the credibility of the prophets, proven right by history, to themselves.

As long as you feel good about what you're doing, keep at it.

As long as your content is a good representation of your expertise or ideals, don't give up.

As long as you know within yourself that your work could be of value to others, if someday it is discovered, understood, and correctly implemented, continue grinding it out.

Producing content is good for you, no matter who loves or hates it. By not giving up, you increase your own tenacity and reinforce the idea of working without reliance on external support.

Just creating quality work can be its own reward.

When the applause or rotten tomatoes come, and they probably will eventually, be steeled against caring one way or another.

Praise and support can sometimes be more destructive than ridicule and opposition, especially when the adoration is insincere and manipulative.

Let your work exist in and for itself. If it remains in perpetual obscurity, be happy knowing that your talent and specialty keep improving day by day.

Luke 6:26 "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."