the irony in numbers

I've worked with numbers, accounting, billing and data for 20 Years.  

I love analytics.  I love analogies.  I love math.  I love numbers.  It always adds up.  It always makes sense.  It always balances (unless you have done something wrong).  It always has a cause and effect.  It always is black and white.  It always brings clarity.

It was phenomenal at the end of 2016 Calendar Year End when Pandora sent me an email and told me how many songs I gave a thumbs up to for 2016, and included the first song I listened to and the last that I thumbed up.  Seeing those numbers and knowing it was all created uniquely by me on my own personal music stations, was pretty sweet!

When you sell stuff on eBay, it is cool to see how your ratings go up to show you are a verified high performing seller.

When you look at your Mileage Log for the year and see how many total miles you drove and how many business miles you drove and the difference is a write off on your taxes, this is something that makes you go cha-ching!

When you add to your "Pay Yourself First Savings Plan" each month, it is really awesome to get that monthly statement and see how much it has grown since you first started working and it makes you want to keep it going!

And the opposite is true, when you are trying to loose weight, it is inspiring to step on the scale and see that you have lost 5 pounds and the numbers are decreasing you can get just as much excitement as the other situations when you want the numbers to increase!

But the truth is, society has become obsessed with the numbers.  

Not numbers in the sense of how many people you made smile today, or how many hugs you gave away, or how much you were able to live on and give to charity efforts, no, not those kinds of numbers.  

We have come to a point in our circles that value, put an important emphasis on, have determined success, and deemed just how much of an impact someone is really making in the world based on how many Social Media Fans and Followers you have on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; or how many tweets you have put out on Twitter or how many times your tweets get retweeted or if someone big likes your tweet when you quote them; or how many views your Facebook Live Video got or how many times it got shared or how many comments were made on it; or how many Instagram posts you have done; or how many people were on your Periscope Video...numbers that really don't define success yet everyone has put such importance on them that they are driven to create content based on numbers instead of just being them.

Why have we bought this lie?

Why have we let this define our meaning to relationships?

Why have we made this so important?

Yet, the last week as things have transpired in the news with regards to our most recent Presidential Election with regards to numbers, I feel it has taken a new level of focus. We have a brand new President that is focused on how many people were at his inauguration instead of being focused on just doing the work he has before him to create the change he feels needs to happen.  We are creating press conferences and news articles on this mess.  It is becoming a reason for tension between friends. Like it matters.  I don't know about you, but I would rather have a President that is making a difference while he serves his term then that the whole world came to his inauguration.  

I step back, look, and simply shake my head and wonder what kind of impact this is adding to the already overwhelming blatant issue this is in society.  I am floored how far we have taken the need for numbers out of context.  And I wonder what it is going to take to get us to shift our focus?

What happened to just being a rock thrown into the pond and let the ripple effect be the ripple effect?  Not counting the number of ripples or how long it ripples or if it overflows into the next pond because it's impact was so great.  Dang it, I say just jump in and make it ripple.

What happened to being happy with knowing we gave the day our best and showed up the best we could, regardless of the number of people that turned out?  Regardless of the number of people that were for or against our message?  Regardless of who liked or didn't like our posts?

What happened to not being concerned with getting Fans and Followers but creating more content that engaged with people?  More authentic conversations?  More connected relationships?  More meaningful moments?  More simplicity in just living our lives and being us?

Yes, all of us want to be heard, understood, seen, acknowledged, accepted, and loved...just as we are.  But numbers do not change that.  And it won't.

There isn't one of us who wants to go this road alone.  I'm not saying that you should have zero Friends or Fans, but what would it be like if we changed our focus?  How would we show up if we spent more time doing the work?  Creating the message?  Sharing ourselves vulnerably?  Ignorant of the numbers our Social Media Pages showed? How would it change us?  What could you do today to be you and remove this level of pressure from how you connect on Social Media?  What kind of an example could you set?  What kind of an impact could you make?

I want to encourage you to look at what really matters and brings value to your life, particularly today as we look at Social Media.  Think about what it is you use if for and how you want it to impact your life.  Then take action that aligns with that vision so that you are intentionally creating the life that you want.
#TheSassyVoice #SocialMedia #Numbers #ADifferentPerspective #BeDifferent #YouMatter #CreateTheLifeYouWant #LiveIntentionally