Thumbs Up!

Thumbs Up!

© By Allen Merritt (2017)

The video indicated 961,515,469 views. Out of those almost a billion views the video had 4,051,024 ‘thumbs up’ votes and 146,355 ‘thumbs down’ votes. I clicked on the ‘thumbs up’ and pushed the likeability up to 4,051,025! So there!

It doesn’t matter how good you are or how hard you try not everyone is going to like you nor are you able to please everybody.

In my view, everyone deserves a chance to demonstrate their abilities and express themselves within reason. Because we all have a story to tell and a talent to share, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. If we can do if for our kids at the school play, we can do it for ourselves and each other. 

Think of it this way, support can be beautiful.

So what does a 'thumbs down' illustrate? Does it mean a certain populace hates the video? Does it mean that this particular video was not their cup of tea (preference)? Are they making a statement that it’s simply bad, not good and a waste of time? Or, are they being spiteful to steer attention to themselves? Who knows!

I suppose there could be a number or possible reasons one might choose a ‘thumbs down’. Not all reasons would lead to absolute negativity. In this case, it was a music video by Shawn Mendes. It was really good and a lot of people liked it...obviously.

When it comes to art and music, individual preferences and differences play a large role in determining who will like or dislike something. Therefore, you’re always going to see a mix of likes and dislikes displayed prominently for the viewing audience. And, we're going to experience in our every day life.

This got me to thinking about the importance of not focusing on the negative. If it is always there, then you already know you will face it to some extent. It won’t just go away. Not every critic will give you a good review. That again, is based on their preference. In my business rejection is more prominent than selection. If I focused on the downside, I wouldn’t survive.

I felt this was another example of consciously choosing to focus on the good and positive numbers. (Over 4 million were likes and only 150,000 were dislikes). Personally, I think I could live with that.

How many times in life do we focus on the bad when the good outweigh them? If there are more people who statistically like our work, who we are and what we do, then there are those that disapprove, then why do we only see the disapproval? Are we trying to prove that we can get everyone on board with us? For me, if something I do makes one person smile or laugh, then it was worth it. 

It seems healthier to choose looking at the brighter side. Check out those positive numbers. Think: Small But Mighty! Great things can happen when you least expect it. That alone is reason enough to keep plugging away at being the very best one can be.

The other thing I noticed in looking at these numbers is that out of those 961,515,469 views, 957,318,090 viewers did not respond one way or the other. No ‘thumbs up’ and no ‘thumbs down’. They simply tuned in and enjoyed the video for whatever it was worth or offered them.

If you are looking to find your worth and gain a support system, just keep doing what you do until you find your audience or niche. If people like things, they spread the word. If they don’t like things, they spread the word. And in some cases such as with this video, more people kept their mouth shut and ears open. The numbers speak for themselves. Not many can garner almost a billion views on a video post, so it can’t be all that bad.

The point of my discussion is to focus on the good things and discard the parts that aren’t working or distract from the positive message you represent.

If you did a good job, THUMBS UP!

If you tried and did your best, THUMBS UP!

If you followed up, followed through and made it to the finish, THUMBS UP!

If you garner any ‘likes’, THUMBS UP!

You never know when one thing you do might lead to an opportunity, so give yourself the benefit of the doubt and focus on what really matters. Pat yourself on the back every once and while, look in the mirror and give yourself a THUMBS UP!

That’s confidence!

That’s being positive!

That’s resilience!

That’s being persistent!

Here’s a THUMBS UP to us all for working diligently to live life on a positive note!

Cheers!