Gary Bloomer | SHAKING THE TREE # 248
There are times when the content landscape feels like a hostile digital dystopia.
You pour your soul into an article or a video or a podcast, only to be met with the deafening silence of the algorithm. No comments, no likes of shares, no anything.
Here’s the thing though: it’s not your fault and no matter what, you must NOT give up.
You’re competing with multiple things, not least of which is a lack of time and failing attention spans.
And like it or not, you’re also up against a flood of AI-generated sludge, a 24/7 cycle of social media despair and moral outrage, and the ever sinking feeling that you’re wasting your time and shouting into an endless void.
It’s enough to make any creator cynical. I know I’ve had my doubts and misgivings,
I know I’ve experienced times when I’ve seriously wondered what I’m bothering for?
Cynicism seems to be the default armor for the modern creative because it protects us from disappointment. And heaven knows there’s much to be disappointed about. But I’d like to offer a counterintuitive, almost radical counter argument: in a world drowning in cynicism, your single greatest unfair advantage is your optimism.
This isn’t about some namby-pamby sense of PollyAnna, naive positivity.
This isn’t about slapping a “good vibes only” filter on what is often a broken reality.
This is about creating your personal brand of definitive, strategic optimism. It’s the gritty, committed belief in what you’re doing and in the idea that your is of value, that it can make a difference, and that your work matters.
It’s about knowing in your bones that there’s an audience out there, somewhere—YOUR AUDIENCE—an audience that is eager and hungry and yearning for your voice, and it’s about knowing deep down inside that your value will eventually be recognized. In this sense, your optimism is the engine of persistence.
Why does this sort of mindset work? Because optimism is scarce and in short supply. And no matter what other kinds of content people are consuming or exposed to, in the attention economy (because that’s the economy we’re living in) scarcity wins.
Think about your own news feeds on social media.
How much of it is nasty snark, negative criticism, soul crushing doom and gloom, or world-weary, self-entitled, vacuous opinion and uninformed commentary?
All of this nonsense exists and keeps popping up because we keep clicking on it and because attention-wise, it’s low-hanging fruit. Outrage begets more outrage and before you know where you are, you’ve been doom-scrolling half the day!
It’s easy to tear things down and to negate and ridicule other people’s efforts. It takes neither skill nor ability nor courage to be a critic. Many of the halfwits we elect to public office fall into this category.
But what’s rare these days though—the thing that truly stands out—is the voice and the presence that builds momentum consistently over time. The voice that offers a sensible, constructive, inclusive solution; the voice that shares both genuine insight and the sincerest of motives with both authenticity and enthusiasm, but does all of this without any hint of a having a self serving or hidden agenda.
That sort of voice is powerful. It’s appealing. It gets listened to, and it’s magnetic.
Your audience is tired of hearing the same old nonsense. They are digitally exhausted from the endless scroll. They slog through a cultural and content desert of hot takes, faux outrage, and manufactured conflict; they are parched for something genuine and starved for something—anything—that adds a moment of value to their day.
So when they find a creator who approaches their craft with a genuine optimism about the topic—a belief that it can help, inform, or delight—they stop. They stay. They trust.
This optimism manifests in three tangible ways:
1. Optimism in your niche: You believe your subject is fascinating, even if it’s “boring” to others. Your optimism about the intricacies of wood grain, supply chain logistics, or medieval history is what transforms a dry as dust tutorial into a passion project. This energy is infectious and all but impossible for AI to replicate with any degree of authenticity.
2. Optimism in your audience: You believe your readers, viewers, or listeners are intelligent, curious, interested, and worth your best effort. You create for them, not at them. This shifts your entire approach from broadcasting to building a community. You’re not simply dumping content; you’re starting a conversation with people you genuinely like and respect.
3. Optimism in the process: You believe the act of creation itself has value, regardless of the immediate metrics. This is the most crucial form of optimism that allows you to hit “publish” on a project you’re proud of, even if you’re afraid it won’t perform. It’s the fuel for the long game, for the compounding returns of consistency that every overnight success story is actually built on.
Cynicism is a dead end. It paralyzes. It tells you, “Why bother? It’s all been done. No one will care.”
Optimism, on the other hand, is the catalyst for action. It asks, “How can I make this better? Who can I help with this? What if this is the piece that changes everything?”
The algorithm is fickle. Trends are born and die, sometimes in a matter of days. Platforms come and go, rise and fall, are fashionable one week and are past it the next. But the human desire to connect with a passionate, authentic, and yes, optimistic guide? That’s permanent.
So, be the voice that builds.
Be the guide who is genuinely excited to show them something wonderful.
In a marketplace of snark, be the scarce resource.
Be the optimist.
Your audience isn’t just waiting for your content. They’re waiting for your energy and for your enthusiasm.
As always, thanks for reading.
—Gary
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P.S. If you found this useful, share it with another creator who needs an ego check (in a nice way). Want more unfiltered takes on content creation? Join my newsletter. No fluff, just the stuff that works.
Next time on Shaking the Tree: Content lessons from Robert Redford
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.