It’s what everyone who makes anything for the internet hopes for: to suddenly pop off and be appreciated, recognized, and understood.

Because after all, attention equals success right?

Kind of, but not really.

Sure, you get a little boost to your following and feel an incredible dopamine high watching the numbers rise. But then it slows down or just stops. Everyone is onto the next thing. But what about my thing yesterday? Old news.

And now you’re back to where you were before the hit, only now you have this ego boost and voice in your head saying “How do I do it again?” It can poison your creative energy because instead of playing free and loose (which is likely how your last thing popped off anyways), you’re trying to bottle lightning. 

I’ve been here before. It’s intoxicating and incapacitating. And the hangover is brutal if you drink to much of your success in. 

At 37signals, we recently had a video pop off. It was exciting to witness people respond so positively to something that I was proud of. We didn’t work too hard on it, it just sorta happened because we were having fun.

As the video climbed in views, shares, and compliments from strangers, I noticed myself getting high on my own supply. Checking LinkedIn, x, and TikTok every hour for another hit. Letting it all go to my head.

Fortunately, I started to experience this new voice in my head intercepting my behavior that said “Check yourself. This isn’t making you or your work better. You’re just taking puffs from the ego bong. Calm down. These nummy nummy dopamine hits will lead to the same viral hangover you’ve had too many times in the past.”

It’s just one time. Sure, celebrate the win, but don’t think too much about it. There are things we can learn from it that will influence our next best guesses, but it’s hard to repeat that kind of response.

The best thing to do is keep going. Keep writing. Most importantly, keep having fun and staying loose. 

If we tighten up and put pressure on ourselves to re-create this little win, the work will suffer and feel inauthentic. The only reason it did well was because we weren’t trying to make a viral video. We were trying to make a funny video that we enjoy and think others will too.

Success is a habit, so keep refining and improving. Move on and stay grounded. Work from a place of fun, not fear.

And stop looking in the social media mirror for validation every 30 minutes. Everybody else has moved on, and so should you.