The law of attraction on LinkedIn (is real)

Find Your Superpower newsletter 057

Read time: 5 minutes

Topics covered: law of attraction, mindset, professional branding

One thing that continues to surprise me is that some folks don’t realize that they have a negative persona online.

Really? Me? Negative?

Nah… I’m not negative.

The second type of feedback I get is from those who acknowledge the negativity in their posts, and justify it with: “But… but... my post got me a lot of likes. I am getting a lot of DMs.”

A car accident also gets attention.

When people see an accident happening, they slow down while driving and they stick their neck out to see what is going on.

This is a phenomenon called rubbernecking, or accident gawking, which I describe in my e-book and video course called The LinkedIn Success Mindset.

They’re gawking at you, my friend.

They’re not buying from you.

LinkedIn is the digital storefront of our small business and personal brand. And as I understand, likes on LinkedIn don’t pay the bills or feed our family.

The vicious cycle from having a negative persona

As a left-brained individual, I thought I would spell out clearly what happens when you set into motion a vicious cycle on LinkedIn:

1. Your posts are negative, ego trips or discuss raw wounds. Your followers are filled with stress, anxiety & tension upon reading your posts.

2. Your posts attract other negative personas, haters and trolls who are vibrating at an equally low energetic state. They crown you king or queen of their pity party.

3. The attention you receive from your posts gives you a dopamine hit. It feels pleasurable. You crave the public validation and write more negative posts.

4. You repel future clients and high-value community members such as recruiters, HR leaders, clients and collaborators who now avoid you. High-quality people start unfollowing you.

5. In the long term, your business and career prospects decline and you get passed on for promotions or gigs. You wonder why all this is happening to you.

6. You are frustrated and want things to turn around, but you keep posting negative posts because you crave the dopamine hit and are searching for public validation.

Sounds kind of icky, right?

But it happens all day, every day, on LinkedIn.

The virtuous cycle from having a positive persona

Now, let me offer you a glimpse of a virtuous cycle on LinkedIn which I strongly recommend we strive for instead:

1. Your posts are positive and discuss healed scars (if necessary). Your stories shows introspection, self-awareness, redemption, transformation, a shift in mindset and personal growth. Your followers gain inspiration and new perspectives upon reading your posts.

2. Your posts attract other high-value individuals who are vibrating at a high energetic state. Importantly, you pull up the energetic state of anyone reading your posts on LinkedIn.

3. The attention you receive from your posts gives you a dopamine hit. You appreciate and enjoy (but are not addicted to) the public validation and it motivates you to write more positive posts.

4. You attract future clients and high-value community members who want to collaborate with you, hire you or buy from you. High-quality people start following you.

5. In the long term, your business and career prospects improve and you get headhunted, promoted, invited to speak on industry panels and podcasts, or hired for gigs. You feel supported and lifted by a larger community or entity in a manner that you cannot explain or describe clearly in words.

6. You see a flywheel effect happening to you, and you keep posting positive posts. The feedback you receive in DMs and comments tells you that you are on the right track. You get a regular dopamine hit but you do not depend on public validation as you have access to healthier sources of dopamine offline.

Wait... are you telling me I can never discuss anything negative?

On the contrary, I am all for posting what feels authentic and natural to you, within reason of course.

I believe, however, that we should first examine closely the intentions behind our posts.

Are we posting to inspire and support our community, or is it for something more self-serving?

I get tagged on LinkedIn almost daily, and I was recently tagged in a rant by someone who thought that tagging me would help them get more impressions (except it won’t if we un-tag ourselves). If they continue to live from their ego, this would not be their last rant.

A better example is a recent LinkedIn post by my friend Uma Balasingam, who discussed how she was retrenched in November. Just from reading Uma’s post, I could see that she has invested in some self-work and healing. I believe that she is on a journey of self-discovery and self-actualization, and this knowledge makes me want to read more posts from her.

Before posting on LinkedIn, ask yourself: what best describes your energetic state right now? Are you in a state of giving or taking? Are you here to help others or are you craving for a dopamine hit?

I can think of some great ways to improve our energetic state that also offer an inexhaustible source of dopamine: journal in our diary, go for a run, get a workout, meditate, swim, pray, dance, meet up with a good friend, book a therapy appointment, meet a mentor, go for a date, do some community service, play with our kids or pets.

As a non-negotiable rule, I never post when my energetic state is poor.

When we give out poor energy, we attract poor energy in return.

We attract folks vibrating at a low energetic state.

Sure, we may still get likes and DMs from them.

But try asking them to support our small business or hire us for a job.

Will they?

I bet they won’t.

Choose wisely. 

Next bootcamp launching soon! 

I teach the LinkedIn success mindset as part of my six-week Find Your Superpower LinkedIn bootcamp. If you want to join us, get on the waitlist for the next bootcamp, which will be opening for registration in a few weeks time.

Waitlist here! 

Waitlist here! 

Waitlist here! 

Thanks for reading issue 057 of my weekly Find Your Superpower newsletter.

For those of you who are new to my newsletter, Find Your Superpower is subscribed to by 37,000+ people, and discusses the following three goals: (1) Making a career transition, (2) Professional branding on LinkedIn, and (3) Reinventing ourselves for the future of work.