Ignore the Algorithm. Follow Your Gut
Every morning, like clockwork, you open your phone. Notifications blink. Feeds refresh. The world’s shouting at you—louder, faster, more optimized than yesterday. And yet… your chest feels tight. Your ideas feel stale. And everything you post or create feels like it’s for someone else.
Welcome to the Algorithm Trap.
We all know it. We’ve lived it. The algorithm—whether it’s Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or some invisible career ladder—becomes this unseen force that shapes how we show up. What we write. When we post. What we don’t say. The edits we make. The parts of ourselves we leave out. But today’s thought is this:
What if you ignored the algorithm and followed your gut instead?
The Cost of Optimization
Optimization isn’t evil. Let’s be clear—there’s value in strategy. Timing your posts. Using good SEO. Knowing your audience. But there’s a tipping point. When everything you create is optimized for reach, not resonance… when your calendar is optimized for productivity, not joy… when your voice gets algorithmically flattened into something “performable”...
You start to lose yourself. A creative idea pops into your head—but it doesn’t fit. It’s too weird. Too raw. Too niche. So you save it in your Notes app for “later,” which often means “never.” Let’s flip that. Let’s imagine a tiny rebellion.
A Story: The Day It Got Quiet
One morning, a burnt-out UX designer deleted the Instagram app. No announcement. No farewell post. Just—poof. Gone.
She’d spent months trying to grow a personal brand. Posting daily. Reels, carousels, perfect captions, matching tones. She even tried morning affirmations because someone said it boosted engagement. But she hated it. She felt like she was performing someone else’s personality in hopes of being algorithmically liked.
So on a cold Tuesday in March, she deleted the app and did something wild. She started writing again. Just one paragraph a day. Not to publish. Not to impress. Just to hear her own voice again.
Sometimes it was about color theory. Sometimes about loneliness. Sometimes about how silence felt like a luxury. She didn’t go viral. She didn’t trend. But she felt something better—real. For the first time in months, her work felt alive again.
That’s what “One Thought a Day” can do. It’s not a productivity hack. It’s a portal back to yourself.
The Power of Little Rebellions
You don’t have to quit social media. Or throw your phone in a lake. (Although, sure, that sounds romantic.)
But you can practice little rebellions.
- Post something unfinished.
- Write the thing your industry says “won’t work.”
- Say the quiet thing out loud.
- Don’t schedule it. Just share it now.
- Make something for fun—and don’t monetize it.
Because authenticity always beats optimization in the long run.
People are tired of perfect. They crave real.
You know it too. You follow people who show their mess, their weirdness, their honesty. You probably save those posts more than the “10 steps to hack your success” ones.
So what if you became that person?
Here’s Your Challenge
Today, skip the algorithmic checklist.
Instead, ask yourself: “What do I really want to say?”
Say that.
Even if it’s small.
Even if it’s strange.
Even if it doesn’t “perform.”
Because here’s the secret: Your gut has better taste than the algorithm ever will.
The algorithm is a crowd-pleaser. Your gut? It's a compass.
The Long Game
Sure, your “optimized” posts might get 10x the likes. But your gut-driven ones? They’re the ones people remember. Because when you show up as yourself—unfiltered, unpolished, and unapologetically real—you don’t just attract attention.
You build trust.
And that’s what lasts.
Writing after work, with lukewarm coffee. Like what you read? Buy me a coffee ☕