It’s funny — the internet and social media were supposed to free people from trying so hard, or even trying at all, to please other people. All this stuff was supposed to emancipate people from the need to be “picked” by anyone else.

Then we turn around and invest so much time in making sure our image or brand is as perfect as possible, just so people who we don’t know (and likely will never meet) like and follow us, and share our stuff — so they “pick” us.

We actually feel worse when we’re left un-picked by the masses than when the traditional gatekeepers and decision makers don’t pick us.

Is there a solution? Yes — and No.

No, because truthfully, there will always be a percentage of people who measure themselves  by what the crowd says (or doesn’t say) about them in the form of likes and follows.

No, because some people’s very existence (in life or in business) is based on how people feel about them and how enthusiastically they show it.

No, because those traditional gatekeepers have adapted to the game: Now you get chosen by them by showing how much you’ve been chosen by the masses. Essentially, very little has changed.

At the same time, Yes — and for only one reason.

You understand that your “picking” of yourself is the most important choice you can make.

You understand that there are people who’ve been picked, over and over again, by the masses and the bosses, yet despite this fact have yet to pick themselves.

You understand that if you don’t pick yourself now, it won’t get easier to do tomorrow.