How to Build a Mental Framework for Going Viral

Use these psychological pillars so your dream of virality doesn’t turn into a nightmare

Photo by Guillaume Meurice from Pexels

When you observe people going viral on the internet, you’ll recognize a pattern: After the virality has flattened, everything goes back to normal.

Going viral is like a comet burning up in the atmosphere — pretty to watch but vanished faster than you could think of a wish.

In fact, going viral might be the start of a nightmare:

• Impostor syndrome could worsen after going viral — I’ll never be able to achieve something like this again.
• Your viral content might be very different from your usual work — People don’t appreciate my actual content.
• You desperately try to replicate your viral content — If I just emulate my viral content, surely I’ll go viral again.

That’s why we, as content creators, need a mental framework for going viral. The framework I’m about to share with you builds on two pillars:

1. The equation of success by Daniel Kahnemann
2. A statistical phenomenon called regression to the mean.

By understanding these concepts, you’ll be more compassionate of yourself and your content. You’ll…