You don't need to read all the other comments first

You don't need to read everyone else's comments on a post before you write your own. 90% of the time, this is a big waste of effort. We would rather you be original and efficient.

Why?

  1. It builds trust in yourself

If you routinely need to read other comments to 'see what everyone else is saying', that tells me you're not confident in your ability to engage in an industry discussion.

Unsure about your beliefs and experience? That's okay! Take a step back. Try to figure out what it is you actually think about the work you're doing, your industry, etc. Write 5-10 pages about it. Structure your thoughts. Spend 4-6 hours doing this tough but satisfying work of untangling your own philosophy.

When I started on LinkedIn 8 years ago, I did this in public. And I slowly refined and refined my thinking, in part because I posted what I was thinking and exposed it to feedback. I engaged honestly with the "market for ideas". Some others' thoughts I liked, some I rejected.

  1. You avoid subconsciously sounding like everyone else

If you read others' comments before writing your own, you run the risk of subconsciously copying their wording — worse, their actual 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴. Avoid this by writing your own comment first, before seeing what others have said. Be brave! And yes once in a while you might really put your foot in your mouth and need to delete your comment (this happens 0.01% of the time but it's both fixable and forgettable.)

  1. You’ll be much faster

You don't need to be an executive or a founder to value your own time. It takes me between 8-30 seconds to read a post (depends on how in-depth it was and whether I like it or not), and 5-20 seconds to write a good comment (again depending on how valuable my reaction was or wasn't). But most people spend 2-7 minutes PER post. Eek! That's gonna take you forever to engage. If you don't yet have traction on LinkedIn and you think you don't have time to write 20 comments per day? You're probably spending way too long per comment.

Time yourself if you don't believe me. You'll realize: you literally don't have time to read everyone else's comments first. Stop spinning your wheels, paralyzing yourself and getting overwhelmed in the process.