I posted my first story on Medium 3 days ago.
And I am here to make a public commitment:
“I will write every day for the next seven weeks, until the end of the year.”
Have I gone mad? Am I just setting myself up for failure and disappointment?
And why should you even care?
Hear me out — especially if you also want to write consistently here on Medium, as I do.
How to be successful on Medium
Over the past few days, I’ve read multiple articles on how to be successful on Medium at the beginning. Every one of these writers offers advice based on their experience:
- Nina Quist summarises how she got 1,000 followers during her first month here.
- Toni Koraza writes how to survive your first month or Medium
- Tim Denning describes that your first priority should be to write the first 100 articles
- Danny Forest offers a comprehensive guide how to learn Writing on Medium
- Sinem Günel says that in December 2019, she decided to go all-in on Medium and post daily. As a result, she made tremendous progress in less than 3 months.
The one thing that seems to be similar between all of this advice is consistency. To gain traction and create a following, you need to post consistently.
As Todd Brison puts it in his article:
“When you are just starting, consistency beats quantity. Find a schedule that works for you and stick to it. Slow momentum is better than no momentum.”
and also
“Write something every single day. Do not take weekends off.”
Writing daily is very rewarding:
- you can grow your audience and positively change more people
- your writing will improve with practice
- you will understand how this place works and figure out what works on Medium
The challenge of procrastination
I am sure you agree with this advice and would also like to post consistently here on Medium.
But writing daily is hard!
As anyone who has stared at a blank page for more than 5 minutes knows, writing daily is hard.
It is cognitively demanding. You need to block out distractions and focus longer for the words to start flowing on the page.
It is much easier to do other things: read medium posts about writing, browse Twitter, watch youtube videos on productivity, clean your desk…
I know.
I wrote an article about beating procrastination — mostly as a lesson to myself!
How to get off your BUT
(and no, that’s not a typo)
In 2007, J.K. Rowling was having trouble finishing the last of the Harry Potter books. As Corey McComb writes,
“in an interview with Oprah, J.K. Rowling confessed that it was so difficult to concentrate at home that she checked herself into a suite at The Balmoral Hotel, down the street from her own home.”
This is an example of a Grand Gesture, as a way to overcome procrastination and make a commitment to completing the work.
This is why I am making a Grand Gesture. I want to get off my BUT —to overcome the objection of “but writing daily is hard.”
Therefore, I decided to commit to writing every day and posting an article here on Medium, for the next 7 weeks. Until December 31st, 2020.
I commit to writing every day and posting an article here on Medium, for the next 7 weeks. Until December 31st, 2020.
To keep me accountable, I have created the following visual reminder, which I will update and post weekly.
As Jerry Seinfeld said, there is only one goal: “Don’t break the chain”
If you want to take your writing to the next level, if you want to improve exponentially, you should consider making a public commitment too.
Join me on this journey
To stay up to date with my efforts and find out the actions I will take to succeed in this challenge, you can follow me.
You can also join my mailing list to keep up to date with other projects I am involved in, through my monthly curated newsletter.
Commit to improving by the end of the year
Are you also committed to improving by the end of the year?
Write a comment below with details about your goal and how you plan to achieve it. I promise to reply to all messages I receive.
