3 belangrijke lessen die ik heb geleerd tijdens mijn eerste maand publiceren op medium

Een vriend heeft Medium een ​​paar jaar geleden voor mij aanbevolen en ik heb het bijna meteen gedownload. Ik hield ervan alle verhalen van de persoonlijke ervaringen van mensen te consumeren en de reacties te lezen van mensen die hun leven aangeraakt hebben.

I ate up all the articles about “X Ways to do X", “Best Morning Routine", and other self-improvement mainstays. I was constantly trying to incorporate all the writers’ lessons in my own life. I can’t even begin to count how many different morning routines I’ve tried during the last couple years.

But one thing I never did was write. I never sat down and put my thoughts to keyboard for others to read.

But, new year, new me. I decided that it was time to actually try my hand at writing, and in this short time it has taught me a lot. So, if you’ve been reading a ton of articles and not contributing, here’s some key lessons that I’ve learned throughout this process that may help you when you decide to start.

#1 — Writing Well is Hard

This is the biggest lesson I have learned. I had no idea how hard it was to write well.

During college I studied computer science and, at one point, had to take a writing class. I did ok, and since I have communicated effectively throughout my career, I didn’t think it would be too hard to write a blog post.

However, it turns out that being good at e-mail has absolutely no correlation to engaging readers on a real subject. I know — shocked.

To improve my writing, I found a Medium article that listed several good writing courses. I decided to sign up for one on Udemy, Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer, and am amazed about how ignorant I was.

I now am more cognizant of how many extraneous words I place in sentences, and how much I repeat things for no reason. Getting better at writing is making me want to write even more. I now look forward to it each day, and try to publish at least two articles a week.

Writing has started to consume most of my waking thoughts. And the more I do it, the more I appreciate all the writers on here. I now see their little nuances and the way they capture reader’s attention through cadence.

And spacing.

It’s amazing how many great writers are on here, and I feel privileged to have the ability to produce content with them.

#2 — You Have to Find a Voice

This has been even harder than I expected.

Throughout my lurking days, I would read tons of interesting articles on a variety of subjects. From app programming to self improvement, I would peruse anything that struck my interest at that time.

But coming up with material to write is a whole different story. What should I write? What should be my focus? What do I feel qualified to share my experiences on? Why should anyone read this? What can I write to inspire someone?

Turns out, I still don’t know. I’ve dabbled with a couple articles on my favorite morning routine, the one thing standing in your way, and others, but I settled on a slightly different approach.

I started a group of articles called The 3, which detail an influential entrepreneur, inventor, or world-changing person and determines three areas that set them apart from the crowd in the hopes of inspiring others to attain these same traits.

The first article of The 3 highlighted Elon Musk, and received decent interest. In fact, it is my most read article to date. It made me feel that I could provide value to others through this voice.

It, along with some of my other articles, was picked up by The Startup. However, the second edition of The 3, featuring Peter Thiel, was not. While I don’t know why specifically, I can only assume that it is because it needs work, which inspires me to learn even more.

I’ll keep trying to figure out in which way I can present the most value. And I’ll still keep making content even if no one reads it. I’m happy to just keep improving and being allowed to participate in the game.

#3 — Creativity Creates Vulnerability

This stands to reason, however you don’t really understand the feeling or appreciate it until you do it. I have gained a whole new level of respect for people who make things and put them out for public scrutiny.

Writing or creating anything and displaying it opens up a myriad of emotions.

From feeling that everyone is better than you and you don’t deserve to do it, to feelings of euphoria when someone reads and comments on your articles.

Medium is a great platform to initially get out there. The comments and feedback from others is generally thought-provoking, supportive, and helpful. You don’t have anyone just looking to demean or devalue your work. This is huge in helping to gain confidence and feeling safe in putting out true thoughts and emotions.

This is one of the reasons I think Medium is such a good place to take that initial step.

I published my first article and received very little response. I felt, however, that it had to be perfect before I released it into the world. In fact, I wrote about my experience in my second article, which surprisingly got picked up for publication. I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe that I was actually “a writer" for a publication on Medium. After reading for so long, I was actually a part of this.

Not everything I write gets published in a publication. That’s not a surprise. I’m learning. I’m learning from all the others out there who receive thousands of claps, and tens of comments.

I’m not a great writer, but I’m trying to be.

One day I hope to get there. I hope to be the one who people look to for that piece of advice, or that experience to help them through their day.

I’m not there yet.

But I’ll get there.

Thanks

Thanks for reading this. You have made my day. If you like this, please clap or comment or both. I hope this helps you to get out there, like I did, and try writing too.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 291,182+ people.

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