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You can’t improve if you don’t write
Here’s a fact you should never forget: the majority of the work you’ll produce in your life will not be ground-breaking.
Okay, so what?
Tim Denning writes 12–15 articles a week. There’s zero chance that all of his articles will be exceptional, but that doesn’t stop him from doing it and improving. If you write a single article a week, he’s improving 12x-15x faster than you are. If you start on the same level, he’ll crush you within a week’s worth of work.
So, you’re telling me I should write mediocre articles and publish them?
Hell yeah, I am!
Your first 100 published articles will suck. Heck, I published over 700 articles and most of them suck. :) And when I say “suck”, I mostly mean that they’re contributing to the noise on the internet. The ideas and content are not new or remarkable, they’re just a different perspective I’m offering. They won’t win awards for creativity.
The only writer I know who only publish ground-breaking articles is Michael Simmons. But he publishes only so often. His motto is: “if the article isn’t the best one I’ve ever read on the topic, I don’t publish it.” I find that admirable. But frankly, outside of Michael, I’ve never seen anyone else be good enough to pull that off.
For the “average” people like you and I, we simply can’t start with a masterpiece. So, the only way to get to that level is to practice our craft, and the only way to take it seriously enough is to keep publishing articles — good or bad.
And before you start submitting terrible articles to all the publications you know, know that a bad article doesn’t mean that:
the headline can suck;
the formatting can suck;
the content can suck.
It just means that it’s flawed, but care and effort was still put into it. You still have to give it your all. And giving it your all means you have to edit your piece. You have to be creative about your images. You have to get a second opinion. You have to follow the guidelines.
This article isn’t a masterpiece, but I still wrote it. It won’t win any awards for the best article ever written, but I still wrote it. The language is probably too crude and doesn’t have perfect sentences, and you know what, I’m still publishing it.
If you don’t do, you don’t get.
Canadian hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky said it best:
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky
That’s a pretty bad ratio if you ask me. I’d rather miss 99 percent of my shots, as opposed to every single one of them.
I hear many aspiring writers say that they want to improve but don’t know how to. I ask them: “how many articles have you published?” Most of the time, the answer is below 10. Like, 0–2.
You think Tiger Woods became a pro golfer by playing two games?
You think Michael Jordan became pro basketball players by player two games?
You think Ernest Hemingway wrote two pieces and became a writing legend?
No one is that good. And trust me, I wish it wasn’t the case.
To improve your writing, you have to write. To prove to you that your first piece(s) can suck and you can still make it, check out my first published piece:
Become Happier By Recognizing And Thanking People Who Inspire You
Okay, I’ve seen worse. Much worse, in fact. But if I wrote that today, I’d be disappointed. And I should be. There’s no way you can write 700 articles and not improve.
So, that’s it, Danny? Your whole advice to improve is to write?
I told you this wasn’t anything ground-breaking, but it bears repeating.
The only reason this is the best advice you’ll ever read about becoming a better writer is that 99 percent of people who say they want to become writers don’t write.
It’s the start of everything.
Like Tim S. Grover says in his book Relentless:
“Don’t think, act.” — Tim S. Grover
By thinking too much, you let your emotions cloud your judgment. You feel like you’re not capable. The truth is, you are capable. You’re just overthinking everything.
Don’t expect to have my success by writing a handful of articles, like you wouldn’t expect to replace LeBron James on the court.
Keep writing bad articles. They’re what make you better. It’s the fun part of success, really.
You can do this!