Nelson Mandela Can Teach You How To Write Impressively
Leave a valuable message & overcome all obstacles: What a writer can learn from one of the most inspiring leaders
After 27 years in a four-square meters cell, Nelson Mandela was finally free again. Twenty seven lonely years in prison, but it didn’t break his spirit.
In 1994, four years after his release, he became the first black president of South Africa and started changing millions of lives. But in my eyes, it isn’t only his success in the fight against apartheid that makes him remarkable. He fought for what he considered as right and nothing, really nothing in this world was able to destroy his principles.
His life lessons are inspiring and also count for writing. What you can learn from him isn’t how to make a sentence sound appealing, it’s about the deep parts of every story and your duty as a writer towards your story, your readers, and particularly yourself.
1. Be Yourself
“The first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”
The South Africans were tired of the white regime. For decades, they were treated like non-human. And now, Mandela came and told them to cooperate with there oppressors. He decided to rebuild a state based on equality instead of discrimination.
On Medium, I see many authors writing with another writers voice. They write the same stuff as everyone else because they noticed it gets views. And yes, probably these texts will receive claps and money, but their writers can’t call themselves successful because they miss using their voice. If Mandela had said what everybody else said, discrimination would have increased.
You are a writer, not a parrot. As a writer, think independently and use your own special effects.
2. Think about your readers
“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”
Writing is like a puppet play — and the reader is your puppet. You “lead from the back”. With your leadership and your way of writing, you create a moving story out of a simple thought.
The foundation of a good story is your experience and viewpoint. Nevertheless, the reader should be the one in focus. While reading, the reader sees and thinks about himself. He seeks the connection between him and the story, and a well-written post has the power to provide this connection.
3. Message
“It’s not the question of a leader. It’s a question of a human being. Who does something to make an ordinary individual to feel: ‘I am a human being, and I have a future, and I can go to bed feeling strong and full of hope.’”
Writers are no teachers, but the conveyors of feelings. A writer’s most special achievement is when he or she can deliver a message. At the end of the day, that’s your power. A story doesn’t exist to steal the readers time. Instead, it should be worthful to the reader and move him.
You, as a writer, can change something. You don’t have to try to change the world, but you can influence someone’s life and mindset.
Be thrilled about every single clap, because that’s a person you reached, a mindset you touched with a topic that is valuable to you.
4. Failure
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
When you try to write good stories and bring your heart on paper, criticism will be there. Not everybody will support your ideas or the way you put it. Using your voice is always dangerous — it can put you in prison for 27 years. It is much easier to say nothing, to put the pen down, and never write again. When you want to avoid failure, that’s what you should do. But like Mandela said, failure is what needs to happen before you can rise.
You already failed along your way, and you will fail again. We all do. That’s our way to make our writing better.
5. Write, write, write
“You have that limited time to stay on earth. You must try to use that period for the pebbles of transforming your country into what you desire it to be.”
His whole life, Mandela fought for equality. At first, there wasn’t any progress, then it came slowly, and at the age of 75, he got president and with it the chance to fulfill his vision.
When writing is your passion, then it’s worth working for it. Every single hour is worth it, even when it doesn’t always seem so.
Mandela spent 27 years without having a chance to pursue his goal — and yes, I mentioned this number a lot, but that’s because it impresses me so much to get hit by life that hard and then rise again from the ashes. You don’t need to wait 27 years until you can write. Imagine, how would you feel, if you wouldn’t be allowed to write for the next two and a half decades?
Put in everything you’ve got because you have the possibility right now.
6. Hard way to good writing
“It always seems impossible until it is done.”
The thing about success is that you have to put in the work. Okay, that sounds obvious when you hear it. And like the last point said, you should write frequently, so you do put in the work. But when you are in your writing-working process, it can feel unfair. You write frequently, but success might fail to appear. Some days, the progress isn’t visible. Is my writing any better than it was a year ago? Will I ever reach an audience?
I can’t look into Mandela’s thoughts, but for sure he had insecurities as well. Am I good enough? Will I be able to change anything? He faced a problem that was bigger than himself, and he couldn’t know the answers to his questions. But when it seemed impossible, he kept pushing:
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.”
Writing is difficult, and even more when you want to become a good writer. It’s so difficult that it might seem impossible.
I don’t want you to assume that your writing is already perfect, but be optimistic that it will be. You will see results. And if you doubt that, look back on where you started. One year ago, I would have called so many things impossible that I achieved over the last 366 days.
7. Learning
“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Sometimes, I spend the whole day typing, but in the end, I don’t feel like I made my stories better, or like my writing improved. Improvement doesn’t entirely depend on the time you spend writing. Mandela didn’t become a world-changing leader through the amount of time he spent pursuing his goal, but through the time he spent learning about leadership.
Writing is a craft. It’s a bit of talent, but learning and collecting experiences is more valuable. You can use writing guides, read on the topic of your interest, or learn more about the theme you want to write about. Become an active learner instead of a passive one.
8. Be proud
“I will only respond to the name Mandela or Mr. Mandela.”
When the government put Mandala in jail, he said the sentence above to his guards. He demanded their respect.
You should be proud as well. I think, all in all, Medium users are kind readers, but sooner or later, every writer will face criticism, especially after writing something out of the line. However: be proud. You are someone. You overcame many obstacles and achieved a lot. You express yourself through writing, so you are an author; never less.
To me, writing is one of the most beautiful and, at the same time, challenging things in life. Some days, it spreads a smile across my face while on other days, it drives me crazy.
Nonetheless, its beauty and value is reason enough to fight through the obstacles. Nelson Mandela is an inspiring mentor who shows me that giving up is not an option. I am not Mandela, and I won’t ever change the world as much as he did. But maybe through writing, you and I can change something or someone — to me, that’s already more than I would ever expect.
