5 Things Kept Me From Writing
And how I’m going to overcome those
I started my Medium journey in June 2022, intending to publish 100 posts within 3 months.
A month is gone — I’ve published only 5 articles.
Started writing more than 10 articles — a few more in drafts. I feel something is missing in those pieces — so I didn’t hit the publish button.
When I looked back after a month — I felt disappointed with my progress. I should have published at least 30 posts for the first month. But I haven’t even reached half of that.
This made me think of the reasons for not achieving my goals.
I kept on questioning myself.
What I’ve done in the past month? Why couldn’t I achieve my goals? Why couldn’t I complete some of my articles? What mistakes I’ve made?
I was badly in need of investigating the reasons for not being able to achieve my writing goals.
So, I kept answering my questions and came up with the reasons that kept me from writing more often. After analyzing my thoughts, I could come up with 5 broader reasons that stopped me from writing.
I’m sure you can relate to these 5 things if you struggle to be consistent in writing.
Now, it’s time. It’s time to see whether you can relate to these 5 things.
1. Never-ending story suggestions
I love reading.
Whenever I open Medium, there are many article suggestions for me to read. Recommendations are based on reading history — so it’s hard to ignore. I end up reading those pieces.
Where’s the time to write?
Gone.
Sometimes, having a ton of exciting article suggestions is a distraction.
Tips to overcome: Schedule your writing time before you start. Don’t research while writing — do it before. Keep all the other tabs closed while you’re working on your piece. Keep your phone away from your reach.
Schedule time for focused effort.
2. Contradictory pieces of advice
Reading more = More knowledge, more information, more insights
Consuming more content is good. However, it may lead to a conflict within your mind. I read articles from several writers on the same topic. One person advises us to do something, and another tells us to do the opposite.
What is the right thing to do? Which advice should I follow?
A conflict.
Tips to overcome: Learn more with an open mind. Follow your gut feeling to choose what’s right for you.
Trust your gut.
3. Having an unnecessary flow of ideas
It’s great to have a never-ending flow of ideas. But not always.
When I start to craft a nice piece — the idea flow is endless.
Now you might wonder why I complain about having a flow of ideas.
There’s a bad thing. Most of those ideas are not related to what I started writing. New topic ideas, new startup ideas, new side hustle ideas, and the list goes on. It all started with something relevant to my writing and ended with a whole new concept.
Idea flow is good — only when it is relevant to your writing.
Tips to overcome: Come up with the title and subtitle, and jot down the points before writing. Whenever your mind goes far from the topic, reread your outline.
Starve your distractions, feed your focus.
4. Feeling of not being good enough
I know I have much to offer.
However, questioning myself is inevitable sometimes. I share my experiences or what I learned from them. Then a bunch of thoughts comes from nowhere.
Is it good to share my thoughts? What will experts say about my opinions? Am I good enough to give this advice?
No matter how knowledgeable you’re, someone always knows more than you.
Tips to overcome: Know that you’re unique. No matter how many experts are in your niche/field, you have something new to share with your experiences. Pour your heart out.
Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge.
5. Wanting to publish the perfect piece
Perfectionism is the enemy sometimes.
Usually, I jot down the points after coming up with the article idea. Then I think more about the topic and research. When I get to know more, I feel I need to dig and add more to my piece. I want to make it perfect — adding everything relevant.
I want to make every aspect of the article perfect — format, grammar, SEO (sometimes, I think about SEO), picture, tags, title, and the list goes on.
This mentality leads me to think, “My work is not good. I have much more to learn.”
Sure, I do have a lot to learn.
However, that feeling should not stop you from sharing what you already know.
Tips to overcome: Know that nothing is perfect. Only the imaginary things are. Accept your flaws and improve step by step. Hit the publish button and see what happens.
What’s the reason for having an edit button if everything is perfect?
Think about that.
Progress is more important than perfection.
After identifying the reasons behind my failure to reach writing goals, I thought of ways to overcome those.
I asked, “What advice do I give myself to overcome these 5 things?”
Finally, came up with ideas to overcome. Those are the tips I’ve included under each of the above reasons.
Go through the tips again. Those tips will help you to be better.
Learn from others. Adapt as it fits.
What keeps you from writing?
And what do you do to overcome those challenges?
Share your experience.
Always happy to learn from others :)
