30 Days Without Medium
It changed my life.
I might have ventured a bit further along the Medium journey than you, but that doesn’t hold much significance.
Honestly, I’m still grappling with deciphering the elusive formula for success here — the so-called Holy Grail.
Yet, what I have managed to gather are insights into what doesn’t work.
(And if you steer clear of enough dead ends, you’ll eventually find your way to what does.)
We’re all in the same boat — whether you’ve been posting for years like me, or just began yesterday. We all stumble over the same pitfalls.
We heed the advice of the top gurus, devour every How-To guide, and strive to publish religiously, ticking off all the boxes.
In essence, we play by the rules to the letter.
And what’s the result?
Your head starts to ache when you check yesterday’s Medium earnings.
(It reads something like 34 views, 16 reads, and a measly $0.23 for the day.)
Naturally, you expect that
Effort = Earnings
You anticipate seeing your hard work translate into tangible earnings.
(After all, society ingrains in us the idea that time equals money.)
But truth be told, it’s best to let go of that notion. Otherwise, you’ll only end up disheartened, possibly abandoning Medium altogether (and maybe even writing as a whole).
The conventional wisdom just doesn’t hold here (there’s no deterministic reasoning at play!).
I experienced this firsthand not too long ago. I was so frustrated that I even penned an article announcing my departure from Medium.
No, seriously… I was ready to wash my hands of it.
Then, I completely forgot about Medium and didn’t publish a single post for 30 days!
(After diligently posting daily.)
And you know what happened?
The Medium notifications started flooding in — someone added my story to their reading list, or someone clapped for an article…
They kept pouring in… And I hadn’t lifted a finger to promote a thing!
When I finally checked my views and earnings, I was dumbfounded.
It’s a whole new ballgame now — it’s more like
And that translates to roughly $5–6 a day.
Not too shabby for doing absolutely nothing…
So, how do I explain this?
Honestly, I can’t. How did it happen exactly? — I haven’t the faintest idea.
But what I do know is that readers started trickling in from somewhere… And they appreciated the content enough to stick around and read it…
MY TAKEAWAY: Medium is a tangled web with many moving parts. These components collide and ricochet off each other, creating chaos. (But within that chaos emerges a winning article that garners the reads.)
It’s nearly impossible to predict precisely when your efforts will pay off…
Or which post will be the breakthrough…
(Reality check: My highest earner is a post that I whipped up in 10 minutes — the one I initially wanted to scrap out of embarrassment.)
But it will pay off — your best bet right now is to write when inspiration strikes and without the added pressure.
Forget about strict schedules, word counts, and the myriad other parameters that supposedly make a winning article (as others often preach).
Because truth be told, there’s no blueprint, formula, or checklist that guarantees a successful post upfront!
Once the momentum kicks in, you’ll naturally pour more effort into your writing, producing more and more content.
Until then, be kind to yourself and manage your expectations appropriately.
Only then can you truly enjoy the journey with Medium, releasing all constraints (as I’m doing right now).
