I’m Starting To Learn What It Takes
Getting the hang of it feels hopeful.
I’ve recently started working on myself, literally 24/7.
Starting from just running seven days a week all the way to starting my first-ever business.
It has been, I must say, surprising.
Not necessarily too tough, neither physically nor mentally, it’s just unexpected: my views on success changed completely—all those thoughts that starting an online agency was like riding a bike vanished.
It’s a completely different experience from what was expected.
This is mostly for those around my age and young adults, but it’s a very interesting story for anyone to read.
Here’s a list of what I’m doing in life right now:
- Copy/ghostwriting agency.
- Writing every day on Medium, X, LinkedIn, and Quora.
- A business/marketing newsletter.
- I run every day and add 1 km to those runs each week (I’m at 7 km).
- Go to the gym (while at home) 3–4 times per week.
- And some other minor ambitions.
These experiences are not something huge (well, most of them aren’t), so neither are they too difficult — but they’re still an “aha” moment for me.
Anyway, a few takeaways from this:
Even minor success feels good..
It was very important, and I realize that now, for me to realize that life isn’t that easy—even the smallest successes require dedication.
But the other thing I learned is that dedication gets its reward.
For instance, I received 30k views on Quora (in my first month). I also doubled my Medium stats (even a bit more than double) — and it’s only the beginning of a new month, so it might grow even more.
It’s quite incredible how easy and complicated it is at the same time.
I’ve seen failure before, and it was crucial..
Before this, I had been writing on my own website for about five months (with hardly any results), and I realized that it was not going to work that way.
I now know the problems I had: I didn’t have a plan, I wasn’t frequent enough, I didn’t have enough desire, and I didn’t dedicate myself.
And so, I did something some might consider "giving up."
I switched to writing only on Medium and Quora.
But I also changed the way I did it—I started writing every day, without excuses, focusing on creating both high-quality and quantity.
And guess what? It works!
That failure was absolutely crucial. In fact, I love that I failed because I badly needed it. It’s going to save me a lot of time and money in the future.
Also, it’s not as if I gained nothing: I learned intermediate-level SEO, I did become a better writer (even though no one saw it), and I did enjoy it.
So, it’s essentially a win-win situation, if you ask me.
Most attempts are Win-Win situations..
It doesn’t matter if you fail or succeed, because you still win.
This is something someone very intelligent on my basketball team once said, before a game: “We either get out of here and win or we learn.”
That phrase completely changed my mindset.
As I just explained, it turned out to be an extremely useful thing to keep in mind, and I haven’t squeezed all the juice out of it yet.
You just have to try, and you will eventually succeed.
The key it to keep going, not to succeed..
This is the most important thing you can ever learn.
It’s not the goal you should keep in mind; it’s the process.
You might think that there is no point if there is no result, but I will tell you something special: “If there is a process, there is a result.”
Even though I haven’t achieved much with one thing, I’ve achieved something with small things—and it has always worked.
If you keep going, results will inevitably follow.
Your dreams will eventually draw themselves in front of your path, and you will finally achieve what you desire.
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
There is no better "strategy" than to simply start and never stop: it works and it has not been proven incorrect.
It’s a simple equation.
"10/10 quantity + 8/10 quality = results."
I dare you to prove me wrong in the comments, if you will.
I really hope you learned something new. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments.
I wrote this simply to document what’s happening to me and potentially inspire others.
I write on medium to help you, follow me:)
Thanks a lot for reading!
-Vladimir
