Reflecting on My ‘30-Day Challenge’

And why I’m still reaping the benefits…

Jordan Ebert
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read
“man wearing black, gray, and white plaid sleeveless top” by J'Waye Covington on Unsplash

March 22, 2018…

After 30 (ish) long, tiresome days of consecutive writing on Medium, I had finally finished my 30 day challenge.

How I Went From 0 to 2000 Views in 20 Days… Finally, after a month of grinding I could finally title a story focusing on me and how great I’ve become.

But then it’ll all dwindled down into nothingness.

I stopped posting daily and subsequently my numbers began to fall.

Now, it’s obvious as to why this happened — less stories to read = less reads overall. It’s simple math.

But then, something incredible happened.

My next four stories would become my four biggest stories ever.

How did this happen?

I shifted from quantity to quality

While pumping stories out every day at the start was a great way to improve my writing style and to make my presence known on the platform, I often had to compromise quality to reach my daily goals.

I was publishing half baked ideas, which I barely covered in 100–200 words.

I was honing my craft for long term success at the expense of short term gain.

At the same time, I was flexing my execution muscle while typing up a whole story in little over 15 minutes…

As a result, I worked my way through 3–5 ideas a day picking only the ones I could cover in 15 minutes or so, leaving me with 100s of draft stories just waiting to be perfected.

I have a goldmine full of content!

From that 30 day period, I inadvertently build myself a cluster of killer blog ideas for future me to relish in.

I also made a lot of friends.

It takes 21 days to properly form a habit, so I guess posting every day made it easy for some people to grow accustomed to my presence and even to follow up on me 6 months later.

It’s flattering, really. Looking back on old stories and realising that the same people are still reading makes my heart warm. I really did make a difference.

To think, the story that would take me to 200 followers had already been written AND published when I only had 50 followers, all I had to do was wait.

The story that would later take me to 400 followers had already been drafted and mostly written out when I had 140 followers, all I had to do was not give up.

Heck, the story to take me to 1000 followers could be this one, all I have to do is post it and see.

Posting every day taught me how to win

Despite my struggles in the beginning and the constant battle with my emotions, I was able to persevere till now, where I’ve reached more people than I ever would have imagined.

Where I’m writing stories that old me could only dream of writing.

I learned how to write amazing posts in 30 minutes and how to write consistently at a high level.

I learned that titles and cover photos are important too and that engagement is a heck of a lot more important than views alone.

I’ve learned that Medium is the place to be, and here I am! Killing it!

That’s all from today folks! Be sure to check out my storytelling masterclass on YouTube here! And support a brother on Patreon if you want early access to some of my stories and YouTube Videos :)

Hold 👏 (clap) and hit follow if you found this interesting. Also thanks to anyone who’s made it this far, I hope this post was of use to someone. You’re the best!

Writers Guild

Hone your craft. Share your story.

Jordan Ebert

Written by

A guy with a laptop and a stable internet connection. Student of Engineering, Player of FIFA. I make stuff to see what happens. Find me on YouTube

Writers Guild

Hone your craft. Share your story.

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