Hitting that ‘Publish’ button
You do it by doing it. And by learning from those who do it better.
I am trying to read less articles online. Actually, I’m trying to minimize the amount of information I see in every domain. There are so many resources out there but if I don’t have the internal resources to integrate it, then I end up feeling even more overwhelmed.
Anyway. Today I opened Medium to write my daily post, which meant seeing a home screen full of articles to click through.
I chose one, and I’m giving myself points* for (a) stopping after one article, and (b) actually reading what I read, as opposed to the shallow skim-through.
So here is a quick takeaway of and ode to the post I read, titled Stop Talking Yourself Out of Hitting ‘Publish’ : How a thick tkin will help you as a writer by Darius Foroux.
Do you have five million unpublished drafts?, the article opens by asking.
YES I DO.
Do you hesitate before writing something online?
I hesitate with every word.
every. single. one.
The author’s advice?
- Adjust your mindset: Writing online isn’t your whole life
- Brush off negative feedback
- It takes time
- Focus on the progress
Here are the top quotes that stuck with me:
Writing itself is already hard. But we tend to make it even harder…and because we get in our own way, we struggle with self-doubt. You need to get over those types of self sabotage and start publishing more.
The key to being a happier writer: be indifferent to your results.
We can’t expect everything to work out immediately. What matters is that you improve as a writer. If your writing is getting better even just a little bit, you’ll reap the rewards at some point. The challenge is not to give up before you get there.
So: my 25 minutes are up, and I’m hitting ‘Publish.’
Cheers ~
*(Side note: I’m giving myself even more points for giving myself points before. We got to celebrate the little things we do! Growth happens through the incremental changes, which is so easy to miss because the inner-critic is so damn Loud).
