Following Success Tips Are Robbing Me of my Joy
The trick is there is no trick at all. The journey is all that matters
I’ve realised that the more I’ve told myself to write to a particular standard to get more views or clicks, it sucks the passion out of me.
Of course, every writer who publishes their work wants these things. However, I’ve realised that when I set this as my main aim behind an article, I lose all passion to get the work done.
I value and respect the articles that share tips to improve your analytics and outline how to earn money, and I read my fair share of them because of the same reason I just mentioned.
However, I think it is important to talk about this particular side-effect that they can cause: they can rob you of your joy.
This is not to say that they don’t provide value and aren’t helpful; after all, we take painkillers that also come with their own set of possible side-effects.
More so, this is a setback that inevitably occurs and I find that addressing it can help you improve as a writer, rather than have you defeated by it.
What I do is I repeat this mantra to myself when I find myself losing focus:
It is okay for this to occur, but I need to remind myself why I do what I do, and it’s not for the money or the success — it is because writing is my life source.
Since it is my life source, then it is ingrained within me to want to improve anyway.
We are constantly looking for a formula for success, however, we find that it can be quite disappointing because they are not universal. On the contrary, it can make you feel the opposite — as it has done so for me. The path to success is not linear or exact.
“Such questions of course miss the point that we are all one of a kind, the result of millions of elements and transformations running from our DNA to this afternoon. We each build our own unique formula for making decisions. Our goal is to make the best of this formula, to identify it, evaluate its performance and find ways to improve it.” — Gary Kasparov, How Life Imitates Chess
Since we are wired for shortcuts, the need for these articles is understandable.
In the end, I want to write what I want to write because this is my journey, and it is natural to start from the foot of the mountain than be catapulted to the top.
The more I write for a standard the more I lose the will to write. However, when I write for myself and focus on my own journey, it makes me all the more excited.
I find that remembering our joy is the main guidance we need in order to continue our journey.
