My 5 Deepest Regrets from Writing 200+ Articles in 1.5 Years
I realized them after joining April 2022 Ship30for30 cohort
I published my 200th essay in Publishious last week. And while I thought it would feel monumental, like a huge achievement, I felt nothing but regret and shame to some extent.
Because I made tons of mistakes along the way.
No, not your usual ones you do unknowingly, but the ones you know you’re doing but still don’t make an effort to change for whatever reason. Yeah, it sucked. Hard.
The feeling hit deeper than I expected because I was a part of last month’s Ship30for30 cohort with Nicolas Cole and Dickie Bush, and I couldn’t believe that I had been so stupid for the past two years!
Okay, enough of my rambling now. Let’s think of me making those mistakes so that you don’t need to do it. Now let’s dive in.
1. Experiment with the formatting/headlines.
When we begin our writing journey, we often want to write whatever catches our eye/interests us. So we put our primary focus on experimenting with topics, forgetting that we need to do it with every aspect of our writing, such as headlines, cover photos, time of publishing, etc.
Because only topics aren’t enough. It wasn’t for me.
None of my writing went viral to date without formatting my work to capture the audience’s attention.
Tip: We also tend to take the shortcuts with headline analyzers, and my god, are there 100s of them. But I would suggest not to depend on them entirely, and go with your gut. Try out different formats, see what’s working for other successful writers, and emulate them. But most importantly, make sure you’re clear, not clever.
2. Studying is not enough. You need to implement it too.
I’ve spent 100s of hours on courses, books, and whatnot. It was of no use because I never implemented any of them. Instead, I would practice everything in real-time and see what works and what doesn’t.
It’s easy to defend yourself and procrastinate by saying you’re putting in the work by studying. But nothing works until you’re working towards a particular result.
Be result-driven in your writing—all the time. Your writing will improve exponentially.
Tip: If you get easily overwhelmed by implementing too much, take ONE take away from whatever you’re studying. Implementing one lesson from a book/video/course will take you places you cannot imagine.
3. Niche down (if you want to make money)
I know there’s a great debate about whether you should have a niche or not. And god, is it difficult to find if you’re a multi-passionate like me!
But, it was one of my biggest mistakes. I should have started actively finding what I liked to write after 100 posts. But I didn’t.
As Nicolas Cole says, finding a niche isn’t a marriage. You can change it anytime if it doesn’t work out. But have one. And be ultra-specific about it. Throughout experimentation and tweaking, you’ll find the right match.
Tip: You can also have three specific buckets instead of one. But make sure they’re all related. For example, I now write about storytelling, marketing, and forming a digital network. All three are connected because they’re the core pillars to form customers and sell any product.
4. Don’t ignore the stats and audience feedback
At the time, the stats told me to write more on feminism. Four months into my writing journey, I steadily increased my earnings to about $40/mo.
But I wasn’t satisfied. I deviated to self-improvement because I ‘thought’ it worked on Medium. If I had just noticed my stats and taken feedback from others, I would have known I was wrong.
I spent five months writing something I wasn’t passionate about, causing tons of friction, burnout, & self-doubt. Of course, I never succeeded as a writer too.
Tip: After writing 100 articles, you’ll notice patterns emerging on what you like and what works. Try to hit both fruits with one stone. And niche down.
5. Remember to study the platform & algorithms
Because they keep changing, and you need to study them (format, features) to succeed.
I’ve become obsessed with Twitter in the past two months. And you’ve no idea how many great writers don’t know to use the platform! Writing well is not enough. Performing well on any platform is a science. You need to work on it.
You also need to keep this in mind when repurposing content. What works on LinkedIn will not work on Medium and vice versa because each platform was built for a specific purpose and has different rules. You need to adhere to it.
A couple of days back, when talking with a friend about my regrets, he said something that blew my mind away, “At least you’ve written 200 essays. 90% of people haven’t started, and less than 2% have continued without giving up, so you’re doing well!”.
While the pep talk did make me feel 100X better about my writing journey, the heavy stone of regret sits in the deep hollows of my chest even today.
You expect something when you put your heart, soul, and everything into a craft. And when you don’t receive what you wish, you feel let down. I hope these mistakes become lessons for you, and I genuinely hope you succeed much faster than me.
Thank you so much for being a part of my journey, good or bad. It truly means a lot.
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