5 lessons from Muhammad Ali for Writers

Muhammad Ali was famous because he created attention around his brand. He saw himself as a business and created a buzz around his name.

Anytime I think about Muhammad Ali, what comes to my mind is how he kept on saying — I am the greatest — Then he’d say: “It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.” This last message sums up this entire article.

Ali was not as strong as the other fighters in his time, but he had good marketing. Let me give you an example. The top fighters in the 20th century were accessed with detailed computer analysis to see the percentage of punches they landed, compared to what their opponents landed.

The results were: Floyd Mayweather Jr. with 25.2%, Joe Frazier with 18.9%, and Muhammad Ali with minus 1.7%. It just shows how Muhammad Ali’s strength compared to other boxers in his time. But he was and remained the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion. What did he do differently? And how can it benefit you as a writer?

He worked harder than everyone else.

If you’re a new writer here, seeing all the other writers who have been writing longer getting featured frequently in bigger publications and have a larger following, it will make you feel like they are better than you — Of course, they are, because they have put in the work.

At some point, they focused on nothing but writing and wrote till their fingers got sore.

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

-Muhammad Ali

It just teaches you how you have to sacrifice your today, so you can become like that prominent writer you admire tomorrow — and better.

Writing every day is your training. It’s an investment you make for your brand and your future. One blog post can create hundreds of opportunities for you in the future.

There was no other Boxer in his time that trained as much as he did. And all that work paid off.

He believed in his brand and Promoted Himself accordingly.

Nobody can promote your brand, as well as you. During the early stages of his career, he made the world believe that he trained underwater — Through a photographer.

Muhammad Ali was a great showman, and you could see it from how he taunted his opponents in and out of the ring. He didn’t relent to enter his opponents’ minds before the game with all his taunting.

Right from time, he kept saying, “I am the greatest.” This was because he believed in his brand and could back his claim up in the ring.

Now, I’m not saying you should be shouting in everybody’s ears that you’re the greatest writer and you’re better than them.

The confidence I mean is, to believe in your art enough to post it everywhere regardless of what anyone thinks.

Sometimes we let thoughts like, “What would they say” hold us back. But that’s something Muhammad Ali wasn’t short of. He openly talked about his brand and believed in it. Soon, it became a reality.

“It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

-Muhammad Ali

Set goals and create more goals when you’re done

Everyone should have goals — writer or not — it is essential because it keeps you focused.

It can be as little as writing here every day or writing 3 books in a year. Whatever goals you set, you have to stick to it, and it’s done, do more.

He said: “I know where I’m going, and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.” Set your goals and don’t be distracted by what anyone tells you or is doing. It’s your goal to accomplish.

Your branding is important.

When you hear, “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” who comes to your mind?

Your branding at the end of the day is the image of yourself or your business that you show the world. He created his brand using his words; he believed it. He said:

“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

Project yourself as quality, and you would attract quality.

He failed and got back up.

As a writer, you have to get used to being rejected. It comes with the occupation. Muhammad Ali was defeated several times, but he still came back in his usual ways and fought back — and won.

Whether you didn’t get that gig or you got rejected by a publication or you hadn’t found work in months, you have to persist still. I’ll be a hypocrite to say persistence is easy — it’s the hardest thing ever. But do you have any choice?

For each fight he lost, he trained extra hard. For each rejection you get, go back to improve on yourself and try again.

I’ll end with this:

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

-Mohammad Ali