5 Reasons Your Writing Would Never Be Good Enough

Take the message and spare the messenger

There are two reasons you clicked on this post.

1. You are not confident in your writing and want to know the five secrets that are holding you back.

2. You are very confident in your writing and curious to know who gave this random person veto power to judge who or not would be a successful writer.

If your reason is 1, then this post is for you.

If your reason is 2, then I am really happy you clicked because we need more of that energy in the writing community.

To clear it up before I jump into the meat of this article, there is absolutely no reason why your writing can’t be good enough if you WANT it to be.

Contrary to the demeaning title, the information you are going to get in this article is “5 Steps that can grow your confidence in writing.”

So let’s begin:

A positive mind-shift

If you want to write better, the resolve must first come from your mind.

It all starts with the right Mindset. Mentally prepare yourself and stop fueling your inadequacies; Stop counting reasons you can not be good, and start making plans to learn and improve on what you already know.

Your mindset should shift from, “I am not a native speaker, there is no way I can write good enough to publish what other people in the western world would want to read…I am too old to learn how to write properly…I did not learn early enough to make a career in writing,” to, “I might not be as good as I want right now, but I will get better with practice and consistency.”

You can write better if you want to; You have to learn the process, and you can do that by reading and emulating the steps of great writers you admire.

Purposeful learning

If you want to write better, you have to consume better content.

Filter in the kind of information your brain processes — your subconscious mind picks up on a lot of things, and it reflects in your actions.

If you want to write better, limit your access to bad grammar as much as possible. Be mindful of your grammar, punctuation, and the language you use (even in an informal setting such as chatting).

If you spend more than three hours on social media and feast your eyes on badly written memes and TikTok captions, it is going to reflect in your work when you sit down to write.

Take Corrections

While corrections might hurt your ego, it is best to take it as gracefully as you can. Do not be a sensitive writer, else, people who would have helped you would learn to become silent observers.

When each day becomes a learning process for you, your growth potential increases.

Accept corrections, and thank the person pointing out the errors. But, be sure never to repeat the same mistake.

Take chances with your writing

Put yourself out there.

Apply to competitions, and submit your writing to publications to get published.

When you put yourself out there for people to see and judge, then you heighten the stakes. And when you heighten the stakes, you level up to meet up with the growing expectations.

Comfort is a terrible thing and should be avoided at all costs. So, take chances with yourself and move with people better than you.

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”

— Carrie Fisher

Write, and apply anyway; Do not let your mind be consumed by thoughts of rejection.

The lessons you learn will see you winning in the long-run.

Focus on the big picture

Never forget the reason you started writing.

And while your opinion may change over time, you have to keep in perspective your deciding factor to start writing. Think back to it and trace the answer to the question, Why?

“Why am I writing?”

“Why did I choose to go on this journey?”

Because when you know the answer to why then the how becomes very easy.

Conclusion

Naturally, we become more conscious when our egos have been bruised.

Like how you clicked on this madly belittling title and have read to this stage.

But really, you deserve more credit; To follow a path as volatile as writing (producing content non-stop from the head) takes kick-ass guts.

If you are writing full time, then you are the DEAL.

There is no conceivable reason why you would not be a great writer if you want to and are willing to work hard in your quest for greatness.

Give yourself more credit, and NEVER let anyone tell you that you are not good enough. Ever.