ATTITUDE COUNTS
Bitching About Your Stats Won’t Improve Your Writing
Take it From Someone Who’s Been There Before
If you’re like me, I’m sure you observe a lot of things in your Medium travels. Quite a few stories and articles. Some interesting profiles and characters. A lot of comments on people’s writing.
And a shit-ton of complaining.
We’ve all been there at times. When things are going well on Medium, we’re on top of the world. Having an article go over in a huge way is such a jolt of confidence. It’s rewarding to see one of our stories earning an above-average amount of income from a high number of views, reads, claps, and comments.
I love that feeling. And don’t even get me started about the Boost. Man, that one’s a game-changer.
But I remember a time before I was Boosted. The program started this past February, and I eagerly anticipated receiving my first one. Being I’d received 78 Top Writer designations in just over a year’s time, I figured I’d be a shoo-in for getting one of Medium’s first Boosts.
See what happens when you think? Or overthink, rather. Ugh.
Several of my Medium friends talked about receiving the Boost. A couple of them had more than one quite quickly. My Bride got Boosted within the first couple of weeks, and I was thrilled for her. I was happy for everyone else while at the same time, sad for me. Who did I have blow to get my first Boost?
I started complaining about it. I mentioned being overlooked for the Boost in a couple of stories between March and April. It didn’t help. Complaining rarely produces anything positive, in terms of improved writing and results. It sort of got ugly for a bit.
Finally, one of my best friends on the platform told me something I needed to hear. She was a friend to commiserate with. Someone who also wasn’t receiving any of the Boost-love yet. But she wasn’t as bothered by it as I was.
In fact, she finally told me, “Maybe you should quit being a little bitch about it.”
I guess she was tired of hearing about it. I was doing well without the Boost, earning considerably more than the average Medium writer. I was a bit indignant at first, but I respected her as a writer and friend. I knew she was right.
I started thinking about the Boost in a different way. I focused on the positives I had going for me. Instead of worrying that Medium somehow had it out for me and writing manifesto-length comments and articles about it, I took ownership of where I was in my Writer’s Journey. Nobody who was succeeding cared whether or not I felt personally wronged by Medium.
The only attention my complaints attracted was negative attention. People who were also not receiving Boosts from Medium were the ones jumping into the conversation about it. We all had been wasting time complaining about not getting Boosted and typed out hundreds or thousands of words back and forth about this topic.
We should have used all of those words in new articles. It would have been a better use of our time to just do our thing, hone our craft, and come up with more polished articles and stories. Eventually, this is exactly what I did before things changed for the better.
I realized that nobody cared if I was getting Boosted or not. People read my shit for the entertaining, funny, insightful things I brought to the table. Nobody wanted to hear me complain about how I was ONLY making $675 or $850 those months when I couldn’t catch a break with getting a Boost.
I needed to learn a lesson about gratitude. I thought I deserved more when I didn’t. Hard workers with good attitudes and consistent publishing were the ones who rightfully earned those earlier Boosts. Not me.
I took my Sis’ advice and kept at it. My goal was to write a well-written article or two every day. And to keep my negativity to myself. I can’t say that I instantly quit worrying about my lack of Boosts and my slower progress. But not putting it out for the whole world to see helped me change my attitude for the better.
How are your followers supposed to believe in your writing if you yourself don’t think it’s top-shelf material? If you’re complaining about it in your articles, or when chatting in your Discord server with other writers, what makes you think people will stick around to read it? They’ll likely lose interest and judge it negatively because you’re already your own biggest critic.
Attitude counts. When you believe in yourself and know that your writing is awesome, others will eventually see that. We are so impatient with ourselves as Medium writers. We tend to be our biggest critics.
Give yourself some grace. Have some patience and trust the process. The Writer’s Journey is not a sprint, but a marathon. I realize this as I approach my second anniversary of becoming a writer. It’s an uphill climb in a roller-coaster format.
You’ll have good days and bad ones. Sometimes this will last for a week or two. But one thing I can tell you from experience is that my stats and earnings have always snapped back quickly. Yours will, too.
Silence the doubt in your head and do what you love to do. Entertain us. Teach us. Keep publishing your work and as you create more content, you’ll improve upon your writing. This will lead to better stats and earnings.
You may even get that first Boost that so many people are enjoying these days. My friend thought she was unboostable at one point, and now she’s had five or six recently. And if you don’t, your improved writing will create a Boost of its own. I’ve received far more views, reads, and earnings on several of my articles that weren’t Boosted than on ones that were. Good writing gets read.
I’ve now received 20 Boosts in nine months. Some people have gotten more. The difference from Boost #1 to Boost #20 is that I no longer care when the next one is coming. I just know that it is. &:^)
© 2024 Jason Provencio. All rights reserved.
