From Zero to 252: My Writing Revolution
How I Published an Article Every Day for 252 Days Straight
My Journey from Dreaming to Doing
Everyone knows the benefits of being consistent.
Consistency is a quality most humans strive for but very few achieve.
After publishing for 8+ months straight, my content is finally beginning to see some traction.
Thanks to this, I’ve been getting a lot of questions regarding the secret of my consistency. A few readers have asked me👇🏾
How have I managed to publish an article for 252 days straight?
Let’s take a look.
Two Failed Attempts
Before I began this journey, I’d been thinking about writing on the internet consistently.
It all started in 2022 when I enrolled in the Ship 30 for 30 program. In my first attempt, I wrote for 45 days straight. In the second one, I wrote for 66 days straight.
But, both times, I sabotaged myself.
At the time, my goal was to show up consistently. I remember reading → It only takes 21 days of doing the same thing to form a habit.
Each time after surpassing the 21st day, I remember thinking I now have a writing habit.
I celebrated too soon. Because, as soon as I did it, I relaxed and stopped writing.
After each failure, I felt burnt out and stopped writing for 2–3 months.
Thankfully, I had the awareness to notice this pattern. I realized I needed a new approach.
To overcome this, I studied prolific creators like Seinfeld to learn strategies that would help me manage self-sabotage.
Lesson #1: It didn’t happen in the first attempt.
I had to experience failure, not once but twice. I learnt by observation and worked my way around it.
If you are remotely planning to do something similar, don’t be too harsh if you fail the first time. It is part of the experience.
Be resilient, show up and you will be better the second time around.
Consumption for Growth
The last 3 years have been somewhat of an anomaly in my life.
I’ve gone from barely reading, and consuming pathetic content (read — Social Media) to consuming some of the most-renowned books written in our history.
I used to think reading random articles on the internet was a great way to keep myself informed and educated.
I was wrong.
I don’t recollect where, but reading this statement changed the way I treated reading👇🏾
Reading is nutrition for the brain.
And reading is what I did. Thanks to this new habit, I consistently came across a single theme
The Power of Consistency.
Everywhere I looked, everyone who was ahead of me, people I wanted to emulate, people who seemed a lot smarter and successful kept repeating the same thing — CONSISTENCY.
Spending days, weeks and months reading this kind of content, helped me create new thoughts, new approaches and a new identity.
It gave me new frameworks to assist in my journey.
Lesson #2: Understanding things and acting on them takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.
You have to surrender yourself to the process. Do it long enough and it comes to you.
Desperation for quick results will usually stop you from reaching your potential because you have unrealistic expectations.
When unfulfilled, these expectations will frustrate you and stop you.
Processes/Mindset
Since 2019, I’ve practised certain habits consistently (Yoga, Meditation and Intermittent Fasting) so my mind didn’t retaliate while forming this new writing habit as much as it used to.
My experience of establishing new habits from scratch along with reading helped me learn new frameworks.
The processes/mindset that helped me in the beginning
- Hardest task first Publishing an article was and is the hardest task of my day. I always prioritise it first. Everything else follows.
- Daily win To develop my writing and become consistent, I used the trick I used to establish other habits. Rather than thinking of fancy methods, I counted my day as successful as long as I published 1 article of the day. To date, this is the only parameter I use to measure my day.
- Calendar Jerry Seinfeld used a huge calendar and marked a red X on the days he finished his tasks. While I have been lagging in this habit, I’ve used this method to write every day. Looking at the chain leads to a psychological effect. Once the chain is long enough, you do not want it to break.
- Inputs I stopped paying attention to the outputs and focused only on the inputs. This was hard because the mind automatically veered to see how much engagement my articles received. But once I was able to overlook this, my mind relaxed and allowed me to work.
Lesson #3: If you cannot practice writing, practice a different habit. This will signal your brain that you can be consistent.
Small wins will help you whenever your mind starts to chatter negatively.
Clarity & Timeline
I started my writing journey on Quora. I didn’t have clarity. I still don’t
I didn’t know what I wanted, how I wanted, etc.
I knew only one thing — I wanted to write.
But the burning question was, how will I make money?
This lack of clarity and the various opportunities to make money elsewhere sometimes felt like a waste of effort.
But, before I began, I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t stop writing for an entire year, even if it meant I wasn’t going to earn money from this activity.
Thanks to this timeline, I’ve been able to produce articles day after day.
Lesson #4: Set up a timeline. Once done, come what may, don’t stop.
Your mind will find ways to stop you.
DO NOT LISTEN.
Comparison and Repetition
It’s human nature to compare. Compare at your peril.
The moment I started thinking about other writers, the progress they made, the money they were making, etc. my mind would be extremely dissatisfied.
It was at this moment I wanted to stop writing. I’ve had to learn to shift the comparison from others to myself. It’s made the ride a lot more soothing.
Another thing I’ve had to overcome is the feeling of writing the same thing repeatedly.
While writing this article, I went through some of my past articles and I couldn’t help but notice the repetition in my writing.
To overcome this, I keep telling my mind it’s okay to repeat as long as I find a new way to tell the same thing. After all, it’s the best way to practice and improve.
Lesson # 5: Your mindset is everything. Your reality is what you train your mind to tell you. So instead of dwelling on it, act.
When you take action, you get into motion. It helps you kill doubts.
Bad Days
I’d be joking if I said I don’t have bad days.
It’s natural and human to have bad days. What matters is how you treat these days.
The intensity and the number of bad days start to reduce as you write regularly.
Whenever I’m faced with a bad day, I tell my mind “Let’s write just one more day. Get through the day and we will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.”
The longer you do it, the sooner your mind gets trained.
Lesson #6: Embrace bad days. In my experience, good days come right after the bad ones. It’s part of the process.
Bad days lead to breakthroughs good days don’t.
Learn to get through the first few months.
Be Kind
You are trying something new. Realize you will fail.
The moment things get hard, your mind will try to avoid it.
It’s okay. You have to nurture this habit into reality.
You will evolve.
By keeping my internal chatter in check, I have been able to get through some of the most difficult days, fears, doubts, questions and concerns.
So train your mind to be gentle and treat yourself with kindness.
Lesson #7: Treating myself with kindness changed the game. My inner dialogue and criticism softened their stance.
It has helped me show ever every single day.
Inner Dialogue
When I started, I wanted my ideas to reach a lot of people. I was desperate for this outcome.
To get more eyeballs, I was seeking to sensationalise my content. Over time, this made the writing process tedious and removed all the fun.
Writing regularly has changed my perception. I want my writing to reach the right people. Not necessarily more people.
Another realization is the power of showing up. Since I’ve been showing up so consistently, certain folks have started to recognize me by my writing and my first name.
This is helping others become familiar with me and my work.
I believe this is how some of the biggest names have carved a place for themselves on the internet.
Lesson #8: Keep showing up — because the more you do, the more others expect you to show up.
This helps you earn speech. People tend to pay more attention to what you say.
Drip by drip — day by day.
It’s been a hell of a journey.
Yes, the struggle is real but so is the opportunity.
I don’t know what’s coming my way, I guess I’m happy to wait to find out.
This has been my journey. What about yours? What’s stopping you from writing every day?
If you found value in my journey, check out my most popular article below. And if you’re inspired to write daily, let me know in the comments!