I Gave Medium My Two Cents and Received Exact Payment
Rethinking Control, Failure, Process, and Progress
My Medium Earnings Last Week:
I debated whether to publish this article. It’s certainly not the traditional Medium.com income article.
We’ve all seen the stories by writers who earn thousands of dollars per month on Medium.
They make it seem so easy: Step 1: Sit down at the computer for a few minutes each day Step 2: Churn words into gold
Like many of you, I dissected dozens of those articles. I found trends and employed their tactics.
In the end, I found myself squabbling over Ali Mese and Tim Denning’s loose change.
This led me to re-evaluate what success really is. After all, success is an arbitrary target. It means different things to different people.
If success is constructed, then we can tear it down and rebuild it.
So grab a hammer. Let’s get to work.
The Toolkit for Redefining Success:
- Control
- Failure
- Process
- Progress
Control
I played Division III college basketball. But I didn’t get as much playing time as I wanted.
Still, I went to practice every day. I poured everything I had into getting better, trying to prove I deserved more playing time.
It didn’t work.
My minutes never increased. And it hurt. But it also taught me a valuable lesson.
Our control is limited.
As a writer, I can’t control who reads my stories. I have no say in whether a publication picks up my writing. Definitely no choice in what goes ‘viral.’
All we can do as writers is come to the computer every day and work.
The only control we have is over our own effort.
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” — Ernest Hemingway
So when you let go of external elements outside of your control, you’ll develop new ways of defining success and failure.
Failure
Society has a negative view of failure. But that doesn't mean we have to.
If we strive to normalize failure, we can see it more like a starting point.
For writers, getting 5 reads on an article might traditionally mean failure. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth writing. For those 5 people, they found value in your work.
The reality is, we can redefine what “failure” is.
Failure isn’t the result; it’s a stop along the way. You wouldn’t deem a road trip a failure because you had to stop for gas.
You get to decide what success is. It can be evaluated with a scale of your choosing.
When you do this, you push away the interference that gets in the way of your goals.
Failure is not the end; failure is the beginning.
Process
It’s important that you define “failure” and “success” for yourself. Which is why you should identify and start practicing your process for success.
Build your process and make that your measuring stick for success. Don’t make an end result (getting published, becoming a bestseller, etc.) the measure of success.
Instead, you’re successful if you put in the work.
If your process is to write every day, then success is in your control. It’s within your grasp every morning.
Thinking this way makes the journey more important than the destination.
“Those times when you get up early and you work hard. Those times you stay up late and you work hard. Those times when you don’t feel like working. You’re too tired. you don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway…That is actually the dream.” — Kobe Bryant
Here’s the reality: developing a process is the only way to achieve success. And earning two copper Lincolns proves I’m powering through that process.
That’s why I’m okay with laughing at my pennies. My baseline for success was publishing, not views or money.
I’m making my own progress.
Progress
Speaking of progress, there’s only so many books you can read about swimming. At some point, you have to get in the water.
So don’t sit on the sidelines for too long. You’ll learn a lot about yourself from jumping in. And don’t worry, the water’s fine.
“Each and every one of us has the God-given ability to be great. What makes a champion is the discipline to do the extra things even when — especially when — you don’t feel like it. “— Brian P. Moran — The 12 Week Year
Treat progress like success. Identify the steps it takes to get from your starting point to your desired endpoint.
The trick is to make sure every part of your progress is within your control.
If your goal is to be traditionally published. Don’t put “Get literary agent” on your progress list. That’s beyond your control.
Instead, your list should include, “Query 5 agents every week.” Then, each week you submit to 5 literary agents, you celebrate. You are a success story.
Celebrate your progress.
Conclusion
I hope you were able to construct new ideas about success and failure. Mostly, I hope you learned that success is whatever you want it to be.
Set controllable measures of success. Build your process. Progress toward your goal. And remember, failure is a vital part of success.
So, go! Do the thing you were meant to do. Every day you delay yourself is another day you don’t get to live the life you want.
And maybe the world will toss you two pennies every once in a while.