I Unfollowed The Big Names: Here’s What Happened

And why you should do it too.

You can’t steal the things that god has given me No more pain and no more shame and misery — Michael Kiwanuka

Starting in Medium is like entering a new office: lots of people you don’t know. There are the managers, the top sellers, the newbies. And than there’s you, the last arrived.

When I started, I started immediately to follow the “top sellers” in order to gather precious informations.

Names as Tim Denning, Ayodeji Awosika, Thomas Oppong were my guides to personal improvement and writing, and I thank them for giving such valuable informations every single day of their lives.

It was after some months of reading and learning, I saw myself stuck in the “I need to be fully prepared” mindset.

You know when you watch tons and tons of How-Tos videos and you still feel you need more? Exactly, I was stuck in a downward spiral that was bringing me nowhere.

I learnt a lot from these articles, but I started recognizing I was like the smartest student in the class: I knew everything, but I experienced nothing.

It was a shock for me. I don’t like to be on the background, I am the kind of person that prefers a public humiliation than doing nothing, I’m the one who does instead of speaking.

So I decided my guides were no longer needed in my path, and that’s what happened.

I Started Writing

When I started thinking by my own, I stopped being a full-time fan. And suddenly, what my guides were saying made sense to me. And I started living instead of preparing.

What I saw was that their big numbers of fan were intoxicating for me and my decision to start writing. I saw this people full of claps and comments, teaching people how to earn thousands and thousands of dollars through writing.

The problem with these articles is that as a newbie, you become blind, focusing on the big numbers instead of starting.

“You need a strategy”,”You need clients”,”You need thousands of followers”,You need…”. I was always needing something. But what I was really needed was to leave this self-help world and start my journey.

And so, here I am, a full-time broke writer that found his happiness in doing the things that mattered to him. No “business-mindset”, no “marketing-driven content”. Nothing was useful to me in the end. I found that information for me was ineffective if I didn’t feel the passion in the written words.

And that’s what happened when I started reading ILLUMINATION content: I immersed myself in a world of pure thoughts, of real stories, a world that was speaking, learning from itself. Also the “boring” self-help advices were full of passion.

That’s why I keep writing here. Even though all of us are separated by a computer screen, when I read, I feel the effort everyone is putting to express their lives through their art.

I Found A Mentor

When I started being totally committed to the community and my creation process, I found in the Internet an exceptional artist: Bronques.

He’s a party shooter that is dedicating his life in helping artists to promote fearlessly their art. He also created a class for everyone interested in understanding the concept of approaching strangers and finding a reason in promoting and creating.

Every day he sends his newsletter advices and helpful insights to keep going creating and feeling proud instead of shameful of what you’re doing. He really deserves to be followed by anyone who wants to go really seriously in the path of art creation, whether you’re a writer or a stuntman (also stuntmen can learn, I assure you).

It all happened because I let go of the noise that was around me, and started focus on my steps instead of someone else’s steps.

When I found I only needed one person to begin, my perspective shifted and I started my endless journey. And I decided to help people finding their way in life, optimizing their time but most of all feeling understood in their struggles.

When you don’t care about what is going on in the lives of the famous people, you start living your movie

I Made An Impact

Looking for my first reader helped me a lot: I had to get out of my learning zone and start doing something to make my desire real. And now I regret I didn’t start before, because one person can make your day as well you are making it to her/him.

I started talking with random people, and I wasn’t interested in pitching my articles. My intention was showing how my works were impacting my life, instead of leaving people alone to discover what I was doing.

I mean, writing helps people finding relief or answers anytime, but if they don’t feel you are living your words how can they eventually understand how the words you say can help them?

What I discovered, was that my conversations were deeper and more meaningful than just “Hello, how are you?”,What are you doing?”.

I was expressing my art through my words, I was bringing my writing passion outside Medium unconsciously.

The impact I started making has started in my mind, when I decided to start being the only big writer I would learn from. I had to ask myself what strategy to utilize, who I needed to talk with to build my audience, it was me the person who I needed all this time, not random advices.

And what happened next was a confirmation of my intuition.

I Connected

People in ILLUMINATION are great examples of what a real community feels like. When I entered, I was looking for a boost to my reading audience, but only after 5 minutes I understood it wasn’t my purpose.

I understood I wanted to become an active part of the community, to inspire and be inspired by the wonderful art of the writers.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz with his passion has inspired me to let go the fame-driven contents with his costant work for the community. And I felt I had to give back to him a proof he was doing the right thing.

So, I started to connect. Everyday before writing I spend at least one hour to read people’s writings, pushing myself to understand also topics I’m not used to.

Thanks to this activity, people I connected with helped me understanding topics I was curious about.

For example, Roxanna Azimy wrote an article thanks to a discussion we had, and she helped me understand how spirituality is perceived around the world.

Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D. gave me the inspiration to write an article about useful phrases to start connecting with other writers works.

This is what I understood from communicating fearlessly and with honesty: you will find people that want the world to be the same as you wish.

People are here, waiting to see you writing them what do you think. They deserve it, because they’re as brave as you in starting writing. Remember it: you can make the day of a writer just saying “Thanks for sharing”.

Start Your Journey

You will never know who you are until you start your journey.

Look at yourself, and be glad you are alive and you can start your incredible journey in writing. Don’t stress yourself too much, time will give you what you are looking for.

When I started, I was so hungry for the money and fame, that I lost sight of what really mattered to me: my mission.

I was always think in big terms, looking for a solution to have an infinite number of followers and money, but then I started. And I had nothing.

In that moment I was so glad it happened, because I was intoxicating myself with all these mindsets and strategies. I just wanted one person to be happy and satisfied because of my help.

Now, if I can make your day better, for me is what matters the most. Even if you just read the first paragraph or the last, who cares?

I’m glad I can be the most famous writer in this post even if I don’t have an audience.

Thanks for reading.