Summary

A therapist discusses overcoming black and white thinking in writing for Medium, emphasizing the importance of consistency, idea generation, and appreciating personal progress.

Abstract

The author, a therapist, acknowledges struggling with black and white thinking in their own writing practice, particularly on Medium. They identify this cognitive distortion as a barrier to consistent writing, using examples like feeling unable to publish daily or doubting the value of their contributions. The therapist shares insights on how they've challenged these thoughts by setting realistic writing goals, diversifying their content ideas, and focusing on personal growth rather than rapid success. They encourage other writers to recognize and address similar patterns of thought to foster a more productive and fulfilling writing process.

Opinions

The author believes that black and white thinking, such as believing one must publish daily to succeed on Medium, is counterproductive and can lead to avoidance of writing.
They suggest that slightly altering one's mindset can lead to more positive outcomes, like returning to healthy habits after an indulgence, rather than giving up entirely.
The author admits to comparing themselves to prolific writers like Tim Denning and Kristina God, which initially discouraged their own writing efforts.
They advocate for the idea that writing something every day, even if it's not for publication, is a valuable practice.
The author points out that the belief of having nothing to say is a form of black and white thinking, and they recommend maintaining a list of ideas to overcome writer's block.
They emphasize the importance of celebrating small victories and personal growth in writing, rather than fixating on rapid success or high engagement metrics.
The author encourages writers to challenge their unhelpful thoughts and to be patient and persistent in their writing journey, suggesting that gratitude for each stage of development is key.

I Was Not Practicing What I Preached

When it came to writing on Medium

As a therapist, I spend a lot of time helping patients work through black and white thinking.

Some examples of black and white thinking include:

I made a poor food choice, therefore my diet is ruined for the whole day.

I don’t have time to load the dishwasher, wipe down all the counters, and mop the floor, therefore I’ll just let the dishes sit till tomorrow.

I can’t produce the amount of content Tim Denning does, so I’ll never make it on Medium.

Eek, that last one.

Black and White Thought #1: I have to hit submit every day or I’ll never make it on Medium.

This thought paralyzed me in a way only black and white thinking can. Let’s take a second and look at the first example from above.

How many times have you had a thought similar to this?

“I had cake earlier, so today’S shot anyway, I’ll go ahead and get the pasta and garlic bread and I’ll start my diet back tomorrow.”

A healthier thought would be:

“I had cake earlier, so I’ll need to get back on track this evening. I’ll have a healthy protein with a side salad.”

You can see how slightly tweaking the thought brought about a much different outcome.

When it came to Medium, I found myself thinking:

“I can’t possibly publish every day with my current schedule, so maybe I shouldn’t even try.”

The funny thing about black and white thinking is that we often don’t realize we are doing it.

I would scroll through my feed and see a barrage of new, excellent, content from the likes of Tim Denning and Kristina God and wonder how on earth they did it.

I know myself. I don’t have the capacity to work full time and crank out long-form anyone would want to read on a daily basis. Therefore, without even noticing, I started writing less.

I got a kick in the pants from none other than Tim Denning on Twitter. His posts are always inspiring and informative, but he also talks about finding consistency and showing up.

Noticing my black and white thinking, I started working to change those thoughts. Maybe I couldn’t publish every day, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t write something every day.

I started working on generating ideas on days when writing time was scarce. I also started writing short-form in between longer pieces.

Black and white thought #2: I don’t have anything to say

This thought tends to show up after I publish a piece. I would love to be able to immediately jump into a new piece after hitting submit but, without fail, my writing brain resembles a solid white dry erase board.

I start scrolling through my feed again looking at all the excellent pieces from other writers and I start to wonder if I have anything to add.

This line of thinking doesn’t do anything for my creativity. I usually end up needing a couple of days to feel inspired to write something else.

The black and white thinking here is that I have to have an excellent idea that can be fully fleshed out or I don’t have anything to say.

In recent weeks, I have been challenging this by diversifying my ideas. I try to have more than one piece going so I don’t have the experience of staring at a blank screen.

I have also started mining my daily life for inspiration more often. I have an ideas tab on notepad where I jot down random ideas and possible article titles. I try to update this nearly every day.

Black and white thought #3: I’m not growing fast enough as a Medium writer

When I look at my stats, they aren’t where I want them to be. Like most writers, I would like to publish, then set back as the views, reads, claps, and comments come rolling in. Also, like most writers, I haven’t experienced this level of ease.

This black and white thought is likely the worst for me of all my black and white thoughts when it comes to writing on Medium.

I had to realize, I wanted to be one of the greats without actually working like one of the greats.

I would find myself licking my wounds about not being where I wanted to be, while not publishing regularly, not spending time generating ideas, and not putting myself out there promoting my work.

It’s kind of embarrassing when I think about it this way. Who am I the Queen of Sheeba to ride in with twenty-some articles and swiftly be promoted to the top?

To combat this black and white thinking, I have started focusing on the progress I have made. People have read my work. I have gotten into publications I respect. Most importantly, I have started writing again!

Putting it all together

Black and white thinking plagues all of us from time to time. Luckily, these thoughts are easily challenged once they are brought to light.

For me, I’m going to focus on writing at a consistent pace that is right for me. I’m going to work on writing some every day, even if it’s just a list of ideas. Further, I’m going to practice gratitude for each stage of the writing game as I continue to develop my craft and make new connections.

Are there any areas in your writing life where black and white thinking is playing a role? If so, what changes can you make starting today?