I Wrote 175 Articles On Medium And I Am At The Start of My Game
Five Exercises to Chart Your Own Medium Journey
This is my 176th article on Medium. I have started writing on this platform last year. However, I started writing regularly at the end of March 2020 — during the pandemic lockdowns. So, it has been about 7 months since I started taking my Medium game seriously.
I have already written on what learned from my Medium journey. Here are my lessons after having shipped 100 and 150 articles:
In this post, I would like to share my thinking and strategies regarding my Medium game. I will do this by sharing relevant pages and brainstorming exercises from my diaries. Each of these pages is a different exercise you can easily apply to formulate your own strategies for your own Medium journey.
In doing this, I will also introduce useful exercises for you to implement for your own Medium journey.
Exercise 1: Map Your Medium Journey
In this exercise, you will create a mind map regarding the topics you want to write in your Medium profile. Make a list of all the diverse topics you will write about. Dump your brain using a mind map. This exercise will take about 10–15 minutes — you need a blank page and a pencil/pen.
You can see what I came up with below. As you see, I would like to expand the range of topics I cover.
Until now, I focused on the following topics and niches:
- Creativity tips, resources, and advice
- Doodles and doodle based exercises
- Diary keeping methods and practice
- Imagination exercises and experiments
- Career and employability guides and toolkits for young individuals
- Futuristic issues, visions, and technology
- Future trends and innovation
- Lectures, seminars, and masterclasses
From now on, I will focus on a set of additional topics to expand my interests and coverage:
- Establishing a personal system of creativity and productivity
- Exercises and habits for asset creation
- Visual storytelling
- Creative writing and fiction
- Books and book reviews
- TV, cinema, dramas, shows, arts, and culture reviews (Zeitgeist)
- Creativity and innovation cases/success stories
- Conceptual innovations and new thinking
- Research-based insights
- Strategies for writing and content creation
- The future of schools, universities, and education
- Academic skills: Issues for academics
- Follow your curiosity
- X factor: Learning, imagination, and surprises
You can easily apply this exercise for your own Medium platform: Which topics do you currently cover? Which topics will you cover in the future? Map everything and create a mindmap.
I did this exercise on another occasion, and you can see that the topics are quite similar:
Exercise 2: Create Your Own Philosophy as a Content Creator and Writer
In this exercise, you will create your own philosophy as a writer and content creator on Medium. Come up with sentences that reflect your thinking and philosophy. Write these down on a page in 10 minutes.
You can see my philosophy statement below:
As you can see, I have summarized my thinking and philosophy in the following statements:
- I am here to play games and to experiment.
- I play a long term game of asset creation (or content creation).
- I only compete with myself. I compete with no one except myself.
- I aim to inform, teach, and inspire through my writing.
- I am committed to improving my writing and storytelling skills.
- I will learn to create blockbuster content.
- I will first amaze and delight myself. And then my students and my readers.
- I will keep learning and getting better.
- I am committed to my Medium journey. I will continue until I write 500 articles. My goal is to produce 1000 articles or more.
- I am committed to producing evergreen content.
- I will not be deterred by obstacles and slow progress.
- I have not created my masterpieces yet. I will create them.
- I will enjoy the journey.
Now, reflect on your own values, goals, and philosophy as a writer and content creator.
Exercise 3: Create Your List of Aspirations as a Medium Writer
In this exercise, you will create a list of all your goals and aspirations as a writer and content creator on Medium. What are your goals for learning and development? How will you grow and make progress? Come up with a list of goals and aspirations. Write these down on a page in 5-10 minutes.
You can see my list of aspirations below:
As you see in the poster, I have summarized my aspirations as follows.
I aspire to:
- Become a top writer in creativity and the future
- Contribute to publications that I love reading
- Write regularly and consistently as long as I can
- Turn my fresh learning into fresh thinking and cutting-edge articles
- Improve the quality of my writing
- Make my writing more interesting, accessible, and actionable
- Evoke surprise, engagement, and curiosity
- Become a better writer (I know that this is a marathon and I am just starting my journey)
- Keep learning, experimenting, improving, and growing as a writer
- Build my audience
- Find my own voice as a writer
Now, it is your turn: Please write down all your goals and aspirations as a writer and content creator.
Exercise 4: Prepare a Not-To-Do List
In this exercise, you will create a not-to-do list for yourself. Make a list of all the things that you will avoid doing as a writer and content creator on Medium. Write these down on a page in 5–10 minutes.
We tend to create a list of things to do every day. I am also guilty of this habit and I always have a long list of things to do in my diary. I think making long to-do lists is counter-productive, as you can never finish all these tasks. Worse yet, a long list diverts you from your real priorities. To identify your top priorities, you also need to be clear about what you need to avoid doing. That is why creating a not-to-do list is a powerful exercise. You can see my not-to-do list below:
As you see in the poster, I have created my not-to-do list as follows.
- I will not be obsessed with my metrics.
- I will not check my statistics more than once (or twice) a day.
- I will not compare myself to others.
- I will not focus on earnings or money.
- I will not expect quick returns (or quick success).
- I will not complain.
- I will not lose hope.
- I will not hop into trends or hot topics.
- I will not stop writing.
- I will not give up.
- I will not focus on the short term.
- I will not be mad at myself or others.
- I will not be deterred by obstacles.
- I will not stop learning.
- I will not continue my destructive habits.
- I will not stop doing experiments.
- I will not stop doodling and diary-keeping.
- I will not lose my own heart and voice.
Now, it is your turn: Please create your own not-to-do list as a writer and content creator.
Exercise 5: Write a List of Your Unique Selling Points as a Writer and Content Creator
In this exercise, you will create a list of your unique selling points as an online writer. How can you summarize your unique value proposition? What makes you or your writing unique? Make a list of all the things that make your work unique and valuable. Write these down on a page in 5–10 minutes.
As you see in the poster, I have created my list as follows.
- I love doodling and I incorporate my doodles into my writing.
- I write on a wide range of topics that interest and inspire me.
- I design practical exercises for my readers.
- I love using my imagination. I would like to use my imagination more intensively.
- I follow my own curiosity all the time.
- I aim to create evergreen content that will be valuable years from now.
- I am obsessed with anything related to creativity and imagination. These are my anchors.
- I aspire to be a content creator, an entrepreneur, and an artist.
- I love learning beyond borders and disciplines.
- I pursue transdisciplinary exploration.
- I have a visual style of learning, teaching, and writing.
- I love videos, infographics, comics, doodles, pictures, and everything visual.
Now, it is your turn: Please write down the unique selling points of your writing and work. Where is your unique value proposition?