Innovative & Effective Path To The Magic Of Curation

How to apply the notion of T.E.A.M. to help others.

Together Everyone Achieves More.

It’s almost a cliche, but true. Cooperation is a more effective strategy in creating success than competition.

We don’t live in a zero-sum universe. There is more than enough for everyone in the world.

The success of others doesn’t prevent us from being successful. It can inspire and add fuel to our efforts if we allow it; otherwise, we are wasting energy in trying to stun the growth others instead of using it to flourish ours.

Kevin Buddaeus wrote an excellent post in the Age of Awareness on this idea.

Curation is all the craze on Medium

Pick up, er, click on any article or story about how to be successful on Medium, and you are bound to hear the praises of curation.

The only problem is that no one precisely knows or understands how it works on Medium. Also, there is another element associated with it: Distribution. The results of your curated story also depend on how well they distribute it.

There is also a possibility that not all distributions are created equal. I have seen stories that are more than a year old distributed on Medium’s front page. I have also seen articles that were published only a few minutes earlier, with fewer than ten fans that were curated and distributed in “Popular on Medium.”

I am sure there are some rhyme and reasons for it, but I’ve failed to understand it. I may not be the brightest light bulb in the room, but still.

Successful People are Proactive

The “how to” Gurus will tell you that getting your stories published in more significant and wildly popular publications will improve your chances of curation. I know that to be true from experience, but that still doesn’t guarantee extensive or prolonged distribution.

Also, if you’re new, your story may not see the light of day for several days while the stories of the famous writers get published within hours on the same publication, and receive curation on the publication’s homepage while you’re still waiting. So much for being proactive.

There’s got to be a morning after

All is not doom and gloom in the land of Medium. After all, the platform itself is an innovation in online publishing, and as such, a breeding ground for more new ideas.

I am a writer for Top 3, a publication where you and I are encouraged to share three stories that we enjoyed on Medium. In other words, we are the curators, and we get to choose which stories to curate. I’ve been doing it for a few months. You might be thinking, why would you want to do that, Rasheed? How does it help you with the curation of your own stories?

The Blessings are in the act of giving.

I am 66 years old, and you can rest assured that I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve learned a thing or two. Trust me when I say that blessings are in giving. Ask Ryan Fan if you don’t believe me. He is a prolific writer here on The Narrative.

ILLUMINATION is the fastest-growing new publication on Medium Their motto is:

We curate outstanding articles from diverse domains and disciplines to create fusion and synergy.

Joshua Davis is a successful businessman with innovative ideas. He is also a writer for #ILLUMINATION, where he shared his thoughts on curation and connection.

Speaking of connections, here is another story from The Narrative. this one about how to use relationships to expand your knowledge, understanding, and reach of your business. I hadn’t heard of Lorie Kleiner Eckert when I came across this story. Now I am following her.

Here, I have curated four stories, two from this publication, and two from elsewhere. I wrote another story a couple of two weeks ago, right here, about how we can play a role in the process of curation; it was well-received.

It has been my most successful story on The Narrative since I started writing here five months ago. With a 78% reads to views ratio, and almost half the readers clapping, it is my best performing piece on this publication in terms of effectiveness.

The only story that I published on The Narrative, which has made me more money is the one that was curated and distributed by Medium, five months ago, and only by about 20%, with more than five times as many views thus far.

The case for cooperation vs. competition is well settled in my mind.

As always, thank you for reading.

Rasheed Hooda is a regular contributor to #ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium, where writers support each other to grow and prosper.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Join the Tribe)

“You can let others tell you what it means to be successful, or you can decide it for yourself.”