To Be Successful on Medium Stop Trying to Be Successful

And play this “stopping game” many times a day.

Did the title of this story intrigue you? I hope so.

But even if it did, you might wonder who I am — and what is my success on Medium — to give you such advice.

You could say that I am both successful and unsuccessful on Medium.

Here is why.

I write for exactly seven months now — I started writing and publishing here on April 30, 2020. This is my 165th article to appear on Medium. So, I published one article nearly every workday.

Here is why I am unsuccessful on Medium

Here are my “failures”:

• My best month in terms of earnings was June, when I earned $25.53.
• This month I might make $10, but that is not sure as I stand at $9.97 now, and I did nave zero earnings days this and other months. So, I might not make a round number (however small it might be) this month. But I also might. The end of this day will show it. :D
• I rarely have over 100 views a day.
• After three months on Medium, I had my first thousand followers, and the other four months resulted in “just” over 400 more followers.
• I was named top writer in Books, and soon after, I lost this title.
• One large publication rejected my stories; the other two didn’t answer my pitches at all.
• My publication Gameful Life has “only” 64 followers, and it hadn’t been growing in terms of the number of followers for a couple of weeks now.

The above list might be incomplete. But its signal is clear: I am hugely unsuccessful on Medium.

Or am I?

Here is why I am successful on Medium

Let’s look at possible successes:

• Responses to my articles show that that they bring value. That is the biggest gift to an author, ever! Here are just a few examples from several hundred encouraging responses I got so far:

“A wonderful composition, Victoria. Gamification is a relatively new phenomenon for me. However, I am slowly getting cognizant of it while reading your articles. A nice read.”

“I enjoyed this read. I’m really intrigued by the ‘fun factor’ of life tasks and how we need to create and play as much as we work. Thank you for this insight.”

“I absolutely love this!”

“Very interesting article Victoria, I have sort of implemented this mentality at work, so work doesn’t seem as dull haha. Keep writing and keep inspiring with your creative ideas!! : )”

“I enjoy your posts so much. I have most definitely been seeing life and especially Medium as a game lately. Thanks.”

“Yep! I can relate to that one.”

“Excellent, as always. I really like the idea of the points awarding book.”

Here are some more of the successes:

• Before the end of the first full month of writing on Medium, I got named top writer in Gaming and Ideas.
• In the first full month on Medium, I earned $12.82, which several successful writers said was exceptional to make in the first month.
• I sold books after posting excerpts from them on Medium. Readers of these stories on Medium let me know they bought the books and joined my mailing list.
• The first 1k followers on Medium was rather “inorganic,” meaning that I followed 50 people each day, and some of them followed me back. Then I stopped doing that, and now those who started following me (about a handful of new people each day) do that because they want to read my content and not just because I followed them. So, at least the 400 plus people I mentioned above in the “failed list” joined me because they enjoy what I have to offer. Wow!
• Many of my latest articles get feedback, such as applause, highlights, and responses (some of which I quoted above). There is now rarely a post that remains unnoticed for a longer time.
• Monica Cornetti, one of the most known gamification experts in the world, read my Medium stories, which I shared on LinkedIn, liked what she read, and invited me to her well-known Gamification Quest Podcast. (If you are curious to listen to my conversation with Monica on turning life into fun games, then you can do that here.)
• I get more and more followers and requests to connect — and see if we can collaborate — from people who discover my Medium stories, which I share at least once a week as friend links on LinkedIn.
• Several new and successful publications on Medium invited me to write for them because they liked my stories.
• The stories published on my little and not-hugely followed publication Gameful Life often get the first views and reads already within the first hour after publication. It means that those who follow the publication (or me) are interested in what I publish there and give the reading of this story priority and invest their time. When this is not a success, then I don’t know what it is!

Success is like happiness — it is not a goal. It is “a way of life.”

The list of my successes above is not complete either. And depending on the prism you look through at both lists, you might think that one weighs more than the other.

I also look at them through different prisms.

Sometimes I groan that I am not earning as much as other writers. I watch some new authors writing for a shorter period than I do and making more. They get accepted or even invited without pitching by some of the largest publications here, and I don’t.

And other times, I simply feel successful. As I write this story, I rediscover anew that success is not a goal, not a destination. Just like happiness, it is “a way of life.”

This quote is from a plaque I once bought, and which stands on a little chest of drawers next to where I work often.

Here a picture of it I took some time ago:

It’s worth repeating this beautiful quote, with which I started my book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula, and which I quote often:

“Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life.”

— Anonymous

Stop trying, and simply be

But how can we manage to make happiness and success a way of life?

The answer is very paradoxical: by stopping to try to do that.

The first time I learned about the possibility of being fully engaged and simply being there for whatever I am up to was from award-winning authors and my favorite writers on living in the moment, Ariel & Shya Kane. Here are just one of their many brilliant, encouraging, enlightening, and eye-opening pearls of wisdom on success:

“[W]hat if stressing yourself to get to where you think you need to be is not a necessary component to being successful? There is only one of you on a planet of billions of people. You already are a success.” — Ariel and Shya Kane, Practical Enlightenment

When I started turning my life into games deliberately, I saw that we feel successful when we enjoy playing a game, even if we don’t win the game according to its definition.

So success, joy, and happiness are about experiencing, not about achieving. They are about allowing ourselves to enjoy whatever we are up to, bring fun elements, and experience happiness and success when doing something or being somewhere.

We won’t be able always to do that. Any activity, even the favorite, can tire us up. What do we do when that happens with games? We stop playing and do something else, a relaxing break like a nap or a walk, or another game or project altogether.

Trying to achieve something is not bad. It’s just a signal for you to stop and take a look.

But just like in games, we don’t want to give up what we enjoyed a minute ago, even if we realize that we stopped enjoying it. “Just a little more. Just one more sentence. Just two more minutes,” we would tell ourselves and try to press to reach the finish line, whatever we might perceive it to be.

And then, when we reach that line and achieve what we thought we wanted, we might not experience it as a success.

Is it bad?

No, not at all. It is just a signal that you need to pay attention to your emotions, feelings, and wishes. Maybe there is another activity or project you yearn for to be successful at these moments.

I tested this “stopping game” today and playing “packing Christmas and birthday presents” and “reading and having a coffee break” games after I was half-through playing the “writing this story” game.

After the refreshing break with 1980s music playing while I was packing the gifts and after reading my favorite writer and having my favorite drink, I felt successful enough to continue writing this article. And brought it to its happy and successful conclusion.

It is successful because I enjoyed writing it, and in a moment, I will enjoy revising and publishing it.

I wish you many fantastic experiences of success and happiness in anything you are up to and when you stop trying and start being and enjoying playing your life’s games.

Thank you for reading!

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P.S.

To stay in touch and keep updated on the possibilities of turning life into fun games offers, join my e-mail list, Optimist Writer.