Why Writing on Medium Is So Hard
And why that’s great news for you
Back in college, my friend was studying to be a doctor. Every medical student was required to take a mandatory chemistry class, 4x/week at 8:00 a.m. sharp. My friend told me it was called a weeder class — it was meant to weed out anyone who wasn’t committed.
Medium is one big weeder class. It’s hard to keep up, to be consistent, to keep working at it. Most writers will get weeded out.
Medium is supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone could do it.
Ironically, it’s also very simple to become successful here on Medium. Bestselling author Tim Ferriss once said, “It’s lonely at the top. 99% of people are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for mediocre.” A lot of writers simply don’t believe they could ever make it big, so they do things that ensure this belief — they’re inconsistent and write mostly low-quality work.
You don’t have to end up like that.
You can pass this weeder class and move on to bigger and better things — a big following of loyal readers who love and support you.
It’s not easy. Weeder classes are supposed to be hard.
It’s on you to pass. Here’s how.
Competing in High-Level Arenas Accelerates Your Growth By 10X
Being successful on Medium forces you to have high levels of consistency, creativity, and discipline. Otherwise, you’ll fail and stay in low-level behaviors with a very low chance of success.
By competing here — writing content that’s probably already being written about by talented writers — you’re competing in a high-level arena. The competition is fierce. If you can make it here, you can make it just about anywhere.
But it’s hard for a beginner to compete with professionals. My friend joined a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu martial arts class, and the structure is simple: Everyone spars with everyone else. That means that on any given day, the worst fighter in the class could be paired with the best fighter. That’s scary.
But it’s also an incredibly fast way to become skilled and talented. By fighting against the best, you learn tremendously faster than going at a slow pace with other beginners. It’s harder, of course. But you learn far more, faster.
For years, I was competing in low-level arenas. I was blogging, which simply meant I would occasionally post some random thoughts a couple of times a week. No one was giving me feedback. No one was keeping me accountable. I wasn’t learning anything.
When I found Medium, I realized what I had on my hands — an instant-feedback, high-level arena where I could hone my skills faster than ever. And not just writing skills — I’d need to be consistent, focused, and disciplined with my time. A Super Bowl-winning quarterback needs to know more than just how to throw a ball. They need to master public speaking, nutrition, brand management, and countless other skills.
Of course, you only get to learn these skills quickly by practicing. I’ve spent the past several years coaching other writers, creating online courses, writing articles like this, teaching people how to write. But really, it boils down to one simple task:
Write.
Whenever a new writer comes to me with a newly published article, beaming with pride at the greatness of their work, I can’t help but think about a scene from the classic movie The Mask of Zorro.
The brash young Zorro (Antonio Banderas) has just completed a grueling obstacle course designed by his master, Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins). Breathing hard, Zorro looks to his master with pride and just a hint of cockiness for completing the task.
“Perfect,” his master replies, sipping on his wine.
“Do it again.”
Published something?
Perfect.
Do it again.
Being an Extraordinary Writer Means Giving Up Being an “Ordinary” One
“If you want to live an exceptional and extraordinary life, you have to give up many of the things that are part of a normal one.” -Srinivas Rao
The larger mob of writers will never experience true success.
Why?
Because this majority of writers are unwilling to truly take responsibility for their craft — it’s easier to be able to blame someone or something else for their lack of success.
They are unwilling to take risks, fail publicly, and be forced to try again after getting knocked down.
They are unwilling to sacrifice what is good for what is great. In short, they are unwilling to give up their normal life.
But this is what is required to become an extraordinary writer. You must give up the normal life for something far more valuable.
Evolving is painful. But as the great theologian C.S. Lewis once wrote:
“We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”
You must evolve. You don’t have a choice. Either you transform into a beautiful, stunning bird that can fly across oceans…or you die. There’s no other option.
The more you evolve into the best version of yourself, the more you’ll be required to give up. You’ll reach a point where you’ll no longer be able to tolerate negative mindsets, relationships, and low-quality behaviors that are only keeping you stuck.
Giving these things up is painful. Most people aren’t willing to do what needs to be done.
But if want to truly succeed as a writer, you have to make this sacrifice.
For years, I was stuck in the mindset, habits, and beliefs of an ordinary writer— just like all my old writer colleagues. We all thought the trick was to figure out SEO, design a pretty blog, get business cards, and get famous by guest posting on big sites and stamping their name on our resumes.
What we rarely did was write.
If you do what most people do, you’ll just get what most people have, which probably isn’t what you want.
None of my writing friends had any kind of success. I decided to cut ties with them and just focus on writing the best damn writing I could, and hopefully get better over time.
Long story short, I became successful. I started reaching hundreds of thousands of readers a month. I was offered a book deal. I started making more money from my work than I ever did at my corporate desk job.
It was lonely and difficult; I missed sharing misery with my blogger buddies, complaining about how hard things were and how everyone was against us.
But I needed to give up that old life if I wanted a new one.
Being an extraordinary writer means giving up on being an ordinary one.
Why Most Writers Won’t Ever Be Successful
Most writers will never be truly successful.
The pull towards mediocrity is too strong. As David Schwartz once penned, “All around you is an environment that is trying to pull you down to Second-Class Street.”
Most people will never escape the pull.
Much of the thinking around us is small-minded. Most people are overly concerned with beating the other guy, usually through manipulation and politics. As a result, they’re left fighting for scraps with the other 99%.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
A life of your deepest dreams — 100% financial independence, being your own boss, traveling the world with your family, whatever — is available if you know where to start.
But most people will never turn away from the safety and security of the crowd to realize this.
“All of us, more than we recognize, are products of the thinking around us. And much of this thinking is small.” — David Schwartz
In Conclusion
One of the hardest truths I learned after college was realizing that companies didn’t care about me. Hiring managers didn’t care where I went to school, what my degree was, my GPA, my extracurricular activities.
They just cared if I could do the work.
You might have dreams, just like I did, to be a famous writer and write on all the big-name places like magazines and Forbes and Huffington Post and have everyone know your name.
I tried pitching guest posts to these places for years. I had spreadsheets of every editor’s email from every big-name blog you’ve ever heard of.
No one ever got back to me.
I couldn’t see it, but I was completely unqualified. My work wasn’t even close to being good enough for that level.
Shortly after I decided to completely focus on writing extraordinary content, these editors of massive blogs started reaching out to me, asking if I could write for them.
It’s hard to write on Medium. But if you get it — if you survive this weeder class — you can achieve more with your writing than ever before.
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