How To Get Ahead of 97% of Writers In The Next 6 Months
3 simple steps to guide you to writing success
Most writers struggle to get noticed. They feel despondent with the lack of readers. I want to change that for you. That’s why I created The Ultimate Headline Toolkit. To help you write enticing headlines. Click here to learn more.
It’s easy to get lost.
I was so desperate for success. I’d use a different tactic every week. And swing wildly from one style to another. Trying to hit the magic formula. I was treating writing like buying a lottery ticket. Hoping to wake up one day and discover I’d made it.
Many writers make the same mistake.
Focusing on tactics and ignoring their wider strategy. Tactics are the details. eg. how to write a headline. Whereas strategy is the long-term process of how you build an audience.
Without a clear roadmap. You’ll lose motivation. And make random decisions. I’ll make over $2500 this month. But could’ve avoided a lot of mistakes if I had this 3 step plan to follow.
Follow these 3 steps if you want success.
1. Get going
Most writers don’t write.
They dream of writing. They’re getting ready to write. They want to learn to get it right before they start.
But you need to forget all that and start.
Preparation. Learning. Getting ready. It’s all procrastination and a total waste of time. Real learning comes after starting. Writing 20 posts will teach you more than any course, book, or YouTube video.
The big mistake people make is trying to jump a few steps. They try to write something good. Whereas step 1 is to write something. The first goal is to start. And I don’t mean hiding some words on your computer. It needs to be public.
Here’s why.
The first 20 tries of any venture will suck. And no amount of thinking. Preparing. Planning. Learning. Will change that. So you may as well get it over with. Don’t be critical of what you create. Celebrate your achievement.
Most never start. So if you do you’re already in the top 20%.
But if want to reach higher. You’ll need step 2.
2. Get good
Becoming a brilliant learner is an underrated skill.
Most of us haven’t been taught how to learn. We’ve been misled into thinking listening to a 40-minute lecture or reading a book is learning. Top writers perfect the art. And know how to improve fast.
Let me show you 2 key ideas that’ll help you.
Use it
You can’t store up learning.
It needs to be usable right now. Don’t consume content because one day you will need it. Identify what you need to learn right now. Learn tips from the best person at that thing. Examine what they teach and how they do it. Then practice until it becomes ingrained in you.
Consuming content gives a dopamine hit. It feels good. But it’s misleading. An illusion of learning. Not the real thing.
Consume less. Implement more.
The 1% rule
Learning is hard.
It’s a conscious effort that uses up precious mental capacity. So make tiny changes otherwise you’ll be paralysed. Improve your headlines, aim to be more concise, or include more stories. But don’t do all 3 at once. That’ll hinder your progress.
But here’s the good news.
A bundle of tiny improvements will make you a phenomenal writer. Because of the 1% rule.
Imagine you have $1 and it gains 1% every day. How much will you have after 1 year? Our brains think 0.01 × 365 = $3.65. But the answer is $37.
That’s a 3700% increase!
Compounding is a superpower. It works because you gain on your gains. Creating mind-blowing results. Use this to become a great writer. It makes growing super easy. Improve your skills by 1% every day. And you’ll be 37 times better by the end of the year. Do it for 3 years and your growth will be off the scale.
Becoming good will get you ahead of 90%. But if you have more ambition than that. You’ll need to get smart.
3. Get smart
I discovered this by accident.
I was looking through my early Medium content. They all performed badly. But I noticed a blip. My 18th post did well. I wondered why it’d gained so much attention. Here it is:
I suspected the idea of removing things was the reason. It sounds easier than adding more to our to-do list.
So I tried the tactic again.
Anything above $50 is a top performer for me. So $64 is great.
A few months later I repeated the trick.
$120! Wow double the earnings.
Then again:
These all have different content. But use the same headline tactic. I’d hit on a formula for instant success.
The point is not use remove things in your headline. But that top writers develop smart systems. This is now one of mine. Every month I review what has worked. And find a way to repeat what did.
Currently I have a list of 10 tactics I reuse each month.
I’ve also created systems for:
These have made me faster and better.
Systems are a superpower for writers. So I’m working on more. My introductions are inefficient and random. So I’m looking at my best ones. Spot why they worked. And will be creating templates. So I can write faster & better introductions in future.
Smart systems will elevate your writing. And take you higher than you ever thought possible.
(*This 3 step system is adapted from Ali Abdaal’s YouTube growth strategy)
I recently created my system for Substack: post 1 Note daily, interact with at least 10 new creators each day, write 1 article per week, engage with people in my Notes feed every day. Will see how it goes! Thank you for sharing these simple, actionable tips.
Always keep learning - and create systems.
Great article. Really helpful for writers at all levels.