Why I started writing and why you should too
What is the purpose of writing for you? Is it to learn, make money, have fun or what? It is a tough question, but for me personally, all these aspects, as well as many others, are part of the reason why I write. Recently, I have started trying to write consistently and it has been incredibly insightful, interesting and even fun.
Writing is relaxing
Work can be stressful, exhausting and challenging. For me personally, I find writing to be a break. After spending hours each day programming, I really find writing an hour before bed to be a time to relax, clarify and refocus myself for the next day.
Give yourself some advice
The funny thing is, as writers, we often produce some incredible content or advice, yet rarely listen to our own advice! We write about productivity when the truth is we all procrastinate. We often write about the importance of exercise, drinking water or other activities, without practicing what we teach (which can be quite hypocritical). Writing really allows you to give yourself advice, but more than that, it creates a sense of accountability. Giving out thoughtful, interesting and valuable advice to however small an audience is hopefully helpful for readers, but it is also helpful for writers!
Opportunity to further explore a topic
Writing is an incredible way to convince yourself to learn about a topic and really understand it. Having a specific goal for research, narrows the breadth of your research, reducing procrastination (which is often caused by a lack of clear goals). Being able to explain a complex topic in very simple words is really the task of a good writer and is an incredibly useful skill to learn. Let’s take an example- say you want to learn about cryptocurrency. There are many ways of doing so- you can just read articles or watch YouTube videos, write an article or even build a cryptocurrency. I would highly recommend the last two options: for more technical people building a cryptocurrency can be an incredible way of understanding cryptocurrencies in great detail (some very good articles on building your own cryptocurrency- e.g. https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-cryptocurrency-using-python/). For slightly less technical people, writing an article can be an incredible way to learn about crypto, whilst also testing your own understanding.
Consistent habit
I know you have heard this hundreds of times but consistency is absolutely key. How do you build the habit of writing? Easy, there is a very simple trick- consistency. WHAT?!? NO WAY! I know it’s crazy but building a consistent habit is absolutely critical. An easy way of developing this habit is to dedicate a specific time each day solely for writing. On the days where you feel unmotivated or exhausted, ask yourself- what is your goal? Grab a cup of fresh water, put on your headphones and play some relaxing music (ideally without words) and just start typing. Forget about the quality of your writing and just focus on producing text. I guarantee that you will be surprised by the quality of your first draft- it usually surprises me how my first draft is not actually as bad as I thought. After finishing a quick draft, then you can review it and make some improvements.
Passive income
Sure, you can make money through writing, however, I am going to warn you right now that if you only want to make money, there are much better ways to make money than through writing. However, writing is a form of passive income and platforms like Medium allow you to pretty easily make money.
Online presence
Growing your online presence, sometimes called social media presence, can be a fun experience but you always need to consider what your goals are. What is the purpose of growing your online presence?
Writing is a pretty huge time commitment and can at times be boring, tiring or pointless and it can seem as if no one will ever read your blog. For people who feel like no one wants to read their blog or they are not helping anyone, always remember that your goal should be just to help a single person.
Helping a single person can change the world!
Writing is also one of the most amazing jobs or side-hustles in the world- isn’t it amazing to be paid to learn, teach and have fun! As I like to say- always enjoy the journey!
