Why Most Writers Quit Too Early and How to Not Be One of Them
To run the marathon of writing, you need to make these mindset shifts
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Today’s issue is brought to you by Shivendra Misra.
Last week we had our second AMA for The Write Way (Here’s the transcript and the recording if you missed it). One of the questions was “How to not lose heart when you don’t see results in the beginning.”
As I reflected deeply on that question even after the AMA I realized just how big of a problem it is for writers. So many dreams are broken before they even take shape only because we can’t persevere in the face of seeming failure.
In the short time (~ 2 years) that I’ve been writing online, many writers that I looked up to are now nowhere to be seen. And in the meantime, those that stuck through are prospering much more than before.
Perseverance and commitment to a single path for a long time is the biggest challenge that we have to overcome. This is especially pertinent for us writers.
I agree that people should not blindly follow a path if it doesn’t lead to results. One of course needs to learn when to quit at the right time. But I’m willing to wager that writers quit long before they’re at that threshold.
And that’s the problem I’ll address in this post.
The Need for Instant Gratification
One of the most common problems in all of society today is our need for instant gratification. Being addicted to dopamine hits throughout our daily lives, it’s hard for us to do anything that requires a sustained amount of effort for a long time.
This is why people quit too early, not only in writing but in life.
Most authors and writers write for years before their work is publicized enough for people to call them an “overnight success.” This is the same for every success story you ever read but somehow we still don’t understand this point deeply.
Many writers only get the results they want after they publish a few books. Others have to face rejection after rejection from publishing houses to spread the precious words they’ve written.
When I started writing online I thought the minute I published something, people will start to read it. I refreshed my stats every few minutes only to see that there was not a soul in sight.
This is when most writers would quit. They would perhaps continue writing for a few weeks or months, but repeated rejection gets to their head.
Fortunately, during these times of obscurity, I decided to completely shift my thinking. I stopped focusing on the result and started thinking about the process. And when I fell in love with the process, the results took care of themselves.
And hidden in that sentence is a wonderful tip to not quit when times are tough:
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