I’ve been a part-time creator for the better part of 4 years. Here are the mistakes I’ve made.

I know what it feels like to suck.

Where you pour your heart and soul into your articles and less than 10 people read them.

And it’s probably your mum and aunties (thanks again mum!).

The feeling is worse than embarrassment. It makes you want to hide in a dark room and never see sunlight again.

But it was only when I realized the mistakes that I was making that my processes improved and my results skyrocketed.

Here are six mistakes to avoid.

#1 Worrying about the 2% optimizations

When I first started writing, I would try to optimize for the thumbnail, the pithy quote, and the one-line revelations.

How much did that help my writing? Minuscle.

I would get dejected and look for the next shiny gimmick I could use to make people view my articles.

My writing sucked so these 2% improvements weren’t going to move the needle.

The large majority of the results that come from your writing is the 98% habits.

The 98% of habits look like this:

• Sitting down and writing every day for an hour.

• Reading articles from great writers

• Reverse engineering their success.

• Improving my storytelling

• Understanding persuasion techniques

• Creating systems and processes for writing

• Networking with other creatives

It’s the unsexy habits that produce scalable results, not the 2% optimizations.

#2: Not knowing where my north star is

My first two years of writing online were a disaster.

I was inconsistent, bored, and got to the point of quitting so many times.

I started writing online because I thought it was fun and exciting.

But when the fun and excitement wore off, I was left stranded on writer's block with no keyboard (figuratively).

Motivation is fragile. The honeymoon period will end.

That’s when I started to dig deeper.

I got more mature with my ‘why’ of writing.

It’s once I could attach my daily actions with a bigger intrinsic purpose, that writing became a joy.

Writing for me is freedom, not just money. It’s about creating the life I want on my own terms and based on my values, not living by society’s expectations.

As Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote,

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.

#3: Focusing on achievement, rather than transformation.

Writing online has given me many things:

• Money

• Networks

• Business

• Fame (kind of?)

I am very proud of these accomplishments.

But the one thing I am more proud of?

The person I’ve become.

Through writing online every day, I am smarter, wealthier, and happier.

The value of my writing goals was not the extrinsic success I attracted, but the transformation in my character and values.

Every word I wrote, and every article I published, changed me in a small way. Every artist puts a bit of themselves into every creation.

The money, networks, and business can all be taken away from me.

But the growth can’t be. I’ll be taking that to the grave.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Don’t ask yourself what you want to achieve with writing, ask yourself what type of person you want to become.

#4 Not having a bias towards action.

You want to be patient with your results, but impatient with your actions.

Always have a bias towards action.

It’s never doing the work that is hard. It’s often starting the work.

Once I start writing, I can keep writing for hours on end.

But getting started is hard.

The resistance gets activated. My self-doubt starts to creep in. I look for distractions. Excuses become more persuasive.

Act with urgency, but release yourself from the need to achieve it on a particular timeline.

When you think longer term than most, you can think bigger than most.

— James Clear

The results you get from your writing will take years to see, so start now.

#5: Throwing rocks and tearing other writers down.

With all that is going on in the world, I never understand why people choose to throw rocks at other writers.

I’ve seen people use the name of well-known writers in headlines to tear them down for their own success. Idiots.

I decided to let other people’s success fuel my curiosity, not my jealousy.

When I see other people doing well, I don’t judge. I ask questions.

• What are they doing that I am not?

• How they are writing their headlines?

• How are they optimizing their profile?

• What writing tricks are they using?

I reverse engineer their success for my success.

Instead of picking up rocks to throw, open your eyes to observe.

I model the people who are doing better than me as a guide. They inspire me to believe that I could one day reach that milestone too.

Do the same.

#6: Not treating myself as a writer

Whenever I would label myself a writer, I would feel like a massive wanker.

Me? A writer? Who did I think I was? Get a grip.

I would hide and retreat from the ‘writer’ label.

I would underplay what I did online to friends and family.

But after I embraced the identity of being a writer, that’s when I got the best results of my life.

Identity shapes attitude. Attitude determines behavior. Behavior creates action. And action produces results.

Humans want our actions to match our identity. We don’t like cognitive dissonance.

My identity as a writer means I read, think, and most importantly, write every day.

So what does this mean for you?

If you want to be a writer, then write.

It’s never been easier than before.

Online writing has changed my life for the better.

It has allowed me to quit my 9–5 job, start a variety of online businesses and connect with amazing opportunities.

The internet provides access to billions of people with a click of a button.

What are you waiting for?

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