I've Been Writing For An Entire Year

On February 4th 2020, I published my first article online.

I didn’t know if people would read it, nor did I think they’d particularly like it. But I knew one thing for sure: from that point onwards, I would write an original article every single week.

Over the last few years, I’ve been developing a system to sustain a new passion for reading, something that hadn’t stuck with me growing up.

From learning how to start my first business to how to ‘win friends and influence people’, some books provided a higher value:word ratio than I ever could have expected.

Over time, I began to appreciate the individual styles of authors. Reading their words allowed me to understand how they thought.

The more work I read, the more I was able to deconstruct their way of thinking, something I could then apply to the architecture of my own understanding.

Reading offers more than exposure to great ideas and stories, it’s a free passage into great minds, something just as beneficial if not more than the contents of the book itself.

Why Can’t I Do That?

From a young age, I had a strong sense of optimism towards what I could achieve if I put my mind to it. I’d always think to myself “why can’t I do that?”.

After learning to skateboard, perform magic tricks and play the piano, my theory was cemented: I could pretty much learn anything I wanted to with the right materials, free online information and adequate time to practice.

So, as I read more and more books and developed my own unique outlook on particular topics, I began to think about writing myself.

Again, I asked myself: “why can’t I do that?”

After all, most best-selling authors didn’t necessarily train to become best-sellers, nor is there an official qualification you need to be able to share your writing online.

Even if becoming a “good” writer was something that had to be acquired, at some point every writer transitioned from not having shared any work to sharing their first piece.

What was stopping me from starting on that journey? What was stopping me from taking that first step?

What you’re now reading is my 54th article. I haven’t missed a single week.

And, I’ve enjoyed the weekly practice of writing so much that I was completely aware that I had passed my 1-year milestone a few weeks ago (🎉🥳).

Takeaways

If you want to achieve something, ask yourself: “why can’t I do that?”

To help you overcome the fear of starting would be difficult, but, acknowledging that it is possible for you to achieve is a start.

Everyone starts at zero. The first time Cristiano Ronaldo kicked a ball was the first time he kicked a ball. Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s doing, acknowledge that at some point they began and so can you.

I’ve loved writing each week for myself and every single one of you. Thanks for joining me on this journey, sharing your ideas with me and showing your appreciation for all the effort that goes into every new article.

I could expand on this journey a lot more, but I think it's a story best told on Youtube 😉.