Lessons From Writing, Taming The Ego, and Preventing Bottlenecks

Quick Note For Readers:

When I started on this journey to write online 3 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing.  I just started writing.  Three years later, I have much more clarity and vision for the topics I want to write about.  This is a new Tuesday Newsletter that will provide tips on living mindfully in a noisy distracting world. Here is the first edition of the Happy Quiet Life Newsletter.

Something I Wrote This Week:

3 Lessons Learned From 3 Years of Online Writing (As A Busy First Time Father)

I thought every piece I wrote had to be incredible.

I started writing shortly after my daughter was born because I knew I had to pursue my dream or face admitting to her later in life that I never chased my dreams. But it wasn't easy with everything that was on my plate. It always felt like there wasn't enough time.

After 3 years, lots of mistakes, and 150+ articles later I realize the single greatest lesson is this:

Just Show Up Everyday

If you wait for the perfect timing, perfect writing routine, and for the world to create space for your writing...you'll wait forever.

You are busy. You have limited time on your hands as a father with a full-time job. You have to build, whatever you can, by consistently showing up.

Here is how you can do that much more effectively than I did.

#1. Take small, consistent, and clear steps towards your goals.

Any progress you make today is worth it.

Write daily even if all you have is 30 minutes. Start with publishing at least 1 piece a week. Master publishing 1 piece a week before you do more.

#2. Place your focus on the process, not the results.

The only thing that matters in this stage is your process.

Create a clear order for how you create ideas, headlines, and structure of articles. Again, master these few tactics. Practice repeating this as many times as you can.

#3. Allow yourself to fail, be embarrassed, or hear crickets.

Your results don't matter while you are building a process.

Hit publish. Send it out there for anybody or nobody to read. Your accomplishment is that you published, instead of hiding.

Whether you or anyone else thinks those pieces, in the beginning, are good or not doesn't matter, because you showed up, hit publish, and you will improve.

What I'm Reading:

Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday

This is my third time reading Ego Is The Enemy (slow learner, right?), which is book 2 of a 3-book series on Stoicism by Ryan.  Ryan's writing style is what made me want to be a writer, so I always love rereading his work.  But reading a book on ego, which we all have one, by the way, is just a reminder for me to stay humble, keep doing the work, and never stop looking out for where I'm failing.  Whether you're just starting out in life or have been fortunate to experience success or have had massive life failures, this is a relevant book. 

A question I'm thinking about:

What's the biggest bottleneck to achieving the goals I've set?

Have a great week, talk next Tuesday!