The lesson in hustling on Medium while enjoying it
Each day you come on Medium to read and write, do you enjoy it?
That simple question can make all the difference to how we view our work, like maybe:
- You enjoy coming here once in a while because you like reading from certain authors.
- Every day you write to earn money, yet you don’t enjoy engaging.
- You’re obsessed with wanting to make friends while earning money.
Whether you’re any of these options or something completely different, let’s take a look at the last one.
Being obssessed with friends and earning
There was a person on X that I noticed probably the day he had joined.
In almost every comment I would engage on, he would be there. Yet, he didn’t give the usual jargon that Twitter people would say.
He would comment, “HOHOHO” on every. single. post without fail. Sometimes he would have a variation, but that was it.
What intrigued me the most was how he had responded to every post (that I happened to be on) without fail and most of all, before me! At that time I was engaging regularly and thought I was doing pretty good, until he came along.
To some of you his posts might seem spammy, but compared to the more thoughtful comments that Twitter users have, he stood out.
What was most interesting, too, were his posts. Once he posted how he had stayed up all night, knuckles hurting, to comment to as many posts as possible.
Maybe he was reckless, I thought so. But his unique manner of engaging literally catapulted him to over 1,000 followers in less than maybe 3 months. He even had some large creators retweet and engage with his work!
Note: I never saved these posts so I was unable to find proof, so believe as you will.
While I saw him grow, it made me think about how I was working. I certainly wasn’t obsessed about growing like him, but in this age of the attention media, it seemed like his way was the only way to do it.
After a while I stopped checking on his progress, after all, I was still at a mere 300 followers and was not gaining traction on my daily posts. So I went on a hiatus.
After a while though, he happened to pop on my feed again with this post.
Image from Twitter/X
Since my niche was about managing a routine, this really surprised me.
This was the guy who would stay up all night engaging, how is his routine suddenly so simple?
That’s when I learned a lesson.
Keep it simple
While it’s tough to get running from the starting line, once you have a grasp on your content and the platform, it’s easier to keep going.
That’s a common trend I’ve seen from Shab, Benjamin Franklin, and many others — they had to bust their bottoms just to get a head start in the game.
What does this mean for Medium? It’s that what you hear about quantity over quality from big creators is true, it’s the only way at first.
Once you’re settled in and making the income you need for now, though, that’s when you keep your routine simple to keep going.
Stay obsessed
Even though Shab drastically lowered his engagement and decided to work an hour a day on creator work, it doesn’t mean he was any more obsessed.
He’s still disciplined when it comes to responding to 100 comments, client work, and other things on the above list for that one hour.
Why? Because he wants the bugattis. That was his whole goal when getting started on X, which he then branches out to the desire to help his family financially (according to a post I read).
A clear desire can ignite an engine as quick as drinking 10 cans of Monster sodas, except that internal motivation is way stronger than a physical one.
This is called Intrinsic Motivation,
“doing something because it makes you feel good.”
Like Shab, maybe you have a strong desire to have a second income stream, or for another personal reason.
Make note too, while Shab’s first motivation was to own a bugatti, his motivation seemed to change when he introduced helping his family.
Helping a person in need can be an incredibly strong intrinsic motication.
Enjoying the process
With a strong desire and a simple routine, work becomes easier to enjoy.
After all, you’re putting effort toward a purpose that you’re absolutely sure you want to accomplish, so who’s gonna stop you?
What desire or purpose has helped you enjoy working on Medium?