Top 3 things that stopped me from writing my 1st Medium Article & How to Overcome them

A newbie writer’s guide on writing Medium Articles

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Like anything else I do as a human being, I need to be on a roll, or as mind experts call the ‘Flow State’ to GSD (get shit done).

I had been wanting to write since probably New Years. You know when people make resolutions and stuff but just like most other resolutions, this one got delayed by 9 months. Kudos to COVID-19 for making me bored AF and start writing.

Let’s get to it!

1. Overthinking

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I never actually realized this until I was an adult who started paying attention to what my brain was telling me (more like commanding me) but I more than often overthink things and end up dismissing my initial thought or idea.

Or maybe it was just a habit in the office where I had to think 3x before telling the whole world what a great idea I had (even if it was something ridiculous).

Typically overthinking, in my opinion, is born by asking a simple innocent question that snowballs into a train of thought that becomes unstoppable.

Here are the most common things I overthink about:

1. Am I qualified to write this article?
2. PLUS am I really an expert on this topic?
3. How long will this take me?
4. Is this even worth it?

With my sub-par English grades, poor vocabulary, and probably a bunch of grammatical errors even within this article. In addition to that, I am probably not an expert on the topics which I want to write about. And the ultimate question is, how much time will this little endeavor take me. (Overthinking at the moment)

My only advice for you is to do the following:

1. Get your butt up and Start writing!!!
2. Oh and maybe get a cup of coffee or tea or something that stimulates your brain
3. Legit though, start writing. Not thinking, not reading, not listening. Just write

2. Fleshing out ideas

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I’ve always had ideas in my head whether it’s business ideas, article ideas, work solutions, lyrics, or other random thoughts. The issue was always fleshing these ideas out, turning them into reality, or even spending a few seconds on writing them out.

These are my methods, it’s a Step 1 & Step 2 kind of deal:

1. Write them down! We live in a digital era where your smartphones can take notes or maybe even do a voice recording of yourself explaining your idea. So no more excuses (unless maybe your phone dies) even if you are out drinking with friends, create a habit of noting your ideas down because maybe one of them might just hit the jackpot.
2. Timer Time! Now that you have written all your ideas down, take out a timer either from your phone or alarm (this method can be used to set aside a period of time for you to work the idea out!). I like to start with 15 minutes, this gives me enough time to sit with the idea and write everything in my mind about it. If I am experiencing the so-called ‘Flow State’ I continue writing until about 1 hour and save my writing as Draft; to be continued tomorrow.

• Note that this is an ideal time for me (might not be the same for you) after a couple of times experimenting
• 1 hour is too long and intimidating
• 30 minutes still a little too long (pretty sure I have ADHD of some sort)
• 15 minutes enough to get the ball rolling

3. Learning Curve — Lots of features

It took me quite a while to get familiar with what each of these features could do. So I compiled a shortlist that might be helpful.

This one does the quote

Yeah it does this thing

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this helpful!

Hack: If you love reading Medium Articles but don’t want to pay for the premium account like myself. Simply follow these steps:

1. Search for an article you want to read
2. Open incognito browser
3. Paste the article’s link
4. Enjoy :)