The Long-Term and Subtle Benefits of Writing
Why You Should Continue Even If You Don’t See Any Big Results
Can we agree on one thing? Writing is tough.
Even if you don’t feel it is tough, I know it will be tough for you. Like waves in the ocean, your writing journey will be filled with ups and downs. When motivation is at its peak, it is easy to write 1500 words of an article in 2 hours or less. But when motivation is at its lowest, even writing at the first word is a pain. Through these tough times, our patience and perseverance are being tested. For a starter, it can be a tough hill to climb. Some gave up and stopped writing. This is the reason why there are too many untouched blogs out there on the internet.
Now, if you don’t see the results that you want, does it mean that you do not opt to be a writer? Before you answer, let me tell you three reasons why you should continue writing even if you want to give up.
First reason, when you learn how to write, you will learn how to organize your thoughts.
Whether you plan to write an article, speak on stage or teach online courses, the most important question you need to ask yourself is,
“Will my audience understand what I want to tell them?”
Is it simple enough?
Are my ideas organized in such a way that the one who will receive this will gain clarity?”
To achieve those, you adopt a mindset of a tour guide. Before he talks about the famous landmarks and sceneries, he will show you the itinerary. The tour guide knows that tourists want to enjoy their brief stay and enjoy the trip. To achieve this, the tour guide plans and organizes everything.
This is the same as writing. You need to learn how to arrange your ideas that are clear and easy to digest. You create an itinerary for them inside your content. You guide your readers about their problems towards the solutions that they want.
A great piece of information is only as good as how you organize and package it. This is the most useful and transferable skill you can ever have.
The second reason, you never know how great you can be when you stop writing.
We all started with a goal like having your first 1000 subscribers, having a New York Bestseller book, or ranking number 1 in Amazon, but all them are end, not the means. You keep on writing articles regularly. You keep posting value content online. You know that your content will help people. Then what? No one reads the article, no one comments on your content and the views are below your expectations. And this repeats over and over and over again. What will you do? Give up? You may say,” Nah, what’s the purpose of all this? Am I wasting my time? I am not for this!” But is it true?
Did you know that before the success of the iPhone, Steve Jobs was fired from the company he created?
Did you know that before the invention of the light bulb, Thomas Edison has to work on at least one thousand and ninety-three other things?
Did you know that before the Harry Potter phenomenon, JK Rowling was rejected by twelve publishers?
Imagine if Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, and JK Rowling stopped doing what they do because they fail?
I know it’s hard because you cannot see immediate results. You cannot have your 1000 subscribers writing one article. If you want to reach your goal, keep writing. Because the writer writes, right?
The third reason, you never know whose life will change when someone reads your writing.
There was a story of a girl throwing a starfish back to the ocean. After a terrible storm, a thousand starfish are washed up on the shore. A young girl saw the starfish, picked them one by one, and threw it back into the ocean. Then an old man passed by and told the girl, ‘What are you doing? You cannot save all the starfish?”
The girl picks up the starfish, looks at the old man, and says, “You might be right. But I am pretty sure I can save the life of this one?”. And the girl throws the starfish back to the ocean.
Have you ever read a random article and you find yourself thinking and reflecting? You said to yourself, “Wow, this is what is needed today.” Would it be great if you do the same thing? Who knows someone is in their most depressing moments in their life and are about to commit suicide. But after reading your story, how you overcome almost the same situation, that someone changes his/her mind and chooses life instead. I know that this might be extreme. But here’s my point.
Don’t underestimate your capacity to change people’s lives. Even a single line, a single sentence is enough to change someones’ perspective about life. I have a friend who is experiencing challenges in her career. I don’t know how to help her. Instead, I share a line in the book I am reading. She messaged, ‘This is what I need today. Thanks!”, she said.
You don’t have to be a hero for everyone, but you can be the girl who cares for the starfish.
My Final Thoughts
Living as a writer is a long journey. A life-long journey to be specific. For a starter, it can be a tough hill to climb. We are all going through this, right? At times, our article will be crappy. At times it will be a hit, if not then switch! Whatever the case, you keep on writing. Like I said earlier, our writing journey is like waves, filled with ups and downs. But soon the waves will hit the shore and everything will start all over again. That’s when you start writing again. When you are about to give up, remember that you have nothing to waste. You learn a transferable skill, be good at it and through your writing, will touch other people’s lives.
