Why do I write these Articles?

I haven’t written here in a few weeks and, while I am a little disappointed in myself, I am also trying to see what I can learn from this small bump in the road.

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I am currently experimenting with posting content online, whether that be short articles like this, Instagram posts or Youtube videos, in other words ‘showing my work’ as the Author Austin Kleon might put it. In fact, reading Austin’s book titled “Show your work” has thoroughly convinced me that this is a good idea.

Other influences include videos like this one below from Ali Abdaal and also some general observations and thoughts surrounding the ties between online media and sustainable business.

I am not simply writing in the hopes that one day, I will be rich and famous but instead as a habit to build my own little space in the real estate of the internet: As a tool that I can leverage for the benefit of myself and others. And so when I get lazy and I stop writing and/or creating content I do feel a little pang of guilt that I am delaying that actualisation.

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The last article I wrote was published on New Year’s day (I had actually written it a few weeks prior). It was a rather detailed article, in which I forced myself to pack in as much detail as possible into a bite-sized piece. It was a lot of work and very time-consuming and as we can see now, it had some disadvantages in the long run.

The advice often given by the advocators of this ‘show your work’ philosophy is often summarised in the mantra popularised by Gary Vee: “Document, don’t create.” The point is to tell your audience what you’ve been up to, perhaps in the past week. Make it easy for yourself. Deliberately set the bar low. It will raise itself as time passes. Don’t make it some big grandiose project that you have to spend so much time ‘creating’.

And that is exactly what I did wrong. I put my all into one article and it put me off writing. I write this now on a cloudy afternoon on the 23rd of January, long after I had finished the previous one.

So in this article, I come to you with the thought I have been having this week: ‘Why did I stop writing articles?’ I write as if I am trying to work it out with you, just as I might when talking to a friend. It’s a simple visualisation but it makes this whole process much simpler and more accomplishable.

Thanks for reading :)