To write faster and better, embrace your nature

There's no single winning style, genre, or strategy.

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Photo by Chuxie Daniels on Unsplash

I've been following

Hudson Rennie

for a while. He constantly tests new ways to monetize writing.

I admire one thing about him: he's very careful to make choices that align with his nature.

I’ve been sidetracked in the past by expert advice. It convinced me there was one way to do things right. But that’s not true.

We have more agency. We can make it on our own terms.

Choose your own adventure

As a child, I learned that there’s always one right way to do things. As an adult, this didn’t serve me well.

There are always multiple ways to get to an outcome. You got to choose the one that’s best for you.

Getting back to Hudson:

• he stopped writing on X and LinkedIn because he prefers long form over short form,

• he stopped engaging on platforms that ate up his writing time, possibly losing growth,

• he restrains from writing about writing to explore other topics, such as self-improvement.

As we grow, we develop new skills, interests, and tastes. We also increase our awareness of them. So, we have the tools to choose the best path to the outcome we want.

If we don’t do it, we burn out:

• Someone says “post every day”, but this means writing only short form content. If you love long form content, you lose our soul.

• Someone says “write about topic Y”, but for you it’s dull. You quit writing because you hate it.

• Someone says “network with as many creators as possible”, but you’re painfully shy. You don’t even start.

I’ve been publishing online since 2010. I tried many platforms and many content types. When it comes to building an audience online, there is no single right strategy.

There are best practices, first principles, and growth hacks that can work. But you can mix and match. I've seen people succeed in hundreds of different ways.

I’ve been sidetracked too many times, following advice that was wrong for me, blinded by success stories and self-doubt. (The worst pairing!) Now I know we are free to tailor our approach. If put in the right effort and keep adjusting, we will find success.

This is not just a pep talk

Going against your nature is like wearing an elastic band around your calves before going out for a run – you'll be far slower, ruin your form and probably injure yourself. When you embrace your nature, instead, you remove the elastic band, increasing your speed and making your workout more effective.

Out of the metaphor, this means that you create faster because you're not encumbered. Your work improves because you're more inspired and your repetitions (aka, pieces of content) are more effective.

Here’s what to do

Self-awareness is the foundation, as always. Our whole life is a journey to understand our own nature.

Pay attention to two things in particular:

• What activity makes you say, "I want more" even after exhausting all your energy?

• What just drains you, leaving you empty and just craving the bed?

For example, most days I stop writing only because I have other commitments or my back and eyes hurt. But my fingers are itching to draft another article, to explore another idea. On the other hand, I tried several times to spend more time replying to posts on X, which is the best way to grow. But I keep “forgetting” about it.

If you don't have a clue about what your preferences, keep experimenting:

• try different platforms,

• try different content formats and types (long, short, text, audio, video),

• try different growth techniques like posting a lot or replying.

While you experiment, keep asking the questions above and update your strategy accordingly.

You’ll build your own growth strategy piece by piece.

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Your strategy starts from finding a niche. I have a guide that will show you how to stop overthinking your niche, find a place to start and gradually improve it. Here’s the guide: