Don’t Compare Your Output To Others Further Along In Their Writing Journey

Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

I will spend multiple hours to write only minutes' worth of readable work.

In contrast, creators that I admire will seemingly have perfect prose pouring from every keystroke with astonishing output in a similar time to my own.

This comparison is both too critical of my starting position and also overly dismissive of the thousands of hours and millions of keystrokes that separate my end product from theirs.

Ryan Holiday as I write these words has undoubtedly written more profound and succinct prose for a broader audience than I can fathom.

I am fully aware of the time and effort that it takes to build such an impressive and admiring audience. Yet for some reason I found myself differentiating his ability to write and his audience growth.

But those things cannot be so easily parsed.

Now yes there can be someone who is a prolific writer with an audience a tenth of his size or a far less skilled writer with an audience far greater.

There will always be an exception to the rule but in the majority of cases, the rule holds that continued diligent work contributes to mastery far more than inconsistent dabbling will achieve.