Advice all creators need to hear
I can’t take credit for the headline.
It’s a Tweet by Alex Hormozi.
But it does remind me of the 30-Day Writing Challenge I started this month. Around 30 writers signed up. I told them what to do, and I’ve joined in to show what’s possible.
These writers all wanted to commit — but how many have kept going?
Less than ten.
Now this isn’t me calling them out. (Okay, maybe a little.) And I’m super grateful for those who’ve stuck with it. I just want to highlight this lack of patience I see time and time again.
Here’s another example:
How can I do “X” quicker?
The subtext to my response is always the same: haven’t you listened to a word I’ve been saying?
I repeat the same, boring advice. It works.
I’ve been creating content — week in, week out — since September 2018.
And I made my first £1.86 nearly two years later.
In my courses, I talk about patience. It’s one of the first things I say. Nothing good happens overnight. Take your time.
Yada, yada, yada.
It’s not just me saying this. One of my favourite YouTubers says you shouldn’t think about money until you’ve made one video a week for two years.
Good sh*t takes time.
Quick note
Patience doesn’t mean saying no to deadlines.
You’ve got to put in the work.
“If you say it doesn’t matter how long something takes, then you’re not saying it’s important. You’re saying the opposite.
“Important things need to be done by a certain time. If there’s no particular time by which something needs to be completed, then the logical inference is that it never needs to be done at all.”
— David Mitchell, Author of Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse
This is the most insulting compliment I’ve ever received
“You’ve got a real talent for writing.”
One of my first freelance clients told me this. She had good intentions, but I don’t have talent. I’ve just put in the reps.
I ran the maths on how many hours I’ve put into writing:
- Formative years (school, university essays, etc) ~ 200 hours
- Blogging ~ 100 hours
- Story writing ~ 100 hours
- Medium (an average of 1.5 hours a day for three years) ~ 1,600 hours
- Newsletter (one email every two weeks for 2.5 years) ~ 100 hours
- Client work ~ 500 hours
That’s about 2,600 hours.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the “10,000-hour rule”. He says becoming an expert takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.
I’ve got a long way to go.
Why do people ignore the advice?
Advice about being patient is as old as the internet itself. You’ve seen it a million times. It’s on YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc.
Be patient. Life is a marathon — not a sprint.
So why do people ignore it?
Maybe it’s fear, maybe it’s FOMO, maybe it’s something else —who knows.
My money’s on one of the following.
The prestige
Steven Bartlett shares his experience with young fans.
Many of them want to be public speakers — yet they’ve got nothing to talk about. So Steven challenges them: Why do you want to be a public speaker?
We tell ourselves two things:
- The reason that sounds good
- The actual reason
In this case, young people say they want to share their wisdom. It sounds good. The more likely reason is they want to feel heard.
There’s nothing wrong with either, but the first step to success is to own your motives. You’re only fooling yourself.
Besides, there may be quicker and easier ways to do what you want.
For example, if you want to feel heard, you don’t have to be a public speaker. You could start a podcast.
Same difference.
The money
People can sense when you want something.
It’s a turn-off.
Giving with expectation isn’t giving. It’s transacting. Worse still, it could be manipulation.
The fun is in giving and wanting nothing in return.
“People with a well-paying job ask my advice because they want to quit to become full-time artists.
“But full-time artists ask my advice because they’re finding it impossible to make money.
“For both of them, I prescribe the lifestyle of the happiest people I know. 1) Have a well-paying job. 2) Seriously pursue your art for love, not money.”
— Derek Sivers
The unpleasantness
I get it.
You want to quit your job.
Sometimes, quitting is your best option. That’s what I did. I was a prison officer and hated it. Other times, you’ve got to hang tough.
My recommendation? Play the long game. Build passive and scalable income streams between the hours of 6–8 pm.
Oh, and don’t worry about followers.
They’re a byproduct of quality content.
Takeaways
99% of all advice on the internet about ANYTHING boils down to this: Put in the work for two years and see what happens.
So let time work for you and be uncopyable.
Your future self will thank you later.