Being Good Enough Every Day Is Just As Good as Being Great
By: Jun Wu
Tags: Self, Leadership, Freelancing, Motivation, Writing

Being Good Enough Every Day Is Just As Good as Being Great

If you show up every day, it all adds up.

@brucemars unsplash.com

When I started working from home, I thought of my work as a side gig. There’s no expectation of actually making a living. I thought my entrepreneurial activities will be an investment in my future. With only 4 hours dedicated to writing every day, I thought of my freelance writing career as a source of extra income. When my finances took a major hit in May of this year, I started to make real efforts at making writing a career. Just thinking about paying the bills every month is a real boost of motivation.

As I started to take on real freelance writing clients, I got over my own imposter syndrome. I started to call myself a real writer. My writing sessions lengthened from 4 hours to 6 hours. Before, I used to write one article every day. Now, I aim to write three well-researched articles every day.

I realized that the trick to writing is to simply write.

Being “Good Enough” every day adds up to solid results at the end of the month. As long as I showed up (even if late), I will be able to reap the rewards later on.

In the beginning, it was simply hard

I remember at the beginning of getting up in the middle of the night to write, my son would sense that I woke up and wake up, too. I’d end up making him pancakes and entertain him until he went back to sleep. It would be 5 am by then. I’d take an hour to write an article and submit it to a publication.

I remember when I first started my blog, I worked non-stop through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year to upgrade my Wordpress website to set it up for collaborations with other bloggers. Juggling quality time with my son, I ended up working multiple all-nighters to get the job done.

I remember working through unbearable pain from my tooth infection. Between the pain medicine and the coffee that I consumed, I somehow completed all my articles for myself and for clients.

I remember falling asleep next to my son while playing with him after writing all night. My son usually shakes me awake when he realizes I drifted off.

In time, everything became easier.

Writing prolifically

In the middle of my fourth month of writing regularly, I mastered the art of writing prolifically. When I spent time thinking over ideas for my articles during the day, I can usually write a good article in about an hour or two.

I also used the idea of “sprints” to force my words and sentences to come out. I find that putting just the right amount of pressure on myself allows me to hold myself accountable.

Mindset change

The one thing that persistently held me back as a writer is: perfectionism. In the beginning, I scrutinized my choices of wording and sentence structures too much. In time, my mindset changed.

In order to make a living, I realized that writing “good enough” articles leads to new ideas for other articles. Inevitably, some of these articles will be great articles as I developed each idea thoroughly.

In my mind, with or without readership, simply completing articles and writing “good enough” articles are enough for me as a writer. One day, if I practiced long enough, I will be able to write a book.

Writing can lead to other careers

In this day and age, everyone’s trying to claim expertise in a subject matter. Experts often use writing as a tool to publicize their work. When I started to write, I still thought of myself as a technologist. By writing, I am hoping to go back to my career as a technologist. Writing is a kind of a bridge for all the careers that I’m passionate about. Writing is also a bridge for all the entrepreneurial activities that I embark on.

Writing helps me reflect on past careers, past experiences, and past passions in a way that allows me to take these passions to the next level.

Sometimes, writing client articles even pushes me into learning new technologies and stay on top of technology trends.