How to Set Proper Goals on Medium
At least, this is how I do it
If you’re a Medium writer and we’ve talked through private messaging, then you probably know how high I set my goals for myself.
That’s just my programming even outside of Medium.
My friends told me I set myself up for failure every time, that I set big goals way too early in any road but I think they don’t look at things the same way I do.
Failing is good, actually it’s great. I learn every time I fail and my motivation to succeed grows stronger with every failure.
I also believe that whenever I set big goals, I subconsciously try to reach that goal even harder because deep down, I know the odds to fail are greater but even though I said that failing is good, I like winning too just like everyone else — that’s the whole point.
Vague goal-setting
When I was just starting out on Medium, I have vague goals; one, specifically, the biggest on my mind:
“I’m going to earn a thousand dollars per month.”
Now, you’d think that’s a goal, right? Many writers want to achieve the same thing, and as I’ve said before:
On this platform, we have to compete with other writers in order to get our pieces noticed. There are literally thousands of articles being published daily, how on Earth would ours avoid being lost on the Medium void?
If you’re looking for views, here are a list that might help:
Another goal I had was:
“Reach a thousand followers”
Not that hard of a goal, right?
But “earning a thousand dollars in a month” and “reaching a thousand followers” aren’t goals — at least not in the proper sense. They’re daydreams; whispers when I’m sat in front of my laptop.
Proper goal-setting
Don’t get me wrong, vague goals are important in structuring your plans to achieve whatever you want to achieve but they’re not enough.
The “I want this and I want that” mindset is possessed by almost everyone, the difference between those who actually achieve what they set their minds into are mostly just these two things:
1. The Plan
You can’t only say,
“I want to earn a thousand dollars a month”
without the ‘how’.
The proper planning to achieve this can be: I will earn a thousand dollars in 5-months time by writing and publishing daily on Medium, promoting them whenever I can, interacting with the community and learning from my stats every week and adjusting my strategy when deemed necessary.
2. The Hard Work
I know some of you may be sick of hearing this but there’s a reason why everybody talks about working hard too frequently— it’s the major component in every success story.
Even if most days I enjoy writing on Medium because of the freedom of expression it provides for me as a writer, there are days when writing on this platform is extremely hard.
We all get burnt out even if we love what we do.
Knowing how to get to point A to point B is important in goal setting but it’s absolutely trash if you don’t put in the work.
Be specific in what you want to achieve on Medium — be it the amount of views, followers, monthly earnings or just how to improve as a writer through this platform.
It pays well to know what you’re doing by setting up a plan and then executing them by working hard.
If you want a few tricks I’ve learned along the way, you can check this out:
but that’s just to give you an idea — the title says it all and I’ll pat my hands dry on whatever you decide to do with that information.
I didn’t include my honest personal goals on Medium, quite frankly, I don’t really think readers want to know but I hope this article helps a few people out.
Check out some of my other works?
