I Burned Out After Posting 1,000 Articles Online, Here’s Why

And how I recovered

Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash

In 2017 I had 1,000 followers and was hungrier than a lion in the African wilderness.

I remember writing up a storm back then.

Here was my routine

• 8–11 AM: Write two articles for a client

• 1 — 4PM: Write two articles for Diply

• 7–9PM: Write an article on Medium and respond to readers

I was pulling 3,000 daily words back then like it was nothing.

I was in grind mode. Determined to make my mark on the world, trying desperately to make ends meet.

Fast forward to this past June.

A few months ago it was tough for me to write one 250-word post on LinkedIn.

I went from being able to churn out 3K words daily to barely being able to write 250.

In short, what happened?

A toxic combination of many things to steer clear of. Here is my cautionary tale for you.

I Got Too Accustomed To Great Views

2018–2020 Medium was incredible. It was three solid years of opportunity for every blogger/wannabe blogger on the internet.

I think I averaged about 70,000 views per month back then writing 3–5 times per week.

Wanna know how easy it is to write when you know your work will get read?

It’s the easiest thing in the world.

Contrast that to 2016/2017. I was lucky to get 3,000 views per month in my first 6 months as a Medium writer.

I think my first major pitfall was getting too accustomed to great post performance. Now I’ll be lucky to have a post hit 1,000 views.

You know how I said it was easy to write when you know you’ll get 1,000+ views?

Well, imagine how hard it is to write when you start getting 1/3 of the views you used to get.

It’s kind of like moving out of Beverly Hills to live literally anywhere else.

The fix? Lower expectations. Be happy for any views you get. Adopt the mindset of the writer you were when you had nobody paying attention to you.

You climbed up out of obscurity once. You can do it again.

I Compared Myself With Others Too Much

Comparison is the thief of joy. We all know that piece of wisdom.

I started getting really bitter after a while seeing folks I felt were publishing absolute bullshit getting boatloads of views.

The fix? Stop following these people. Get them out of your feed. Block them if you have to.

They aren’t going to stop publishing ridiculous stuff to get attention. You got to get rid of them yourself.

I Said All I Wanted To Say

A lot of people ask me about writing topics. How to not run out of ideas and things like that.

I used to laugh those questions off because life is a great giver of ideas if you just know what to look for.

However after writing 1,000 articles, I started hitting a wall.

I write a LOT about following your dreams, traveling, social media, self-expression, and general life lessons I wish I knew earlier.

Normally I’m able to write about a topic I’ve covered before with a new perspective, but after 1,000 blog posts you start running out of “new perspectives,” too.

Anytime I had a new idea, I started judging it.

‘Would it get a lot of views?’ I asked myself. No, probably not because nothing gets good views nowadays. Motivation cut in half. ‘Have I written it before?’ I asked. Yes, you have. Motivation cut in half again.

I love exploring new ideas. After five years, I started running out of them.

The fix? For me, the only fix for this is time off. You need to fall in love with your topics again. There are ALWAYS new readers to reach who haven’t read your perspectives before. You need to give your brain space to explore new ideas.

When you burnout, you need to get back to that hungry lion you were at the beginning of your journey.

You got to lower expectations. You got to get the eye of the tiger back.

To do so, take time off, unfollow people you’re comparing yourself to, and be happy for any views you get.