Would you rather see a movie made by Steven Spielberg or your next door neighbor?
Of course you’re going to pick Steven Spielberg. Why, though?
Well, because he’s established. He has a track record of making amazing cinema. Basically everything he touches turns to gold.
In short, he’s credible.
As writers it’s tough to build up credibility.
I knew this eight years ago.
I was a new writer with absolutely nothing special going on. The coolest thing I ever did was intern at Disney World for 8 months.
As I’ve studied more and more writing experts, I’ve realized most of them have some insanely cool stuff going on.
They’re CEO’s, they travel the world regularly, they host their own podcast shows, they work with some of the biggest companies in the world.
They’re badasses.
Because they’re badasses, they’ve managed to make major hedges on the market while every other writer out there claws their way to the spotlight.
Luckily I have a prescription to level the playing field…
Become a badass yourself.
The 1 Cool Thing I Did, And How It Helped My Writing Immensely
Eight summers ago I did a 5-month road trip across the country, by myself, while working as a digital nomad.
I stayed in hostels, saw 26+ states (or something), and put a good 13,000 miles on my car.
Back then I wanted to be a travel blogger. I knew I couldn’t call myself that without going on a trip of my own.
So I went.
This one life decision was the catalyst that got me into the Huffington Post, positioned me as a “digital nomad” expert, and re-invigorated my writing spirit in ways I can’t describe.
Without doing this one simple cool thing, I’m convinced I’d be nothing.
To this day, my best performing articles all pretty much have to do with that one trip, and that’s completely fine.
It’s my life. I created that trip. I pulled myself out of non-special-ness and did something that a lot of people want to do.
You can do the same.
In fact, you kind of NEED to do the same.
A Few Cool Ideas For You
Here are a couple of easy ways to do more cool stuff.
Interview successful people. You need to be scared to death of talking to them, too — no shortcuts!
Start your own company. Even if you fail, that’ll still be quite an amazing story to talk about.
Go on some sort of a vision quest. Like my road trip! My friend Thomas Despin literally biked around the world. If you want to make yourself stand out, you’re going to have to sacrifice some things and do stuff out of the ordinary.
Quit your 9–5 Job and do something you actually love. Yep. I’m not even going to duck it. This alone is kind of ridiculous and something that not many people are willing to do. Congratulations, you’ve separated yourself from pretty much everybody in an instant.
Do something new. The trick to great content is “newness.” That’s why we enjoy watching movies like Star Wars. It takes us to another place. How are tales of your life going to do the same? Have you become a minimalist lately? Have you tried to eat nothing but Chick-Fil-A for a month? These are both perfectly awesome jumping-off points for stories.
Create something bigger than yourself. Like a publication. Like a podcast. Like an event in your hometown. Create something entirely new and tell us what it was like doing so.
Look into your past. I’m a firm believer that so many of us are already badasses. I know, y’all are yelling “PLOT TWIST!” because I’ve tried to prove the opposite in this article..but hear me out. We’ve gotten this far, right? We’ve gone through things. We’ve lost parents, we’ve lost pets, some of us have lost children. We’ve been laid off, we’ve fallen in love, we’ve had to risk everything at some point. Try to pinpoint what you’re most proud of, and write about that.
Why Doing Cool Stuff And Writing Go Together
I would say that nothing influences writing more than our own personal lives.
What’s your story? What makes you different?
Here’s another plot twist: This article isn’t supposed to help you become a better writer — it’s supposed to help you live a more fulfilling life.
By living differently, you’ll become a better writer overnight.
You’ll have ideas bursting from your fingers. The platform that is your whole perspective will crack, and crumble beneath of you.
Now, by rising from those ashes, you can now begin to give us something we’ve never thought of before.
We are now ready to listen, and follow, and subscribe, and maybe even purchase.
Does everybody reading have to jump in their car and travel across the country?
No, of course not, but I would hope that one of you are inspired to interview that NY Times best-selling author, or create an event in their hometown, or even quit their job to do something they love.
Live the lives of the writers you love reading.
I hope you find that.
Get my free 6-day course ‘How to get 100 subscribers on Substack in 30 days’ right here. Let’s keep real writing alive together.
I heard this tip in the past. At first, it was depressing. Not everyone can become a CEO or travel the world.
Then I noticed some successful writers were making the mundane special.
I think there are two tricks:
- live intentionally, you'll end up creating stories and great reflections about them
- look for hidden lessons in your normal life.
I agree with this 💯!
And the cool stuff doesn't have to be out-of-this-worldly to be cool.
It can start simply with you choosing a life you love, and living it passionately: on your terms!