“Tom, are you serious? What human can write an entire article in 15 minutes?”
Okay, first off, let me introduce to you Parkinson’s Law.
In the 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferris used Parkinson’s Law to write a 30-page thesis paper in 24 hours. Here’s his definition..
“Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials.”
My friends, DO THE BARE ESSENTIALS.
Write a 300-word post. Get to the meat, and only the meat. This will teach you how to be a much better, more focused writer, I promise you.
Not only that, your audience will thank you for getting to the point.
Just get your words out and press publish. That’s it! It’s that simple.
Now that you’ve written your post, it’s time for the easy part of the hour.
2. Comment On Other Posts (15 Minutes)
Okay, your goal over the next 15 minutes is to comment on 3–5 blog posts. I also want you to purposefully seek out writers on Medium who don’t have 1,000 followers.
I want you to do this because commenting on the blog posts of Medium titans isn’t going to get you anything.
They already have hundreds of comments to get to (if they get to them at all).
The goal here is to build relationships, not just comment because you want them to read your shit, too.
As you build your relationship, you give each other a reason to keep coming back to the platform. You grow together. You build your audience together, and you both know that you’ll be there to comment on the other’s articles no matter what heading into the future.
This is SUCH an important concept to understand.
One comment is enough to inspire somebody to keep writing. Just one.
It feels good to do this, and it’s also good for your own writing as well.
But where do you find these people? Let me show you..
First, search a topic in the top right of Medium’s homepage that you want to be known for..
After that, you need to click on a tag on the right side that makes the most sense for you. For me, that was the exact tag I searched for, “Writing”
Oh, and by the way, HI Josh Spector! 😄
Now you’ll be taken to another page automatically filled with “Top Stories” in this tag. You don’t want that. You want “Latest Stories.” Click on that.
Ahh, now we’re talking. Now you’ll start to find stories with little to no claps (because they’ve literally just been published). I found this one written by Jane Endacott (give her some love, people).
No claps yet, by the way, but I bet that’s going to change (I’m writing this on February 6th — the exact day it was published).
As we can see, Jane’s followed by 504 people (way to go Jane!), which is under our 1,000 follower limit.
I only say to follow these types of writers because it’ll be easier for them to see you commented. You want to build a relationship. When you get past 10,000 followers on Medium, it gets tough to respond to people.
And listen, I started with 0 followers like the rest of you.
There are people who commented on my articles from day 1 who I remember vividly (shout out Jay Parker (I)) 😃
Anyway, look at this beautiful paragraph from Jane’s post..
I resonated with this a lot, so I wrote a thoughtful, two-paragraph response to Jane below (and I tagged her).
Do the same thing with 3–5 new people every day, and keep track of the people who’s articles you’ve already commented on by writing their name down on a flashcard. Keep checking in with them every week or so like I said.
NOTE: You’ll have to create time outside your schedule to re-connect with people you’ve previously read. This may add another 15–20 minutes onto your routine. That’s okay.
If you get to that point, that means you’re doing it right.
Build relationships. Leave comments. Get involved in Medium. That’s what this platform was built for — community!
3. Research Stellar Content (15 Minutes)
Okay, so far it’s been a PRODUCTIVE hour. We’ve created something new, networked with 3–5 people, and hopefully spread a little joy around.
Now it’s time to learn.
Go to your homepage and literally just sift through some of the most popular posts. Click in to ONE article and read it.
After you’re done reading it for fun, read it from a STRATEGIC STANDPOINT.
How did that author draw you in? What were they doing with the headline?
Try to ask yourself:
Why did I click?
Why did I read the entire thing?
What part of the article was the most surprising, and where did they put that surprise?
What are they doing from a structural standpoint in the article itself to make it EASIER for me to read?
What kind of cover image did they use?
In short, try to figure out what they’re doing.
Us writers know what we’re doing — especially on Medium. We know how to structure things, place surprises in the content, and keep your eyes moving down the page.
TRUST ME.
You may not know it when you read, but we’re doing it.
Try to figure it out for yourself. Write your findings down on a notecard. Write what type of headline they used, and what surprise they employed, and how they structured their article.
Write it all.
And just do it for one article.
Congratulations, you’re done your Medium Power Hour.
Do This For 30-Days And See What Happens
These 30-day writing challenges are fantastic, but how about the 30-day Medium Power Hour challenge?
Totally just patented that.
I want to see what happens with everybody. If you want to embark on this journey alongside me, write a post today or tomorrow announcing your involvement in the Power Hour. Feel free to tag me and this post if you want.
Then get cracking. I know I said you could take the weekend off above, but if you want to grow a little faster, do it every single day.
Let’s create a movement!
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