Lessons learned from a 30-Day Writing Challenge
Last month I started a 30-Day Writing Challenge. The goal was to publish an essay on X, every day.
I haven’t missed a single day and I learned A LOT about writing online.
Here are the 10 lessons I’ve learned:
Lesson #1: Writing alone is hard
I recommend writing alongside people with the same goal as you.
Or at the very least ask some friends to hold you accountable.
That’s what I did.
I promised to share my posts every day in our group chat.
Lesson #2: Write everything down
This one seems kinda obvious because, well, this is about writing, right?
What I mean is, that I had one place to keep track of all the ideas that came to me throughout the day.
I used Notion for that but I recommend going with whatever feels the most natural to you.
As a result, I never ran out of ideas to write about.
Lesson #3: Separate writing from editing
The more time I spent on a post, the harder it became to finish it.
The moment I started editing, my speed and productivity decreased tremendously.
Which is why I tried to write as much as I could, as fast as I could before doing so.
That helped me write some of my posts in under 30 minutes.
Bonus tip: What also helped me was using separate apps for both stages: I wrote in my digital notebook and edited in HemingwayApp.
Lesson #4: Consistency is key
The best way for me to learn something new is to do it every day.
To make a new habit stick, I need to make it my number one priority of the day for that time.
Otherwise, I’ll end up piling up more tomorrow’s than I can count.
Lesson #5: Make time for it
I knew I wouldn’t find time for writing after finishing my other tasks for the day.
I’m the most productive early in the morning, right after waking up.
And writing goes along well with a cup of strong, black coffee.
So I made time for writing 30-60 minutes, first thing in the morning, every day.
Lesson #6: Published is better than perfect
Some days I struggled to create a post that felt “ready” for publishing.
That’s when I had to remind myself of what I actually wanted to do.
The goal wasn’t to write 30 masterpieces but to get used to putting my ideas out into the world.
Lesson #7: Remove any distractions
Whenever I sat down to write, I tried to remove any distractions.
I put my phone into flight mode and closed every app on my MacBook except for my digital notebook.
Whenever I couldn’t stop thinking about something else, I tried to write about that.
Lesson #8: Comparison is the thief of joy
The biggest distraction for me? Other people.
It’s not their fault.
But whenever I let too many they’s and them’s into my life, things start to spiral down for me.
Since I was posting on X, I tried to limit my time on the platform to 30 minutes max per day.
And I only allowed myself to open it up after I had published my post for the day.
Lesson #9: Writing isn’t always fun
The first few posts were actually very easy for me to write.
Everything about writing online felt fresh and exciting.
But the initial burst of motivation quickly wore off.
Doing something consistently isn’t always enjoyable.
And some days I had no choice but to settle with showing up and doing the work.
Lesson #10: Write what feels right
I always felt like I had to “provide value” with every post I wrote.
At first, I was afraid to share ideas that seemed too obvious, too boring, or too weird.
But these were some of the most fun posts to work on.
Conclusion
The 30-Day Writing Challenge was a lot of fun and a great success for me personally.
I wanted to start teaching everything I know about being a one-person business for a while now.
The challenge really helped me to get used to writing (and publishing) online.
But this is just the beginning and I am looking forward to the many lessons ahead!
In case you’re interested in checking out the essays for every day of the challenge, I’ve added them below:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Day 22, Day 23, Day 24, Day 25, Day 26, Day 27, Day 28, Day 29, Day 30, Day 31 (Bonus)