Simple games for big improvements

The first time I hit publish on an article, I was ready to throw up in the bin beside my desk.
The first newsletter I sent had my hands shaking with nerves.
The first sales call I had with a potential coaching client had me pacing around the room for an hour before it started.
But you know how this goes, right?
That article began my writing business, and I sold it for six figures four years later.
That newsletter began the relationships with my biggest fans.
I nailed the sales call and got my first coaching client.
All of the success you can experience from writing comes from having confidence. And confidence comes from exposure, and experience. But it also comes from playing games.
Here are my favorite games you can play as a new writer to build your confidence.
See who will email you back
It’s 2003, and Tim Ferriss has offered a challenge to the class he’s teaching at Princeton.
He tells the class that whoever gets the highest-profile person to respond to an email will win round-trip flights to anywhere in the world. It doesn’t matter what the email says, you just have to get a reply directly from them.
The class breaks for the weekend. Tim, excited to see how the class did,asks people to raise their hands and turn in their results. There’s silence. Not one hand goes up.
Nobody bothered to try because they assumed no one would email them back! They all had a confidence issue.
I love this game. I’ve played it a few times now and have managed to get emails back from Seth Godin, Mark Manson, and the founder of the Wire Cutter, which was sold to the New York Times for $30m.
Every single time, I’ve been amazed.
By playing this game, you learn the power of asking, action, and reaching out. Everyone on the internet is just one email away. They are just people out there sitting behind their computers, just like you. You can reach out and get a reply.
Ask for feedback
After a while, hitting publish becomes easy.
But facing the reality that your writing isn’t everything it could be is harder.
My wife was an English teacher and is a fantastic writer. It was years before I asked her to look at my writing. I thought she’d be perfect to help me improve.
The problem I didn’t see coming was how it felt to take this feedback.
It sucked. I would sulk and grump, and every part of me wanted to tell her she was wrong and that I was already amazing. My confidence couldn’t take it.
But, I managed to get on top of my ego and it was only through that feedback that my writing started to improve quicker and quicker.
My message was getting clearer, my points were more interesting, and yes my articles were performing better.
Feedback is the fastest way to improve as a writer. You have to master your ego and learn to seek it out wherever you can.
Tell an overly personal story
Writing is a vulnerable act.
The temptation as a new writer is to keep things general and vague. You give advice you’ve read elsewhere and offer up opinions that aren’t truly your own.
But only by being vulnerable do you connect with people.
You have to tell real stories from your life so that people can relate. Nobody is perfect. It’s okay that you aren’t either. And trying to be the absolute authority can come over fake and ingenuine.
I’ve found talking about my business failures uncomfortable, but those are always the stories that resonate with my audience. They appreciate authenticity, which is more important than ever in the world of AI writing.
Disagree with your favorite writer
Take a stand. Fight your corner. Make a declaration that people might disagree with and put yourself out there.
I read advice everywhere about how writing every day is the key to success. So I wrote about the time I published every day for 270 days only to realize it was a waste of time.
I felt a little nervous going against the grain of standard advice. What would people think? Would people be angry?
Yeah, kind of. Loads of comments came in from people disagreeing with me, but the world didn’t end. The article performed exceptionally well, getting around 20,000 views.
Be brave. Find a way to take the opposite side of arguments and see what happens.
Ask someone to buy something from you
Going from being a writer to having a writing business involves one thing – selling something.
The ultimate game of confidence is asking someone to buy something from you. Yep, I can hear your toes curling as we speak. You shudder at the thought of being so direct.
But something happens after you make that first ask. You get a little braver. Even if people don’t buy what you offer, you realize that you didn’t, in fact, die. And you can go back and try again.
Summary
To grow as a writer, you need to grow your confidence. To grow your confidence, you have to do things that scare you.
These are suggestions, but if there is any part of the writing process that turns your stomach into knots, that’s where you need to focus. Whether that’s publishing more often, selling more, or asking people to join your list more.
Build your confidence. Build your business.
I teach you how to turn your writing into a business you love. Click here to learn more.
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