I went through a little crisis of purpose over the last year.

You see, I started writing full-time in 2015. And I pretty much dedicated my entire life to building my career. I looked at it this way. First, improve your skills, then earn money, and finally, invest it so you no longer have to worry about financial constraints and paying bills.

I worked on my skills by learning and immediately applying them. I committed to reading 2 hours a day and writing pretty much the rest of my day. I think the best way to learn is to do something publicly. You can write as much as you want behind closed doors, but you will lack the challenge you need to improve yourself.

Writing publicly is scary. People might not like it. Or worse, you might get ignored. But you need that type of friction or pressure to improve. If there’s nothing at stake, why would you push yourself harder to improve?