Why We Quit Writing

We spent years in school being forced to write. How many of us still write now that we're out of school? Why not?

This data is a few years old, but blogging.org published data in 2012 that indicated 65% of business blogs hadn't been updated in a year. There are a lot of excuses: "too much time required, not enough return." Or "I ran out of ideas." Those are the big ones. 

The real reason blogs, and writing content in general, becomes stale and ultimately abandoned? We don't realize the full value that writing delivers. Before I talk about the two value components, let's first make sure we all know what writing is.

Telling A Story

Most of us in sales and marketing understand that our real job is simply telling a story. When we create content, whether that's a blog, an ad, sales materials or emails, we do so with this 'story' mentality. So, what makes a good story?

Engaging and compelling. Not too simple (or the reader gets bored and leaves)Not too complex (or the reader gets overwhelmed and leaves)Takes the reader from point A to point B.

It's that 'simple.' That's not to say it's easy, but it is simple.

We also all understand the 'external' value writing creates. Blog visits, views, email opens, clicks, etc. But what's missing in this is what we, the writer, get out of the process. And this is the missing, second value component.

Learn From The Process

Too many of us evaluate content based on external results. Who viewed our ad? How many people opened our email? Clicked on a 'call to action?' But evaluating content only on external results will lead to frustration, stale content approaches and finally...abandonment. 

Think about working out. If you measure success only on external results...you'll eventually quit. If the stated goal is six-pack-abs, the weeks of training and giving up your favorite foods will get old. You'll burn out. Because you're only assigning partial value to those activities. If, in the process of working out, you realize that consistency and frequency lead to results...and if you apply that same mentality to anything you can drive success.

Now, whether you get the six-pack or not...you've realized enormous value from the process.

Writing is no different. We have to not only educate, but be educated by the process. We have to learn and grow not from what we write, but the process in which the content gets created! Learning how to tell the same sales story a little differently? Immensely valuable. The process in which we develop new ideas is immensely valuable. The process in which we take complex ideas and boil them down to different stories that our reader can understand? You guessed it, valuable! And if we don't capture that value creation? We will quit writing. External results will come, but not quickly enough for us to keep writing. 

In anything we do, we have to learn from the process. If the only success measure we apply to the activities is based on external results? You'll abandon those activities, regardless of what those may be.