Medium Writers, How (and Why) to Replace Stress Over Curation with the Discipline to Produce Stronger Content.
Content is King. The Journey to Attaining Your Goals Begins When You Open Your Keyboard.

What follows is an exclusive to Medium writers.
My last article, that I completed maybe two hours ago, was curated in record time:
I’m certainly happy about it, and grateful, but as I do not write specifically for curation I was not at all thinking about it.
I’ve written other, personally heartfelt articles that I thought would speak to readers that were not curated.
Such an example is this article, which is presently nearing 11,000 hits but did not receive curation:
Or this one, similarly not curated:
Or even this one, which received nearly 3000 hits in its first 24 hours:
See what I did there?
I blatantly posted those links in this present article so they would be further read. To the point, they are perhaps my three most personal and emotional pieces ever on Medium.
My question is, do you think I care they were not curated? I absolutely do not because each one of them resonated with my readers, and I want more people to be exposed to them with, one hopes, the same result. That means more to me than anything. The feedback I’ve received from those three stories touched my heart and made the time it had taken to write them well worthwhile.
To be clear, I am totally happy — of course I am — when I receive an email stating one of my articles has been accepted for curation.
But it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen.
What follows is how, and why, a Medium writer should replace intention to curate with discipline to create.
How?
If you consistently complete the below steps, the discipline becomes organic:
- Write to the very best of your abilities, always, and most importantly.
- Set a daily writing goal for yourself. If you set to write one story a day and attain that goal, in the course of a five-day work week you will have completed approximately 30 stories within the month. If you write over seven days, the number increases. If you write more than one article a day for either option … you do the math. Set your goal and meet it.
- Play the Medium game. That is, post your articles on your social media, rejuvenate old articles by sharing those too, submit to publications, interact with your readers, work to attain new readers … it’s all of a piece. There is, however, a caveat: If you are not genuine, you will fail. Your numbers will not increase as your readers will sense that you are in this only for the money. For myself, what means more to me than any end-of-the-month bank transfer is what I said above: I love reading that some of my pieces touch the lives of others. And I love reading your pieces. Those two items are my gold.
- Define for yourself why you want to write on Medium, and then write to that answer.
- Make falling behind a grave inconvenience. If you miss a day, catch-up!
That collective is the how of this equation. As you follow those steps and work towards this end, the scales will tilt and you will most likely see at least some of your stories become curated.
Why?
Taken in the same order as the How, above:
- If you write to the best of your abilities, your skill level will increase and your work will become better with the practice.
- If you set daily writing goals for yourself and meet them, you will soon likely become driven to increase your output, and your success by association ... if you don’t give up. What’s the point in giving up, anyway?
- If you play the Medium game and practice daily, after a while … larger goals will beckon.
- If you write to your own desired end on this platform, the discipline required to meet that intention will get you there.
- Falling behind is a bitch.
The moral of this piece? Content rules. Write the best you can, refine your craft, and curation will come. If not, no big deal. Maybe the next time.
You can still make excellent money on this platform with non-curated stories, but better yet you can touch the lives of readers with whom your work resonates regardless of status.
Lastly, understand too there is no guarantee a curated article will bring you more money. The perceived value of your pieces will tell that tale.
Our readers have minds of their own.
Write hard, my friends, and thank you, as ever, for reading.
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