To start with, let me preface this with a disclaimer. If we go by the conventional measures of success, I am not there yet. My better articles met me about 30 cents; I have not reached 1000 followers yet; and I seldom get tons of likes and comments for my musings. If you’re expecting an article about how to snag more tips and followers, I think you will be rather disappointed.

Even though I fall short of these barometers of success, I do think I’m rather successful by my own standards. And it’s not that I lower the bar or whatsoever. I determine my success criteria differently.

I will like to anchor my reflections in a framework called the Self-Determination Theory so that it’s easier to categorise my random thoughts and feelings that are swirling around in my mind. Not unfamiliar to teachers, this theory states that people need three things in order to be motivated: Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness. I’m definitely motivated, which explains why I’m typing this out on my commute to work! So this will be in essence a piece on why I feel successful because I achieve the ‘criteria’ set by the Self-Determination Theory.

Autonomy

I think the key to being motivated is to feel empowered and in control of the situation.  The most generous thing Publish0x could have done for me is to allow cross-posting. I’m sure many authors here feel the same way. Not having to write articles that are exclusive for Publish0x lets me recycle articles that I post elsewhere, thus freeing up time and space for more writing ideas to bubble to the surface of my consciousness. Plus, it injects an element of fun into my writing endeavours. An article that may flop here may generate a lot of engagement elsewhere. Being exposed to the unpredictability of audience response really lets me take things in my stride and perceive each article as a piece in my writing portfolio rather than a crucial part of my soul. 

I also appreciate that Publish0x is a blogging site that lets us post anything under the sun, provided that we don’t contribute offensive material. Fiat mining is often a thankless task, and sometimes I feel frustrated by the last-minute things I have to accomplish. Like, why can’t people plan properly at the beginning? But because I post my work stuff here, I feel less indignant and self-righteous about things. I think I am actually more motivated to work hard at my job nowadays because I see how the things I do can help me earn some beer money, albeit a few cents. So basically, I feel motivated to write something every day.

Competence

Flashback to a year ago. I was so daunted by the idea of writing crypto-related articles. I still remember that my first article was an ELI5 guide to Bitcoin. I also made sure that I titled my subsequent articles with words like “Basic Facts” because I was so new to blockchain technology that I was wrapping my mind around it. 

Turns out that if you persist in doing something for long, you will get the hang of it sooner or later. I’m not saying that I am very versed in all things crypto, but I must say that I amazed myself by being able to follow the developments of ETH that led up to the Merge. Difficulty bomb, proof of stake, sharding, layer 2 roll-ups. All these terms that appeared Greek to me before are judiciously sprinkled on my articles these days. I think being comfortable to write about topics that daunted me before has boosted my confidence as a writer.

Another reason why I feel more competent these days is that I no longer let dislikes bother me. Rationally, I know that I cannot make everyone happy with my writing, but receiving a dislike in my earlier days here would send me into a reflection spiral, in which I ruminated about how else I could write better. Maybe this speaks to my occupational hazard as an English teacher. Thankfully, I have developed a thicker skin since then. In fact, I am quite happy about receiving dislikes these days because this means that I wrote something that might be contentious and worthy of debate. Why be a safe writer when I can write something that can trigger people’s brain juices? 

Relatedness

When one feels a sense of relatedness, he will be motivated to work hard and contribute to his community. Suffice it to say that I feel comfortable and belonged here. I appreciate the fact that several regulars take the time out to write comments. I appreciate such feedback because it lets me know what works and what doesn’t. Although I have never met any Publish0x-er in real life, I do feel that I understand several individuals here on a more personal basis. This is especially so when different people specialise in different topics. It’s like we are on this quest towards greater financial freedom - and my writing helps you company and your comments help fuel my enthusiasm. It’s the best symbiotic relationship ever. It’s what keeps me writing, day after day after day. 

To sum it all up, I feel that I have built a cosy home for myself here on Publish0x. How has your writing evolved since becoming a Publish0x author? I would be glad to know.