I have been updating about my success from Medium. And now I will tell you about my hurdle…
I was accepted into the Medium Partnership very quickly. That’s because I threw myself into it. My first paid month was successful; my next paid month was off the charts. I made nearly $600 in one month. I shared this with everybody because I was proud of myself.
But then came burnout.
The following months were still successful in my eyes, but nothing like January’s payout. That’s not because of “luck.” It’s because I was overwhelmed by the enormous success.
I made a post a while back about how success is scarier than failure. And that is SO TRUE! I was absolutely overwhelmed by how many people were viewing my posts along with how much pay I was receiving for it. I have never known the meaning of “imposter’s syndrome” until now. “Imposter’s syndrome” is the condition when you tell yourself that you don’t deserve success, and any rewards you gained from your achievements came from a place of fraud and unworthiness.
I was gaining more traffic in the beginning because I was fully embracing myself in Medium. I was viewing many articles, commenting, clapping, following, and engaging as much as possible. I was posting almost every day, even if that meant just reposting old blog posts from WordPress. I was opening the app or the website every day, multiple times a day. And then I just stopped.
I don’t want to quit Medium at all! I want to gain back my initial motivation. I think perhaps I jumped in too quickly and that’s what caused me to retreat backwards. But I had to take some time off to process the overwhelming success. Now I am gradually getting back into it, and hopefully, this time I do not sabotage myself.
Do you have any tips for feeling overwhelmed by success? Do you ever suffer from “imposter’s syndrome”? Let me know your thoughts please!
Crystal Aura Gaze 
🙂 No, it is hard for me to suffer from impostor syndrome when I have been blogging since 2008.
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Good! 😊 Wow, what a milestone! 👏
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The fact that you earned $600 puts you in the top 10% of Medium earners! Burnout is a very real issue and it’s something that many people can relate to, especially with blogging. When we’re feeling motivated and inspired, it’s only a matter of time before we eventually suffer from burnout or become complacent.
Personally, I haven’t had much success with Medium and I’m lucky if I earn enough to buy a coffee at the end of the month. Traffic is pretty much non-existent over there. I still post for the fun of it, but I try not to think about the money anymore.
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Thank you!! That’s very true! Blogging can take a lot out of you and focusing on the money makes it even worse. A lot of people keep asking how much I’m making now and it’s kind of making me regret that I ever spoke about it in the first place. 😅 Ultimately having a small yet consistent audience feels more fulfilling than tons of views. And exactly, focusing on the passion of it keeps you going, as opposed to thinking about the pressure of meeting everyone’s expectations.
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