Pattern: You struggle to learn a new set of skills that are outside of your comfort zone.
Mindset shift: Create a system that gamifies your outputs.
I committed to writing a newsletter for one year with the grand objective of reaching 100 subscribers before I hit publish for the 52nd time.
It’s both a personal challenge and an experiment to see if writing is something I would do if I didn’t have work (for money). I know I would keep coding, however, writing appeals to me and I have a feeling that coding and writing complement each other.
What I found out in the process is that writing is only a small part of the effort. In 6 months I only managed to reach 25 subscribers. That is 25% of my target while I’ve burned 50% of the candle. Not a healthy ratio.
Going forward, it’s clear that I have to experiment more outside writing and try initiatives that require different skill sets. At the same time, as the challenge gets harder, I have to find ways to keep my motivation high.
Substack has some amazing tools that enable writers to reach out to more readers. However, each one requires abilities that I have not mastered yet. Thus, I can feel the struggle as I’m stepping outside my current abilities and comfort zone.
There are notes, which technically means social media. A great way to find out new content, promote your content, and make new connections.
Then there are recommendations. An amazing feature that enables writers to recommend other writers to their readers. According to
, the author of Online Writing Club, this is the most powerful way to grow your audience.And then there are titles. A whole dimension by themselves. The list goes, with Substack evolving its platform.
However, this struggle is not strange to me. Is the same experience when you start a software developer career. And I’ve been there.
There are the programming language (s), IDEs, frameworks and libraries, design patterns, principles and practices, and last but not least naming variables. And these are only the technical abilities. On top of that, you have to develop your communication skills, managing expectation skills, and even selling skills.
The question is, how could you make the struggle more enjoyable?
“Games are the only force in the known universe that can get people to take actions against their self-interest, in a predictable way, without using force.”
— Gabe Zichermann
When I was a kid, I used to play Heroes of Might and Magic III (in case you are wondering, I did play again it while writing this issue — for research purposes of course 🫣).
In this turn-based strategy game, players lead armies through a fantasy world as heroes. Set in the mythical land, players build cities, recruit troops, and explore the terrain filled with treasures, creatures, and enemy forces. Each hero possesses unique abilities and can learn spells to aid in combat or exploration. Most importantly, players must balance resource management, army composition, and hero development to conquer opponents and achieve victory.
My idea? A turn-based game for writing and growing my newsletter. I call it the Substack Hero (very creative, right? 😅).
I crafted an Excel sheet for the structure of the gameplay.
Similar to the actions our hero could take in the game — build cities, recruit creatures, learn spells, or engage in combats — to earn experience and win the game, I track the skill-specific actions and habits that will help me get closer to my goal:
Write: write and publish
Engage: read, restack, comment, and reply
Diplomacy: recommend, cold call, and collaboration
Learn: learn and practice
A special kind of action is called the Weekly Quests and represents initiatives I can set for myself to boost my progress.
There is also a point accumulating system, where each action I take brings me points:
A publish action brings me 5 points.
An engage or write action brings me 1 point.
For each completed weekly quest I get 2 points.
When there is an action I do for the first 5 times, I get 2x.
Then there are the resources — such as gold, wood, sulfur, or gems — the hero receives as a consequence of his actions. In turn, the resources enable our hero to take action. If there isn’t enough gold or gems, the hero might not be able to recruit creatures or build his city. Similarly, if the writer doesn't have enough motivation, she might be tempted to give up. In Substack Hero, the writer's resources are:
Followers
Subscribers
Paid subscribers or pledges
Recommendations
I could also track likes, restacks, or comments, but I find it much harder to track.
The Hero Profile gives me a birds-eye view of my strengths and weaknesses and how many resources I have. I use this information to decide on what skills I need to focus on more and to plan weekly initiatives.
One last thing, because games are emerging and time flies when you play them, I’ve timeboxed myself. Every morning, I allocate 50 minutes to play it:
25 minutes dedicated to writing,
25 minutes allocated for the other actions (engage, diplomacy, learn, or quests).
If you want to give Substack Hero a try, you can download it from the link below. It’s currently still in beta and I adjust it as the game unfolds. Also, you can tweak it to fit your unique learning challenges.
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Kind regards,
Alex from The Craftsman Mindset
I have to say your take on writing in refreshing and hilarious. I usually dont read anyone’s stuff on here and that’s just because i am in focus mode, creating in my vacuum of energy. But it’s all changing and im sure gald to have found your page. If you are in the Northern California area, hit me up, love to chat more.
Gamifying your writing is an awesome idea Alex! You could even make part of it your Lead Magnet so folks have to give you their email address to access it.
There are so many folks who have grown up gaming - you could probably design and sell. courses about gamification and writing. Together with a dash of 'how to your life'.
(Apologies if too much information- I am just really excited about what you can potentially do with this idea :-)
It took awhile but Notes really increased my engagement.