Forgive me dear reader, for I have sinned.

I need to confess a few low IQ beliefs I used to hold about writing.

They were so misguided it makes me face palm even thinking about them.

Here they are:

• Long paragraphs = authority

I know...

How dumb of me, right?

I honestly thought writing long blocks of text made me sound smart.

The truth is, it didn't sound like anything.

Writing is silent...

Either way, all it did was make people’s eyes bleed.

• Big words = intelligence

I thought using fancy vocabulary would prove I was a giga brain.

I was wrong.

People just didn't understand me.

And why should they?

I didn't even understand the words I was using half the time either.

All it did was make my writing sound like an insecure student begging for approval.

Not a very attractive look.

• Writing should impress people

This is so wrong on so many levels.

If you're writing to impress, you're on a one way trip to duress.

Trying to impress people through your content is not the way forward.

Do you not know about the weird law of the universe?

“You get what you want when you stop needing it.”

Meaning, by trying to impress people, you're doing the opposite.

Whereas when you don't feel the need to impress anyone, people become impressed.

I don't make the rules.

If you don't like it, take it up with God.

In the meantime, stop trying to impress people with your writing and just start writing stuff you want to write.

• Writing is hard

This was a belief I had for a very long time.

The truth is, I wanted to write online and create content ages ago.

I knew I wanted to do this when I was 13 years old.

It took me 10 years to actually take the plunge.

Why?

Because I believed that writing was hard.

Was this true?

It definitely was for me at the time — but not for everyone.

Hard is a relative perspective, not a rule.

While I was complaining internally about how hard creating things was, Murakami was waking up at 4AM every morning, writing 10 pages per day and publishing stories consistently.

I guarantee he doesn't feel like he's suffering when he writes.

He's in flow.

Thankfully, my perspectives did eventually change as I developed as a person.

Writing was never hard.

I just didn't know what on Earth I was doing.

And once I actually started and figured it out, step-by-step, it stopped feeling impossible and started to feel fun.

Shout out Gary Halbert for helping me work through my limiting beliefs.

He's dead now, but if you like copywriting or have any interest in marketing, you can read his free newsletters here.

Also, if your writing feels like a struggle and you want that negativity to stop asap, check out Medium Mastery here.

Have a wonderful week,

Godfrey