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How to Be ‘Successful’ When Writing

What the first scroll in The Great Salesman in the World taught me about success and how it applies to writing

Wang Yip
4 min readOct 27, 2020
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Ever since listening to Tim Ferriss’s interview with Matthew McConnaughey, I have been reading The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino, specifically the first scroll. You would think reading it three times a day would get boring, but each time I read the scroll, I interpret different statements differently or I read something new I may have missed in the other read-throughs.

In particular, the following passage made me think about writing:

Which two, among a thousand wise men, will define success in the same words; yet failure is always described but one way. Failure is man’s inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.

Success as a writer, specifically on Medium, is defined in many different ways. Don’t believe me? Look at the more popular articles on Medium. Making money as a Medium writer. Making $5000/month on Medium. How to get curated on Medium. How to write and get into publications on Medium. If you asked any two successful Medium writers what success on Medium looked like, I would be hard-pressed not to think they would have different answers.

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Wang Yip
Wang Yip

Written by Wang Yip

Author of Essential Habits. I write about personal development, work and managing your career. Connect with me at www.wangyip.ca

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