5 Mistakes Early Stage Creators Make That Are Holding Them Back

Ev Chapman
July 5, 2021

I've been shipping for 99 days and 3 cohorts. Here are some mistakes I see early shippers making.

  • Not shipping. Letting that voice in your head tell you it's not good enough, not well thought out, needs to be researched more.
  • Not trusting the process. I see a load of questions every cohort about WHY we do certain things. I see value in questioning, but also 1000+ other people have been where you are, so trust the process for the first 30 days and then experiment.
  • Getting caught up in prettying their essays. Sure I have a nice-looking essay now. But my mantra throughout my first 30 days was ship30 then focus on the design.
  • Thinking the only feedback is critical writing feedback. Writing feedback is good, but every like and every comment IS THE FEEDBACK. It's all a signal for what resonates with your audience.
  • Stopping at the end of 30 days. In my experience, ALL the magic happens after 30 days. That's where real creators are made. When the noise dies down and everyone else has decided this daily writing thing isn't for them.

All this to say sure conversations about what system you use, and your template and publishing chats are fine. But don't let them be a distraction from what you signed up for - the shipping

Liked thIS? Then You Might Like My SPARK Newsletter...

The Spark Newsletter:
Join 1,500+ knowledge workers building smarter personal knowledge systems.

Every Sunday I drop into your inbox with a simple creative workflow to help you think clearer & create smarter.

Or Keep Browsing More Posts Like This...

2024: The Year That Transformed How I Create Content

Three shifts that made 2024 my best creative year yet.
Read post

How to Use AI to Kickstart Your Writing—Without Getting Generic Content

How to Turn a Messy Brain Dump Into an Outline Using AI in 10 Minutes (and while chilling on the couch)
Read post

How To Create New Ideas From Old Content With A Simple GPT Prompt called 'Pretend Podcast'

Breath fresh life into old content with a simple chatGPT prompt that will get you thinking in ways you never thought of before
Read post

How to Turn Your 1:1 Calls into a Goldmine of Content: Step By Step Guide

What if every time you jumped on a call with a client you could generate a bunch of content ideas at the same time?
Read post

Turn Your Morning into a Creative Powerhouse with This Simple 3 Step Writing Routine

How I Went from Sporadic Blogging to Consistent Content Creation with One Simple Routine
Read post

The Quirky Method I Use to Mine My Newsletter for Social Media Content

Ever feel like content creation is consuming your life? This method will save you.
Read post