This, Dave Schools. Again and again.

It’s the paradox of success. To achieve the goal of income, followers, engagement, attention, status… you do not focus on income, followers, engagement, attention, or status.

Famous football coach Bill Walsh wrote a book called The Score Takes Care of Itself.

His point was that you focus on the processes, not on the outcomes. One of his most popular quotes is, “Nothing is less important than the score at halftime.”

What he meant was that you have to focus on doing your job for your team. No one ever won a game by watching the scoreboard.

There are a few times when the score or the stats are important to your strategy. Mostly, Walsh new what good football required, and he focused on teaching his player how to do a good job.

The challenge for many writers is that they don’t know what making a living as a writer requires. So they watch the scoreboard, because that’s the measure of what’s working and what isn’t. Then they become distracted by the random vicissitudes of the score — long before halftime.

Except that they do know what good writing is. They talk to other good writers, and those other writers (and editors) tell them.

We all suffer from a lack of confidence, regardless. The stats are a temporary salve for our insecurities. And (as you point out), it comes with cost.

I’m thinking of people like A.J. Kay Tom Kuegler and Maarten van Doorn right now.

Thanks for writing.