30 Day Medium Challenge: No Stat Checking

Time to break my chains that are my metrics for a while. (Image Credit: Agence Olloweb/Unsplash)

If you’re a writer on Medium (or any other platform), especially a new one, you probably have a compulsion with your stats. And why not? It’s how we measure how we’ll we’re doing, how much we’re making, and most importantly, how much strangers on the internet like us this week!

Now, of course it’s good to have goals and metrics, and to track your progress against those measures — in fact, it’s one of the best ways to stay motivated. For me, seeing a story pick up momentum and climb up my personal leaderboard is always exciting (and if I’m being honest, the dopamine rush of views hits me harder than watching the few dollars of of earnings I may draw in).

My best payday has been about a large jar of change, but 10K views surged through me. (Image Credit: Michael Longmire/Unsplash)

But like anything, taken to an extreme, it can be harmful to one’s ways. If we focus too much on the stat page, it’s easy to lose sight over the progress of the craft. We all know that views is not the the best indicator of quality — I would argue it’s not even a good measure of quality. Much the same way that a Justin Bieber song is far more likely to top the charts than, say, an Oscar winning composition from Hans Zimmer, many great works can easily go underappreciated while other more “palatable” pieces get the attention.