About two weeks ago, I started writing articles again—but this time with a different mindset. Instead of striving to produce high-quality content (a goal that once led me to burnout and ultimately quitting), I decided to write whatever came to mind, regardless of its quality. My hope was that this approach would bring back at least some of my passion for writing.
At first, it worked. I wrote several articles—some decent, some not so great—but the important thing was that I was writing and publishing again, which was far better than doing nothing for the past two years. But eventually, I got stuck.
Last week, I tried to force myself to write something, anything—but I couldn't. No matter how long I stared at a blank document, I couldn't come up with a single decent idea. It wasn’t until today that I realized why: the old habit of searching for something good to write about had crept back in. Instead of letting myself write freely, I was once again fixated on finding a "worthy" idea—paralyzing myself in the process.
This was the exact mindset that made me quit writing in the first place, so it’s no surprise that I ended up spending an entire week doing nothing instead of simply writing 200 random words.
To be fair, this paralysis is entirely my own doing. I spent years obsessing over self-development books, all of them talking about how success comes from prioritizing quality over quantity. Over time, this mentality became so ingrained in me that I found myself unable to create anything unless it met some arbitrary standard—one I didn’t even set for myself.
I’ve said this before: while quality is undoubtedly important, when we look at the creative process itself, quantity matters more. Without enough practice, without a steady output of work, you’ll never gain the experience necessary to produce something truly great. The obsession with perfection prevents people from ever getting to the level of quality they aspire to.
So, once again, I have to remind myself: stop worrying about quality when writing. There’s no way to reach the level I want without a lot of practice. I need to write whatever I can, whenever I can—without overthinking what others will think, or whether what I’m saying is particularly interesting.
The only way forward is to just write.