#005: Ben Hardy — Setting Ambitious Writing Goals, Designing Your 'Future Self' & Mastering Articles on Medium.com
Dr. Benjamin Hardy (#1 writer in the world on Medium.com from 2015–2018) shares how our goals impact our identity, and how most of us massively under predict the degree to which we are likely to change our ‘future self’. We also discuss how Ben grew his email list from 0 to 400k subscribers over 3 years and how to get into the right frame of mind for writing and becoming our best future selves.
London Writers' Salon · Benjamin Hardy, Matt Trinetti, Parul Bavishi
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Show Notes
Benjamin Hardy’s articles have been read by over 100 million readers. He has also been the #1 writer, in the world, on Medium.com. How does he do it? In this episode, he shares his writing process and how he plans, structures and ships his articles. We also talk about why it’s important to set the right goals to help us reach our most courageous dreams, how our goals shape our identity and personality, and the importance of the environment in achieving our goals.
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Dr Benjamin Hardy (@BenjaminPHardy) is an organizational psychologist, bestselling author and the world’s leading expert on the application of the Future Self science. His books include Be Your Future Self Now, The Gap and the Gain, Willpower Doesn’t Work and Personality Isn’t Permanent. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Forbes, Fortune, CNBC and many others. He is a regular contributor to Inc. and Psychology Today and from 2015-2018, he was the #1 writer, in the world, on Medium.com.
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SHOW NOTES
[02:47] How we underpredict our future selves
[04:15] How Ben clarified his goal to become a professional writer and land a six-figure book deal
[06:55] How Ben used Medium to grow his email list from 0 to 400k
[10:05] Ben’s systems and processes to create consistently popular articles
[14:47] Ben's writing process and how he plans, structures and ships his articles
[17:30] On using Medium vs LinkedIn.
[19:18] On repurposing an article for two different platforms
[27:50] What does it mean to orient our lives towards our goals? From LeBron to watching Youtube late at night
[31:26] How James Clear’s goal led him to sell 2 million copies of Atomic Habits
[33:40] The importance of environment in changing your life and achieving your goals
[39:35] Why being useful is important, and how you can get what you want by helping other people
[40:51] Resources for crafting good headlines
[44:29] Why ‘empathetic witnesses’ can encourage you to write, publish and more
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QUOTES FROM BEN HARDY
“...most people think that who they are today is who they're gonna be in the future. So their future self actually isn't imagined far different. They think that their future self is going to kind of pretty much be the same person that they are today, which is just not what the research shows. We massively under predict how much we're going to change in the future. And we spend so little time imagining our future and turning that into concrete plans and strategies for courageously becoming the person we wanted to be”
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“What is the actual objective of this article? What am I trying to accomplish? Or what am I trying to have the reader accomplish? What is the purpose of this article? Like just answering that question, like, what am I trying to accomplish? What am I trying to solve here?”
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RESOURCES:
Podcast Offer: To access the Genuis Blogging Course, email [email protected] and mention the LWS interview offer along with proof of purchase of Ben’s book.
Follow Ben Hardy:
Website: benjaminhardy.com
Twitter @benjaminphardy
Instagram @benjamin_hardy_phd
Ben’s Books:
- Willpower Doesn't Work
- Personality Isn't Permanent
- Who Not How (co-authorship with Dan Sullivan.)
Authors mentioned:
Other books mentioned:
- Disunited Nations by Peter Zeihan
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson
- Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
Courses mentioned:
Guest Blogging by Jon Morrow - (summary here) & Genius Blogging
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FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS' SALON
For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit podcast.londonwriterssalon.com
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com
Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
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CREDITS
Production by Victoria Spooner. Artwork by Emma Winterschladen.
For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
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FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
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