What I learned writing 2,000 articles for Business Insider

I’ve been writing for Business Insider for about three years, and in that time I’ve published something close to 2,000 articles and newsletters. 

That’s given me a lot of practice transforming tiny, uncertain pitches into finished products. 

I didn’t realize earlier in my career, but being a reporter is an incredible way to learn how to generate ideas, handle rejection, and see something through from inception to finish line. 

Each of these is valuable on its own, but together their value amplifies. 

Any journalist who’s been in the industry for a few years gets it — the same is true for entrepreneurs, artists, and freelancers across various industries. 

So, working in media is not just about breaking news and distilling information. Yes, journalists do learn how to do those things well. But for me, after a few years in the business, the qualities that stand out most are not the most concrete: consistency, resilience in the face of rejection, and creativity. 

It also occurs to me that you can only pick up these attributes by doing the same thing over and over. 

Resilience stems from consistency, and creativity comes from the reps. It’s a well-tested calculus. 

Investor Josh Brown described a similar sentiment in a recent blog post: 

“There’s a component to success in nearly every endeavor that involves attrition and not being the one who gets attrition-ed out of the way. Some things require aggressive action – seizing the moment, sprinting toward an opportunity. But those things are rare. I’ve found a significantly larger set of opportunities around showing up and being someone whom others could depend on to be there, to deliver. I would argue that, although it’s the long road, it’s the right road for enduring success.”

To that point, as I’ve written before, the people who tend to be best at anything are not those who are most talented but those who have accrued the greatest volume of work.

Researcher Dean Keith Simonton published a relevant paper in 1988 titled Age and Outstanding Achievement: What Do We Know After a Century of Research? He found that “success” is strongly associated with three specific variables:

1. Precocity: How early or late in life someone begins practicing their craft
2. Longevity: How many years someone practices their craft
3. Rate of output: How much someone produces in a given amount of time

A lifetime of great work, it turns out, does not come down to IQ or talent or coaching, but the ability to show up long enough and consistently enough to produce a huge amount of output.

Here’s Brown again:

You’re basically willing your own success into existence by showing up when so many others won’t or can’t. The gains you make this way are stickier. It’s harder for you to be dislodged once you get there. No one else can say you didn’t earn it when you get your due.