[LinkedIn Post] What happens after you write 100 LinkedIn posts
If you do anything 100 times, you’re bound to get better.
The 100 LinkedIn Post story
I read an experiement that said a class that took 100 photos always had better pictures than a class that tried to take 1 perfect photo.
If that’s true then maybe my LinkedIn content would do better after 100 iterations. I put myself through that gauntlet and I proved the experiment myself.
What I learned along the way will help anyone who wants to start writing.
Microvariables
For anything you do, especially making content, being able to iterate fast is one of the most important things you can do.
The secret to iterating faster is by identifying all your micro-variables and optimizing them over time.
As an example, if you’re interested in writing then a list of variables would be:
The hook
The transition
The story
The premise
The lesson
The cover image
Of course getting all these variables right will take time.
The Study
In Adam Grant’s book Originals, he talks about how people can start creating original work. One of the biggest studies in that book was a comparison experiment between a class who would take 100 photos and a class that would take 1 perfect photo.
By the end of the study, judges would pick the “best” photo between the two groups. The results were unanimous.
The best photo in the 100 group would always do better than trying to take the single perfect photo.
But they spent more time being perfect
The problem with perfection is that it takes time from iterating. When the 100 photo group took a photo, they had a chance to learn from it and try to make the next one better.
This means they could fix the lighting, the framing, the angle, the subject, the background, and any other variables.
The perfect photo group didn’t get the chance to improve their photos at all.
How does this relate to content?
Every piece of content you put out there will not get engagement. But if you identify all your variables and improve on each of them, eventually you’ll reach a minimum quality threshold.
That just means your content is good enough to go viral.
But you’ll only be able to do that by improving one variable at a time.
Build a better mindset
Post something out there for the world to see. Accept your content isn’t going to be as good as it could be. But that’s okay, eventually it will be and you’ll learn how to present your ideas better.
Work on making the next piece of content better.
Again, and again, and again.
As most people say, an overnight success takes years.