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Comment by mattbuilds | Hacker News Reader

But the goal isn't to be a famous author, it's to write quality books. It's a different mindset. Becoming a famous author is something that is out of your control. Instead of focusing on the outcome, which you can't control, you focus on the thing you can. Doing quality work for something you enjoy. Sure, selling the book and it doing incredibly well would be nice, but honestly there is too much luck involved. It's obviously something you would think about when you are writing, and like, but it shouldn't be why you write.

I don't write software side projects because I think they will turn out to be the next big thing or make me famous and rich, I do them because I get enjoyment out of writing code that solves a problem (usually my own).

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The thing worth mentioning is that becoming a famous author and writing quality books are different goals, achieved through different means. Cynically, I would say that they're unrelated, but in reality I'd say writing quality books is one avenue towards becoming a famous author but likely the least reliable one. Similarly, getting rich writing books is also another separate goal, which can also be achieved without the other two.

Thus, I disagree that goals like "becoming a famous author" entirely out of your control. There are definite steps one could take towards such a goal, but as with anything in life there's never a guarantee. Granted, you do have less control over the outcome if your goal depends on other people, like becoming famous, but those steps still exist and could include things like networking extensively, spending a lot of time self-promoting, polishing your image, hanging out with the rich and famous, etc.

The problem, I think, is that a lot of people tend to think that goals like "becoming a famous author" and "writing good books" are the same, or that the latter will automatically lead to the former, and when they figure out that the strategies for getting there are different they become disillusioned.

I pretty much agree with everything you are saying and I do think a lot of confusion comes from conflating the two goals together. I think I was speaking more from personal experience that taking on goals that are more in my own control leaves me feeling more fulfilled. I also tend to get better results that way because I focus on the process.

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