the first 500 stories mentality

i usually entered professor zuckoff’s office in a huff. whenever i was wrangling with a new question about the realities of being a real journalist - which ranged from discomfort on being the person who wanted to be in protests and cover them at the same time, to worry that victims would never trust me to tell their story perfectly, to fear that i’d never get a job in a field everyone warned me was dying before i even decided to major in it. i’d often find myself taking up his office hours to ask for answers to questions i felt like the first to ever face.

one of my biggest questions during that time was how long is this going to take. how long is it going to take until i am a full-time features writer who is paid to flip over stones and elevate diverse voices at the cadence that allows for a perfectly crafted lede (and kicker!) how long is it going to take for me to write a story that i am truly proud of? how long is it going to take to become great?

i wanted to rush to the part where things get good. in response, my professor had an answer that still rings true today: the first 500 stories don’t count.

part of becoming a leader in your craft is doing the work of showing up everyday, working your hands through the muscle memory of what you dream to perfect. you don’t need to write the Next Big Novel in order to be published, you just need to write as many stories as you can, slowly building up lessons in how to frame, work on deadline, and sniff out the true story. no one cares about the first 500 stories and you’re not going to write the next spotlight investigation in your first 500 stories.

when he said “don’t count” i didn’t interpret it as the stories don’t matter at all, i interpreted it as a nudge to think of your first 500 stories as your chance to practice, play the new card and learn. so that when story 501 rolls around, you might just surprise yourself with how lessons from story number 304 and 21 and 499 blend together to help you tell a story in an impressively compelling light.

put differently, the advice was to have patience and perspective. in your first 500 stories, you don’t need to tone down your voice - and you should always interview the woman at the duck tour booth - but don’t pressure yourself to try to be the award-winning columnist right from the start.

i’ve published more than 1,000 stories at techcrunch so far. but it’s a piece of advice i hold with me in moments of career doubt, and more often than that, pass on to people who come to me for advice in how to start writing in a more serious, public way. (and yes, this even applies to starting your own substack). the cliche advice is that you just need to start, but what’s missing from that advice is that, after you start, you need to consistently keep writing until enough words flow through your fingers that it feels like a calculated risk. you’ll be surprised by your confident undertones.

for those of us who are prepping resolutions for next year, the 500 stories mentality is one to take and mold to make yours. maybe you don’t want to become a columnist, but you want to start pushing yourself more physically. don’t start with a marathon, start with a daily walk. no one is looking at you, take your time. 500 steps later, your momentum might surprise you. maybe you hate running, but want to find more balance in your life. instead of trying to be person that has all the stove burners on at once, why not start with a bi-weekly walking call to a friend that you haven’t caught up with, instead of a daily catch up in 30-minute increments with everyone who has ever meant anything to you (yes, i did consider this at one moment, and somehow a stairmaster was involved).

i think sometimes we can jump on big dreams and hopes in a huff, sitting in office hours and hoping for someone else to give us the exact 6-step plan it takes to become the ever-elusive definition of success. it means we care. but i’m still grateful that i had, and continue to have, mentors that slow me down and tell me that the exploration those dreams require count.

even if, before all that, we needed to tell ourselves, and truly believe, that the first 500 stories don’t.