I think the system is set up to encourage competition and comparisons, David. We have stats and some writers share theirs, a lot. There are top writer badges, which some people collect like trading cards. There are entire niches devoted to the aspiration of rising to the top of the heap here. It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy.

I don’t think most of us start out writing on Medium with the goal of being one of the top writers on the platform. Once the algorithm figures out we’re writers, it keeps feeding us the stories that lead us in a competitive direction. We get brainwashed into thinking that our goal should be to be number one.

I realized that the content that was bringing in the big bucks is not the kind of writing I want to do, so it’s no longer my aspiration. I still want to make a lot of money writing, but I know this isn’t going to be where it happens for me.