Last year, my article on Medium went viral.

This resulted in over 100k views and almost $1,000 in earnings. It looked like a dream but turned into a nightmare real quick.

It sounds crazy, but “going viral” might be the worst thing that ever happens to you. Here’s why it should never be your main goal.

How my article went viral

Going viral happens unexpectedly.

Looking back, I didn’t do anything special or different. I just kept writing for almost a year before it happened.

My writing process is simple:

• Find a good content idea

• Write about it

• Hit publish

What matters is the main idea and the size of the audience that could be interested in it. In my case, the idea wasn’t overdone. No “5 tips to be happy.” Instead, it was about a website with an incredibly basic design yet still earning thousands of dollars a month.

I published it, and one week later, it started getting thousands of views a day.

What happened after

I thought this was the sign to go all in on writing.

Going from 100–200 views daily to 6,000 felt like winning the lottery. Somehow, I was expecting this to last forever, but after a few weeks, it slowed down. Like 70% of lottery winners go broke after a few years, I lost most of those daily views after a few weeks.

But that’s not the worst part.

This lead to:

• The fear that I’d never get a viral article like this again

• A lack of motivation

• Self-doubt

All of this made me struggle to write more. Instead of starting to write daily, I began procrastinating.

Another part of going viral that most people don’t expect is the audience you attract. Most of them were not interested in what I had to offer. Without the Medium Partner Program, I would have earned $0. Getting them to subscribe to my newsletter didn’t work either.

While going viral seems like the ultimate goal, you must understand it won’t solve all your problems. It’s just five minutes of glory.

It took me a few months to get back on track.

I managed to get back into the habit of writing almost daily, and some of my articles received great engagement. Not viral, but still better than average.

Set better goals than going viral

If your goal is to go viral, think again.

Focusing on virality means focusing on something that doesn’t last. There’s always another viral post that steals the spotlight.

Instead, try this approach:

• Focus on small daily actions

• Chase consistent growth, not viral moments

• Consider viral content a bonus for consistent efforts

A more effective long-term goal is to focus on building a library of valuable content. This can get you more views and subscribers consistently than random viral content.

Final thoughts

Focusing on viral content is a surefire way to get burned out.

You write one super-viral piece, and now you have to outdo yourself.

You’ll start to feel anxious when posting regular content that isn’t “explosive.” And it turns content creation into a constant state of stress.