I've been thinking about this too. The reality dawns and I decided I NEED to pause and slow down to my own pace. Not frantically try to write as many stories as possible, checking stats, worrying etc. That won't work or be substantial in long term. I fully agree with writing for enjoyment and improving your skill. Good writers who write books say "never do it for the money". On Medium where writers get paid about $0.01 or so for putting a hard slog into publishing a story, it's not worth doing it just for money. There's no money in that. Do it for other reasons but not money. I don't mean don't try to earn money, put stories behind a paywall, why not, but keep remembering it shouldn't just be about the money. You will burn out and get stressed. Writing good stories and enjoying it AND being paid is how to play this game. I do not like comparison traps. Believe me, I was once caught out on this, not on medium or anything to do with writing, and it had a devastating effect on me, even though I knew what was going on and I was being "played" and manipulated, like some kind of game. I didn't totally fall for it, but was still badly affected by it. So pause, breath, slow down, unwind, relax, listen to music, have early night, close computer and don't worry about all the comparison vibes and messages. Well done seriously writing this article. We really need it to keep healthy and go at our OWN pace. We pay to write here. So we, as writers, need to respect ourselves, time and money, paid and earned. We are not robots, able to churn out story after story after story. We are humans who need rest, food, sleep, etc also. 🙂