Stop using your brain as storage.
Start using your brain as processing power.
I never thought of myself as a writer.
So why do I now write one million words per year?
Because I discovered writing is a superpower.
Here are 67 benefits of writing.
👇🏼
Attract likeminded people.
Help connect people with similar interests who would have otherwise never met.
To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.
You don’t have to be an expert to teach.
Leaders are seen as experts BECAUSE they teach.
Teach the person one step behind you.
Self discipline is a muscle.
Build a writing habit and watch discipline carry over into other areas of your life.
You think you know who you are, but you don’t.
Write to discover more about yourself:
• What is enough for you?
• When do you feel most alive?
• Describe yourself in 10 words.
• How would you spend $1M?
• What’s a skill you want to develop?
The same lame ideas have been bouncing around in your head for years.
Write to get those old ideas out. Make room for the new.
Tell your story. Share the journey while you’re on it.
Don’t wait for a fairy tale ending to start sharing.
This makes your story real and interesting.
Most people have it backwards:
Don’t write because you have something to say.
Write to find out what you have to say.
We trust people who are consistent.
We trust people who provide value.
Writing every day does both.
You have valuable insights that can be products.
For instance, your process can be a product.
But you don’t have a process unless it’s written down.
Once you write your process down, you can sell it.
Writing helps you sell more of the products you already have.
Pull back the curtain on your product creation process.
Showcase your customers by telling their stories.
These are good ways to market your products.
Case studies help prospective clients imagine what it’s like to work with you.
Don’t just share finished results. Tell a story. Show the transformation.
You have a lot going on in your life. It can be difficult to sort through everything.
Writing leads to clarity. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, write.
Having a unique style people recognize is powerful. Everyone wants a style.
But you don’t develop a style by trying to develop a style. You have to put in the reps and iterate over time. Eventually, your style finds you.
The only way out is through.
Writing is a two-step process:
1. Write
2. Edit
You can improve what’s written.
You can’t improve what stays in your head.
Write down what you think so you can see what you think.
When you see what you think, you can think about what you think.
In the beginning, you write to find what you have to say.
Eventually, you discover what you have to say and settle into it.
But your message can get old and stale.
Revisit and refine your message by continuing to write about it.
Nobody trusts an overnight success.
Everyone trusts the person who shows up every day for 10 years and shares the journey—even when it isn't glamorous.
Your identity changes gradually every day.
But you can’t tell the difference between “you” yesterday and “you” today.
Writing chisels who you were in stone so you don’t forget.
Some people paint. Others design buildings.
You might feel like you’ve never been a creative person.
But all people are creative.
Writing just might become your favorite creative outlet.
Purpose is different than passion.
Passion feels fun.
Purpose feels meaningful.
Writing will help you discover your purpose.
Write for yourself to process how you feel about a relationship.
Write to a partner to share how you feel about the relationship.
Write together to define your relationship.
The ability to write like you speak and speak like you write is a superpower.
I call this your Hybrid Voice.
Develop your Hybrid Voice by writing, speaking, transcribing, editing, and repeating.
You don’t have to write for work.
You don’t have to write for the world.
You can write just to ground yourself.
There’s a difference between thinking ABOUT something and thinking THROUGH something.
Thinking ABOUT something is thinking on it or around it—never reaching a conclusion.
Writing helps you think THROUGH.
https://t.co/69cJ0HTieJ
The difference between thinking ABOUT something and thinking THROUGH something. pic.twitter.com/kXs96fPKyZ
— Sean McCabe (@seanwes) September 28, 2020
When discussing what you’re passionate about, words flow like water. You already know how you feel.
If you stumble over your words while speaking, it’s because you haven’t articulated your thoughts.
The more you write, the better you’ll sound.
You can only be in one place and speak about one idea at a time.
But people can read what you’ve written while you sleep.
Writing helps you be in multiple places at once.
Writing makes you omnipresent.
People who read your writing will connect with others.
Write about what interests you, and you will find others who are similarly interested.
Writing brings interesting people to you.
@jaltucher says the key to becoming an Idea Machine is to write 10 ideas a day.
Just write a list of 10 ideas. They don’t have to be good ideas—they can be bad ideas. But some ideas will be good.
The point is to build the muscle.
We remember things we write more than things we don’t.
There’s also evidence we especially remember things we write by hand.
Whether by hand or by keyboard, write to remember.
You see the past through rose-colored glasses.
You don’t remember what truly happened.
There is only one way to preserve the truth of the past:
Document as you go.
Like a lightning bug in a mason jar, you can capture feelings by writing.
How does it feel to be in a pandemic? To be in love? To be lonely? To be acknowledged by your hero?
Some feelings are difficult. Others are wonderful. All feelings are fleeting.
When you tell your friend a story, your words fade in the air. Your friend enjoys the tale, but now it’s gone. Your story exists only as a memory.
Written stories can be read by anyone, anywhere, forever.
Write once, tell your story a thousand times.
Writing exposes gaps in your knowledge.
You’ll never feel less knowledgeable about a topic than when you try to write about it.
Compelling writing requires research.
Writing doesn’t just teach your readers. Usually, you’re the one who learns the most.
A good therapist won’t tell you what to do or think. They’ll simply hold up a mirror.
Writing is free therapy. Create a mirror in which to see yourself.
It feels great to receive encouragement. But it also feels good to give.
Spend 5 minutes writing a short note to encourage one person each day. Be the source of good feelings.
They’ll feel great, but so will you.
When worrying, we often imagine the worst case scenario.
This cognitive distortion is called Catastrophizing.
Writing about the “What if?” questions that enter our mind can help us ground ourselves.
Write a letter to yourself when you’re older.
Write a letter to your (future) kid when they’re older.
Write a letter to your significant other when they’re older.
If the stories you want to read don’t exist, that’s the world inviting you to write them.
To make your story compelling, answer the following question:
What is the book only I can write?
Writing gives you the ability to see yourself from the outside (the way others do).
By externalizing your thoughts, you will gain a new, objective perspective.
Writing increases your self awareness. It’s like gaining a sixth sense.
On February 1st, the gym is almost empty.
Most of us set too many goals, declare them only once, and don’t follow through.
Try setting fewer goals and writing them down.
@GrantCardone recommends writing down your goals again every single morning.
What does your ideal day look like?
You won’t end up there by accident.
Think through, and write down, your answer to this question.
Reverse engineer the outcome you want.
Money correlates to happiness only up to a certain point.
More money won’t make you happy.
More gratitude will make you happy.
Focus on what you have instead of what you lack.
Write a list of 10 things you’re thankful for every day.
Writing is how you make a name for yourself.
• Share what you’ve learned.
• Teach what you know.
• Don’t teach what you don’t know.
You don’t need to have an opinion on everything.
Regular exercise and a consistent routine will help you fall asleep faster.
But part of what keeps your mind racing at night is having a full brain.
Write out every single thing on your mind before bed.
Give yourself permission to sleep.
Sometimes we get jealous of others’ success.
We think we want what they have.
But would you trade places with them entirely?
Write about what you’d miss if you traded lives with someone.
A novice shows up to the blank page.
A professional schedules topics in advance.
• Write a list of topics
• Schedule topics for specific days
• Show up and write
Here’s my method for generating content ideas fast:
https://t.co/AHphJcTwRs
How to Create 5 Months of Content in 5 Minutes pic.twitter.com/8TL6HU9Ole
— Sean McCabe (@seanwes) September 27, 2020
More from Writing
I can second this observation through personal experience. I was only able to start writing because "it's just dumb weeb fanfiction quests, who cares." 100,000 pages of dumb weeb fanfic later, and I actually got better... but only because I was trying my best with every page.
"It's dumb weeb fanfiction" gave me permission to be bad, to vomit things onto the page that I knew fell far short of what I wanted it to be. To just write and write instead of laboring over six paragraphs for weeks like I'd always done before.
But I still *wanted* to be good.
Writing is HARD. And unfortunately, most people don't appreciate just how hard writing (or communication in general) is, and that cultural attitude infects writers, too.
You must give yourself permission to be bad. And realize that all writing is practice.
IT. COUNTS.
And as the folks in my mentions are pointing
... it's an excellent way to find out what actually resonates with other people - putting work out there. Even your early bad stuff you'll cringe at later.
What resonates is NOT easy to tell, because we all, inherently cringe at ourselves, a lot.
I think the mistake a lot of people make is that they write to make a good work instead of writing to make themselves a better writer (who will eventually be able to make good works). The second promotes training and builds humility while the first is just narcissism.
— Dan Kim (@CloneManga) October 31, 2020
"It's dumb weeb fanfiction" gave me permission to be bad, to vomit things onto the page that I knew fell far short of what I wanted it to be. To just write and write instead of laboring over six paragraphs for weeks like I'd always done before.
But I still *wanted* to be good.
Writing is HARD. And unfortunately, most people don't appreciate just how hard writing (or communication in general) is, and that cultural attitude infects writers, too.
You must give yourself permission to be bad. And realize that all writing is practice.
IT. COUNTS.
And as the folks in my mentions are pointing
It gave us hellcow, so it clearly worked
— Argatson (@warhammer651) October 31, 2020
... it's an excellent way to find out what actually resonates with other people - putting work out there. Even your early bad stuff you'll cringe at later.
What resonates is NOT easy to tell, because we all, inherently cringe at ourselves, a lot.
\u201cDumb weeb X\u201d is a concept with a lot of power.
— J (@Becquerl1) October 31, 2020
