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David Perell is one of the leaders of the online writing community. He thinks deeply and writes eloquently. One of his standards is that ideas can only flow if one consumes great content.
With this in mind, I decided to read David Perell’s 50 Days of Writing email series and absorb them. These nuggets of wisdom have helped me write better and think better.
After hours of consuming them and thinking about what they meant, here are my takeaways-
Write for yourself. Explore what interests you and write about it. The internet will reward your obsessiveness tempered with depth. Be brave.
Why should you write? Because with the stroke of a pen you can improve your thinking, build relationships, and create opportunities for yourself. Publish for your future self.
Writing is the outcome of sourcing ideas, taking notes, having conversations, thinking, managing emotional turmoil, and putting words on the page. Don’t focus on the outcome, focus on the process of thinking.
Writing makes you a better speaker- Writing publicly sharpens the substance of your ideas. Only by writing can you anticipate counterarguments and find faults in your thinking. This helps in honing your ability to speak rhythmically and eloquently.
The serendipity of notes- Allow your note taking system to develop connections between various topics. Blending new insights with old can help your writing travel in a new more productive direction.
Note taking is time travel- Notes help with remembering a feeling, an emotion, or a thought. It is about having conversations with your past and future self so you can develop ideas over time. Taking notes protects our memories from the erosion caused by time.
Never start with an empty page. You can create an outline by collecting ideas from books you’ve read, conversations you’ve had, and notes you’ve written. Like alchemy, the article’s structure will come together organically once you’ve compiled enough ideas. Talking about these ideas forces you to structure them.
Writing saves you time. Publishing ideas creates intellectual capital because writing makes your ideas permanent. Once you write something down, you can remix and reuse the ideas. Intellectual capital takes a long time to build but all that writing will save you thousands of hours in the future.
Learn like an athlete- Make a learning plan and share your learnings. I want to learn about the thinking behind drafting the Constitutions across the world. I want to explore the connection linking today’s political system to the Constitution and write about it.
Importance of bed, bus and bath for creativity- Sleep, movement (bus) and rest are essential to create an environment for creativity. Creativity favours the unfocused and unconcentrated mind.
You already have a voice- Everybody has a voice, just like everybody has a personality. Lean into your quirks and listen to the whispers of your intuition. Then double down on what works. There is only one you.
Look for things that do not make sense- When something in the world doesn’t make sense, ponder about it instead of dismissing it. Behind them, you will find hidden chambers of knowledge that most people aren’t privy to.
“The world always makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is your model.”- Adam Robinson
Lateral thinking with withered ideas- Some of the best inventions such as Dyson vacuum have emerged from combining old ideas with a fresh perspective. Pull from books and classic speeches to stamp something of your own.
The go-for-it window- There are gaps between today’s technologies and beliefs rooted in old school thought. Airbnb commoditized trust with the help of new age tech and thereby destroyed the stigma of renting a stranger’s home. Identify the hidden opportunities and exploit the gaps.
Personal, observational, and playful writing (POP)- Read your favourite writers through the POP Writing lens and keep the triad in the back of your mind whenever you write. Find the balance your article needs to keep the reader reading.
Write while you read- Capture your ideas by taking notes while you read. Taking notes will save time as you don’t have to do the same thinking twice. To increase effectiveness, note down why each idea resonated with you and how it relates to what you are working on.
Write while you walk-
Morgan Housel says, “If I ever get some sort of writer's block, or I'm just trying to think an article through, I go for walks. I go for two or three walks per day, and that's where all of the writing happens, and I usually take notes when I walk."
One caveat: write down every epiphany immediately.
Create a physical structure- Writers can free up brain space by penning the structure of the article to paper. A little tip: organize your essays with Post-It Notes. Write one idea per note. This helps in focusing on one section and gives you freedom to re-arrange the overall structure.
Albert Einstein once said: “My pencil and I are smarter than I am.”
Talking can cure writer’s block- Build your articles around conversations with friends. Or talk aloud what your future article is about. Let spoken words form the bed rock of your article.
Assume you are not original- Leverage the internet to curate your interests so you can copy the sliver of people who are original. Rather than trying to find original ideas on your own, surround yourself with people who are missing the imitation gene and have a genetic disposition for originality. Then, build upon their best ideas.
Write about earned secrets- Earned secrets are ideas that only you can write about. They might come from access that you have or your perspective which is unique to you. As a writer, it’s your job to find them and develop them.
Create a story box- A story box is where you save your ideas or the information you consume before you know what you can do with them. With ideas saved in the same place, you will be able to create serendipity for yourself. If you are hungry for inspiration, look for themes among the stories you’ve collected or the connections you can make to the ideas you’ve been thinking about.
Leave a summary for yourself- A large percentage of your success depends on one variable: how long does it take you to get into a flow state? Shorten the agony by taking out three minutes to pen a 100-word note once you’re done for the day. Write about three things: why you are stuck, what you plan to achieve next time, and what you are thinking about when you stopped writing.
The islands and bridges strategy- For the articles in which you don’t know how the ideas connect, first get your thoughts on paper by building a lot of stand-alone islands/sections. That way, you can rearrange the order of the islands once you find a structure for your essays. Once you find a structure for your essay, link the islands with bridges, which are short transitions that connect the ideas.
Hide your work- Unnecessary words take away from your work. Editing is a necessary evil to create a seamless experience for your reader. Strive to make your work so invisible that the reader thinks they could have written what you published.
Imitate, then innovate- To improve your writing, binge-read your favourite writers and shamelessly copy their style. Ironically, the more we imitate others, the more we discover how we are different. Let the artists brilliance engulf you but pay attention to where you feel resistance, for they hold the seeds of your individuality. Hold on to those seeds.
When writing, look for in-demand topics that nobody else is writing about. Or have a differentiated point of view in already talked about topics. Writing online is like bringing dessert to a party. You can either invent your own recipe or add a unique twist to a popular one. So, keep looking for these ideas and unique angles.
The Raymond Chandler rule- Make sure your reader has an epiphany every 250 words to keep them engaged. Every sentence should go either forward or deeper.
The right kind of original- Every writer stands on the shoulders of those who came before them. Challenge yourself to look in places where nobody else is looking, so you can find worthy ideas hidden in plain sight. Search for a fresh way to present timeless ideas. That’s why there are 1,010 biographies of Winston Churchill.
Intellectual Phase Transitions- As a writer, you can transform existing knowledge into new revelations by combining other people’s ideas.
“The idea that creativity is combinatorial, that nothing is entirely original, that everything builds on what came before, and that we create by taking existing pieces of inspiration, knowledge, skill, and insight that we gather over the course of our lives and recombining them into incredible new creations.”- Maria Popova
Summarize the canon- Every discipline has a book that everybody references, but almost no one reads. Build an audience by summarizing these books. You will attract a like- minded audience by saving people time and introducing them to important ideas.
Avoid cliché ideas- Look for second and third-order effects instead. Clichéd ideas are so obvious that you can't make the opposite argument. Avoid clichéd ideas by zooming into a topic or adding a twist to a familiar subject.
Write summary box- Pen a 200-400 word summary of what you plan to write about to avoid distracting ideas. It explains the core ideas without any of the nuance that makes the article worth reading. Once it’s complete, focus exclusively on the ideas in your summary box.
Find your shiny dime- Find the soul of your piece which anchors the article. Summarise it in a one liner. This constraint stops the article from spiralling out of control.
Paul Graham once said: “Expect 80% of the ideas in an essay to happen after you start writing it.”
For that find your anchor.
The but and therefore rule- To keep the story engaging delete the words “And Then” and replace them with “But & Therefore.” But & therefore creates tension and conflict.
Visualize your stories on a whiteboard, pen an outline, or write on post-it notes. Identify the relationships between the scenes in your stories and replace “And Then” with “But & Therefore”.
Diversify your words- To keep the reader engaged hit the sweet spot of clarity in writing. Express that clarity by using words people know but don’t say.
Find, assemble, speak, and teach (FAST) writing: Find- Have a note-taking system which gives you the flexibility to passively research. Assemble- Compile a long list of scattered ideas that relate to your topic. If you start the learning process when you sit to write, you’ve already lost the battle. Speak- Talking with others forces you to structure your ideas in ways that thinking alone never can. Teach- The act of sharing ideas initiates a feedback loop where the more you write about a topic, the better the quality of feedback you receive, which in turn, helps you write better about a topic.
The three deadly sins- Eliminate weak, wasted, and redundant words. Don’t write “Eddie was a kind, generous, and thoughtful person” when you can call him a “saint.”
Expression is compression- Capture the essence of your article by getting rid of the fluff. It might mean getting rid of weeks or months of effort.
Remember Einstein’s words, “things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."
Write CLEAR sentences- The acronym stands for: Create a rhythm- by varying sentence length, Link your sentences, Eliminate confusion- read your writing Aloud and mark where you stumble, add colorful details- by evoking emotions and Remove unnecessary details.
CRIBS feedback formula- is your writing Confusing? are you Repeating yourself? what are the most Interesting sections in your writing? are certain sections Boring? is your writing Surprising enough for the reader to keep reading? Ask these questions to your editor or friends to get better feedback.
The public to private bridge- Public platforms give you reach. Sharing ideas there is the fastest way to grow your audience; so long as they eventually sign up for your private channels. Start by attracting attention on public platforms such as Twitter and YouTube. Then, help your audience cross the bridge onto your private platforms so you can store value in a list of contacts nobody can take away from you.
The Soulja boy strategy- If you want to start creating but don’t know where to begin, start with curation. It’s a gateway drug to publishing your own ideas because it gives you the license to experiment without the pressure of coming up with new ideas yourself. To stand out add your own interpretive layer to your curation.
Don’t find a niche. Create one- When you build a Personal Monopoly, you are creating demand for an idea people didn’t know they were interested in. The most successful creators tend to define their own subculture instead of molding themselves into existing ones. Create hunger by baking your own pie.
Get wonky- Wonkiness is a mindset wherein you obsessively write and research about your interests. Once you get wonky, you will have a combination of ideas nobody’s ever seen before.
As Patrick O’Shaughnessy says: “On the internet, the more focused you are; the more wonky and niche you are, the bigger your audience is.”
Find your scenius- Scenius means utilising collective knowledge to raise the bar for all. Find your community wherein members are competitive enough to motivate each other but cooperative enough to find joy in each other’s success.
In Brian Eno’s words: “If genius is the creative intelligence of an individual, scenius is the creative intelligence of a group.”
The One Big Idea is a framework to interpret the world through. Once you have identified your big idea you will be able to interpret the world in a more meaningful way and find opportunities you were blind to before.
Rich Barton built his career on: bringing power to the people, Richard Mosse’s big idea: photograph the invisible.
Audience first products- Build an audience by sharing ideas. It will attract like-minded people. As you write for yourself and your audience, your perspective will create opportunities. But remember, audience first products focuses on resonance instead of scale.
Build a personal monopoly- It is the intellectual real estate built from your unique intersection of skills, interests, and personality traits where you can be known as the best thinker on a topic and open yourself up to the serendipity that makes online writing special. As you search, double down on the ideas that captivate you, the compliments people give you, and the projects you enjoy working on. There is an audience waiting for you.
Be a personal monopoly investor- Invest in Personal Monopolies with increasing demand and restricted supply. Find the intersection between your genuine curiosities and how you think the future will be different. Do things that feel like play to you but look like work to others. Invest in yourself.
That was a lot, right? I know. It took me a couple of weeks to compile but I feel each nugget of wisdom is one worth having. I am struggling to figure out which one is my favorite one though, so do reply with which one resonated the most with you or just leave it as a comment.