Write Ideas, Not Too Many, About the Things You Care About

The best writing advice I have

Photo by Elif Kurt on Unsplash

I work in tech, I know that users drive product development.

You assess their needs, make assumptions about their desires, do the research, present the findings, and iterate the design — all good.

But critically, writing on the internet, for yourself, alongside your very busy life, isn’t the same as running a business when things must sell otherwise people lose their jobs.

Both have important roles in life but I’ve found, that things get sticky when you conflict the two. And sometimes it’s important to remember, that if you’re writing alongside your day job, you have a freedom that you can indulge in.

Here are some thoughts.

Write your ideas

It’s simple advice but actually, it takes a lot of brainpower.

It’s hard to untangle the ideas you have with the ideas of others because we live in a consumption-heavy world. Everything is consumption.

When you consume so much, you find yourself thinking in similar patterns to the people you read. When you consume only ideas of a certain thesis, you become convinced of that argument without considering the wider context.

Part of having great ideas, your ideas, which makes them great, is moderate consumption, to audit who you listen to and check their credibility before you do.

And after that, get away from consuming and spend a lot of time thinking. Assessing the ideas, running through them in your head, and coming up with counterarguments.

All will lead to thinking deeper and on your own terms.

Not too much

I’m starting to conclude that much of life’s problems are not problems exactly, but rather a disorder of balance.

The approach then becomes an ambition to restore order, not to solve problems. It’s an interesting shift in thinking (one I’ve been thinking about on many long walks and time away from consumption — a solid argument for the point above).

Too much of a good thing is never a good thing.

The case is true for all fascites of life, and writing is no exception. If you decide you are going to write for 6 hours today, you’ll be fed up by hour 2 and resolve to never write again by hour 4.

Instead, little and often.

You don’t need to conquer the world today and in fact, in my experience, thinking you do will only lead to frustration and disappointment. I know some people shout from the rooftops about discipline, consistently and never missing a day.

My thinking is much less routined and much more in harmony with life. Do the thing (in this case writing) but it doesn’t have to be every day, it can be most days, if that works for you.

About the things you care about

The joy of writing (at least for me) is about expression.

It’s like I’m having a conversation with the world, admittedly it’s one way most of the time but I suppose in a sense it’s not.

All of these ideas I have come from talking to people. From things I see on the train to work. From the conversations in the office. To the phone calls with family. To the books I read.

I consume the information and I put out my conclusion to the world.

I love this constant conversation I have with the world and we grapple with how to live better, healthier, happier lives. For me, it’s the thing I care about. I care about understanding life.

Probably that’s the best way I can describe it.

I am curious about how to live and work better. And that’s what I write about. Maybe you don’t like that so much, maybe you like plants or food or the weather.

But whatever it is, please write about it.

Boiling it all down

The obvious question is why?

Why write about something that you care about vs something you think will go viral? Why spend time in your thoughts when you can mirror someone else’s and get the same external reward?

Mostly, it comes down to what I am calling ‘fullness’.

This feeling of depth, soul, joy, creativity and usefulness. All of those things add up to a feeling of fullness. It’s hard to quite articulate that feeling but it is a feeling or a state.

And it’s a wonderful thing.

Worth much more than anything external. So if you want my advice?

Write ideas. Not too many. Mostly about the things you care about.

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