Why build durable, consistent writing habits?
Because, Text is the universal interface.
Durable, consistent writing habits greatly enhance lifetime personal fun and profit, and external influence and impact. Consider…
- Prompting LLMs
- "Brag documents", promo packets
- Blogging, podcast scripts, influencer content
- Resumes, cover letters, cold connects in 200 chars on LinkedIn
- Architecture docs, commit messages, playbooks and checklists
- API naming/design, code docstrings
- Asking and giving help and feedback
- Prepping for meetings, interviews, talks, workshops
- Processing incidents and emotions, to respond rather than react
- lots more…
But most crucially, because Writing = Thinking.
“Writing is nature's way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is.”
— Richard Guindon
What is the goal of the cohort?
Build our mental muscles and personal habits that help us…
- Speak our mind in the privacy of our own pages.
- Create reflective feedback loops that empower us.
- Do just enough work now, so a lot of rework never happens.
- "Spool brain to disk" easily, quickly, and durably.
- Write systematically with tools, and techniques that suit one's brain.
What it is NOT about.
- It is NOT about learning English.
- Write in the language you dream in.
- It is NOT about publishing.
- Write to think and process.
- It is NOT about doing extra work.
- Write to create leverage.
- It is NOT about unleashing your caustic wit.
- Write to implement the D of ACID.
- It is NOT about learning any particular tool.
- Touch-type. Dictate. Swipe-type. Scribble. Whatever.
- Into your Moleskine. Obsidian. Notion. Org-mode. Whatever.
It ain't Rocket Science
- Be Grug.
- Emit bullets, not flowery prose, in the language you dream in.
- Be Clever.
- "Steal like an artist". So many great resources out there to learn from.
- Be Open.
- Let people help you. Especially let now-you help future-you.
- Be Chill.
- Future-you can always find reason to laugh at past-you. So don't worry. Just write.
- Be Resolute.
- Make future-you profusely thank past-you for the consistent effort.
But it needs a sustained commitment to daily doing
One reason is because of motivation.
Everyone is wired differently. However, rarely can we progress over the long term purely out of internal drive. There is a reason top performers in all walks of life have coaches, teams, groups, even personal boards. No critique, no feedback loop, no sparring partner, no support system, no growth.
Another is because it is tacit knowledge. That cannot be acquired by studying explicit knowledge transmitted via a book or watching someone else do the thing or even a whole master's curriculum. Tacit knowledge is a product of what a person does to the self. It is entirely private (in our own minds / bodies), and it comes through focused engagement, practice, play, and defocused "dreaming" / imagining in the mind's eye.
So please, find your "Scenius", or at least someone to keep you accountable as you build durable writing habits and evolve them over the long haul.
"If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together."
— Ancient Proverb
