Cutting through the noise
I use writing as a tool to organize my thoughts, but lately I have started to question if that’s the right order to do things.
Writing is thinking. Text is just someone’s thoughts on paper. It’s obvious that thinking has to come first, but that’s not always the case.
When I sit down to write something I often just have a notion about what I want to write, and only through the process of writing do I form a full thought. This process can take days to produce an article. But as I started writing more consistently, the time required to write an article went down to a few hours.
This week I heard that DHH writes articles in 15min and I was taken aback. I enjoy his articles, he has a way of explaining things in a clear and forward way - something I am trying to improve, and which I envy.
The only way I see that this is possible is by sitting down with a fully formed thought before writing a single word. He’s able to cut through the noise and distill a thought without the aid of writing.
Have I been putting the carriage before the horse all this time?
Well, yes and no. To write that way I have to trust my self more - something I see I have been avoiding by using writing as a crutch to verify my thoughts, double and triple check them. I’m just avoiding criticism, but that means that my written thoughts are a watered down vanilla version of the real thing. I have to become bolder in expressing my opinion. Then again, there is nothing wrong with using writing as a tool from time to time.
Writing is thinking. Text is just someone’s thoughts on paper. It’s obvious that thinking has to come first, but that’s not always the case.
When I sit down to write something I often just have a notion about what I want to write, and only through the process of writing do I form a full thought. This process can take days to produce an article. But as I started writing more consistently, the time required to write an article went down to a few hours.
This week I heard that DHH writes articles in 15min and I was taken aback. I enjoy his articles, he has a way of explaining things in a clear and forward way - something I am trying to improve, and which I envy.
The only way I see that this is possible is by sitting down with a fully formed thought before writing a single word. He’s able to cut through the noise and distill a thought without the aid of writing.
Have I been putting the carriage before the horse all this time?
Well, yes and no. To write that way I have to trust my self more - something I see I have been avoiding by using writing as a crutch to verify my thoughts, double and triple check them. I’m just avoiding criticism, but that means that my written thoughts are a watered down vanilla version of the real thing. I have to become bolder in expressing my opinion. Then again, there is nothing wrong with using writing as a tool from time to time.