Write More Than You Read
Unpopular opinion: Most reading is procrastination in disguise
I used to spend hours reading great articles and listening to amazing podcasts, but I didn’t do anything about it. I realized that I had only been consuming content, doing nothing, and thinking that I was using my time well.
Create, don’t just consume.
Writing daily is the best way to become a successful online creator. It’s a key skill that will help you reach more people and build an audience that cares about your knowledge. Once you have an audience, you can monetize it with digital products, such as ebooks, courses, or memberships.
Of course, consuming content is really important — it’s where you can get ideas from. But just stopping at those ideas and not implementing them is probably not something you should rely on.
A few months ago, I decided to start writing on LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, and Substack. It’s been amazing! It doesn’t really matter what industry or field you’re in; you should learn to leverage writing. It’s one of the most important skills in today’s day and age.
Rule: If the idea stays in your head, it’s dead.
My routine:
I have a day job, so that requires most of my hours during the weekdays. But weekends are mainly scheduled for writing.
I started going to coffee shops and sitting there to write a week’s content in advance. Once you have some drafts ready, it’s not very difficult to edit and post them on the weekdays.
My consumption process:
Previously, I would consume content but not intentionally. I would be reading articles when on the road or having a meal, and the issue I had was that I would read and forget.
So, what am I doing now?
I have a limited source from which I consume content to create. I still read articles on Twitter, posts on LinkedIn, Substack articles, and Medium articles, but I read these just to read. However, I have subscribed to a bunch of newsletters (and unsubscribed from a big bunch of old subscriptions). My main source to write is these newsletters. So, I have an intentional time during the day before I start work to read these. I use Notion extensively to store ideas from these newsletters.
But this is not to say that I would not find anything nice and interesting during the unintentional reading. If I do, I will instantly use Apple Notes — this has by far been the easiest thing for me. It has reduced friction, so most of the time, I save things that are really good and can be created.
I go through all of this after 6 p.m. on Fridays and make a list of topics that can be written about. I try to write some ideas and bullet points as well. (Sometimes this gets pushed to a Saturday).
And on Saturdays, before I head to a nearby café, I will know the topic and what I am going to write. I will minimize any distractions (phone notifications) and will have two hours to write. I will go back to my idea journal (Apple Notes and Notion) and see what else can be created from that. I will spend another two hours only writing.
I always carry a small notebook — I call that my distraction notebook. I write down any thoughts that I have — this could be something like calling a friend or even cooking a dish. This has helped me to stay focused only on writing.
I take Sunday mornings to think about scheduling and distributing my content on various platforms. I give myself an hour to think through that, and another hour to any changes and new ideas.
I then use the weekdays to publish content.
This has so far been helpful.
