How to Get Extra Time Reading Only Whats Important
The Method of Findig High-Quality Knowledge (Avoiding Thousands of Bad Medium Articles)
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” — Stephen King
Reading always was easy part for me, until nowdays. Clickbite titles, AI texts and writing templates from “How To Write Viral Article In Half An Hour” articles made me waste a lot of time detecting BS. Getting helpful knowledge on Medium is becoming a problem.
Therefore I created a typology of articles and their main features so that I can quickly understand what to expect and not waste time. For each type, I have given examples that I like.
Best Types of Articles
Lifehacks for health, nutrition, and fitness. This an extremely important category, for an obvious reason: no health = no performance = no success. Bad signs: promises of quick results and “Look Like a Kardashian” statements. Good signs: links to studies and test videos. Some methods can increase your productivity many times over. Top examples: Hudson Rennie
Full-Time Writing Business. The best authors in this category combine writing advice, business, and a strong life position. Don’t confuse them with solo-pretenders (see below). Bad signs: publish articles every day (When would they research, operate a business, and enjoy their seven-figure income?). Good signs: if a person published at least one book. Top examples: Ayodeji Awosika
Writing Methods. It seems that this is the most numerous category, but in fact, there are very few useful articles. It’s not mandatory written by copywriters, screenwriters, literary editors, etc. Sometimes I found brilliant methods in just avid readers' articles. Bad signs: “one-size-fits-all” advice. Real strategies cater to specific genres, niches, and writing styles. Top examples: Martina D.
e-Tools Lists. It’s a very useful type of content if all the tools are tested and used by the author and not for the sake of affiliate links. Bad signs: lists boasting hundreds of tools (probably many of them are irrelevant, outdated, or never tested personally). Good signs: The manual can be understood and tools put into action immediately. Top examples: Anish Singh Walia
Book reviews. They are useful if they are read and analyzed personally. Good signs: quotes from the text and comparisons (“This book is like Twilight, but with vampires who eat cabbage smoothies”). Top examples: Novel Nest
Travel guides. Some could think it’s only for leisure, but it's also important for work relocation or if you are a digital nomad. Bad signs: focus solely on the “vibes” and how the destination “spoke to your soul”. Good signs: budgeting tips, transportation options, and visa requirements.
Top examples: Ashllyn T.
Stories. It could be poetry, a memoir, or a critical opinion but all of them are devoted not to HOW to live, but to WHY to live. Bad signs: if the starting story is only a teaser to sell your training course. Good signs: if the authors have an interesting occupation (past or present), such as a Buddhist monk or a police officer (or police officer who became a Buddhist monk). So their stories grabs attention like a fiction thriller. But sometime simple office clerk’s article leaving me with a sense of: “it’s damn right”. Top examples: Don Johnson
Many authors indicated above write in several categories, and it makes their articles so interesting to read.
P.S. If I haven’t indicated some authors worth mentioning — write me in the comments.
Articles I Try to Avoid
Politics. Especially military conflicts. If the author is not at the scene of events for a long time to draw a reasonable conclusion, then there is a high probability that the opinion is simply framed, conventional TV bullshit, or planned political propaganda. I wrote about it here
Social movements and other “Taboo topics”. Why? Because authors of such topics usually have the same toolkit: 1)Always assume that everyone shares your exact viewpoints and beliefs. 2)Never, under any circumstances, listen to others or engage in respectful dialogue. 3)Remember, it’s all about asserting your dominance and making sure your voice is the loudest in the crowd!
Solo-pretenders. These are people who are trying to teach others methods that they read in articles from real entrepreneurs. They didn’t pay the price for knowledge through the pain of “trial and error”, just “copy and paste”. Nevertheless, their articles usually, start like this: “I worked 9–5, then I realized that I do not want to sell my time anymore and started writing online every day.” It usually ends like this: “I’m nothing special, and I became successful, so you can too.” The correct version is: “I’m nothing special, period, so you will too”. Be careful because some of these authors have several thousand subscribers. Big list of their tactics I indicate here.
“It is not accumulation that occurs, but elimination. Instead of daily growth, daily reduction. Development in its ideal form always gravitates towards simplicity” — Bruce Lee
Have a good surfing in your extra time))
