some advice to myself as I start my first blog
since I don't want this to be another thing I get started on and don't stick with, I decided to dedicate my first post to giving myself some advice on this. most of these ideas were brought in through inversion, or from other areas of my life where I started at zero.
- take your end goal and invert it. if the goal is to create a great blog, flip it. what would you have to do to make the worst blog possible? now take those ideas and avoid them like the plague.
- life is interesting because you're always a zero at something, and you've progressed from being a zero at other things.
- incremental improvements are addictive, when starting from zero, you must find out the quickest way you can get positive feedback.
starting from zero
inversion:
writing is thinking
this essay by paul graham is really all you need.
writing well isn't something that can be summoned at will*, it's a skill that must be learned. I learn this all over again when I gather motivation to write out my thoughts and I can't get a word on the paper.
you must write if you want to gain knowledge or expertise in any area. if you don't, you'll constantly find yourself in a place of shallow knowledge.
*unless you practice a ton or are gifted, obviously.
start simple
when starting something new, it almost doesn't matter how you get started. staying consistent is much more important and you'll figure things out along the way.
strive to write a little bit everyday
the goal here is to just build up a habit of putting myself and my raw thoughts on the open internet.
don't let perfect get in the way of good
but don't strive to post good content - or no one else will read it.
be authentic
don't write about subjects you don't find genuinely interesting. have some fun, learn some new things, and expand your world view.
quality > quantity, but quantity creates quality.
kinda contradictory, but to achieve quality in anything, you usually have to put in the reps.
take mac miller for example, he has thousands of unreleased songs, but just 6 studio albums. he created more than 5 versions of Watching Movies with the Sound Off before releasing it, and who knows how many songs were cut.
good luck