🤯Unknown Unknowns #82 - On Writing

I spent the last week skiing at Mont Tremblant, north of Montreal.  My first time up there, and the first time in Quebec in probably over thirty years.  Mont Tremblant has great views and some great terrain, but the week was ridiculously crowded.

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Writing of the Week:

I’ve never articulated why I find writing so powerful.  Writing isn’t just a means of communication and persuasion, writing also facilitates thinking.  Not just thinking about an idea but ideation itself.

One of the reasons it took me so long to leave my job was that I didn't know what I would do next. I also felt I didn't have any skills that were useful.  Only when I started writing did the possibilities open. Writing connected what I read and consumed with my own thoughts.  It was a channel that allowed all my thoughts to recombine.

Once you write, the response from other people lets you know what they find useful. I started a newsletter and from sheer stubbornness wrote consistently for weeks on end.  Eighty-plus issues later, the response from my audience has helped direct my attention.  Exposing your ideas lets you know which ones are useful to others.

But the process of writing is integral to the formation of ideas.  The biggest mistake people make is assuming everything has to work out, that everything you write needs to be correct and persuasive.  What I've discovered is that ideas are dynamic.  No one remembers a first draft but it’s necessary for any progress.  After you write something, you can ignore it, evolve it, or make it more nuanced - but the first draft is key to surfacing an idea.

When I don’t expose an idea it remains in a primordial stage. These early-stage ideas are not acted on, and action is needed to create movement.  I was in stasis for ten years in my career because I didn't have an actionable idea of what to do next.  I didn’t know which of my ideas were useful or had potential.  I lacked confidence in them.  

People don't want to leave their job because they want to replace their job with something equally as certain.  It’s a chicken/egg scenario.  Looking back, writing is a low downside method to break out of the puzzle.  Action needs an experimental mindset, and writing is the easiest way to get there.

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Discoveries:

1️⃣

I’ve never played Minecraft, but I was fascinated by this recounting of a legal dispute over the End Poem (The text that scrolls when you complete the game).  There are so many concepts that get touched on here.  Communication. Game theory. Legal loopholes. Misunderstandings about capitalism. Mysticism.  But the biggest is the unintended consequences that result from miscommunication.

🔗 I wrote a story for a friend

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Quotes of the Week:

🗨 “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.” -  John Stuart Mill

🗨 “The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose;
Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear.
Make a hairbreadth difference, and Heaven and Earth are set apart;
If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against.
The struggle between ‘for’ and ‘against’ is the mind’s worst disease.” - Jianzhi Sengcan

🗨 “Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. The warrior’s approach is to say yes to life, yes to it all.” -  Joseph Campbell 

I heard all three of these quotes from Tim Ferriss’ conversation with Jonathan Haidt

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Something Fun:

I was introduced to this YouTube channel by friend of the newsletter, Charlie Becker.  The channel is a father/son team listening and commenting on music together.  Not only is the music great and the comments insightful, but the father/son interaction is inspiring.   

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You can find more of my writing at chr.iswong.com.

Questions, suggestions, complaints?  Email me at [email protected].  Feedback welcome.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend or two.  And feel free to send anything you find interesting to me!

Leaving you in peace,

Chris