Why You Should Write...
“If you don’t write, you know how you feel, but you don’t know how to express it. Writing is the antidote to confusion.”
“Eminem is always writing in a book. All the time. He always has notebooks.” Rick Rubin explained to Joe Rogan on his podcast.
Rick told a story about a conversation he had with Eminem... “Are these all rhymes to use (for your songs)?” “No, no, no. 99% of what I write, I will never use. It’s just to stay engaged in the process of writing and finding new ways to write so that when I need it, it just comes.”
Eminem explained that writing in notebooks is both a creative process and a form of therapy for him. He’s discussed how writing began as an escape and a way to process emotions, particularly during rough times as a kid. He would write constantly... On scraps of paper, in notebooks, anywhere he could capture ideas. He views writing as a compulsive act, not just for creating music but as a way of working through personal experiences. Writing became a method of making sense of his life.
When I asked James Clear about writing to create clarity, he said, “If you don’t write, you know how you feel, but you don’t know how to express it. Writing is the antidote to confusion.”
Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, and famed online essay writer, “Writing about something, even something you know well, usually shows you that you didn’t know it as well as you thought. Putting ideas into words is a severe test.”
Jack Raines said on my podcast, “It’s impossible to have a fully formed, well-defined idea in your head. Your thoughts are like an ocean. There are lots of waves going by. You can’t fully picture every aspect of an idea; you can’t get to the second or third derivative without writing it down. It’s like a cat seeing a laser pointer. We get distracted by a new idea if we don’t write it down.”
You don’t fully know how you feel and what you think about something until you write it down. Writing is the ultimate clarifying tool. Whether you decide to publish your thoughts or not, all leaders should have a writing practice.
The most effective leaders are clear thinkers. And there’s no better way to get clear than to write. I nudge all of the leaders I work with to create a writing habit. Most push back initially, saying that they don’t have time. Nonsense. It’s like working out for your brain. If you want to be healthy, you work out. If you want to be a clear thinker, you write.