I’ve been writing a lot lately. More than I have at any other point in my life and I’m 44.
At first, I started using Evernote to capture ideas and later I would go back and flesh out my thoughts around the idea or topic.
Now I find myself writing down an idea and then continuing to write. It didn’t happen overnight, but now it just happens. It has actually changed the way my mind works. I have a lot more ideas now and I find myself thinking about things more often and more deeply.
In fact, I love to run on the treadmill now because that’s when most of my ideas happen. That’s when the dings and beeps and buzzing of the distractions that fill our days are muted. It’s just me and an audiobook.
Seth Godin has been a big influence for me when it comes to this.
I started really doing it as part of his The Marketing Seminar (TMS). Then I heard him talk about writing outside of TMS and it inspired me to just write.
Not to worry about being an ‘author’ or a ‘blogger’ or doing it professionally but just start writing. Don’t worry about being a good writer.
Just write.
And Seth has been right (no pun intended).
Sometimes I’ll write a blog post. Sometimes I’ll turn on my microphone and record my thoughts as a podcast.
A lot of times I write what I’m thinking about at the moment. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, they’re not well-developed thoughts. When I do this, I’m looking to generate discussion. To shed light on something I may not be seeing.
Maybe someone has actual experience with what I’m thinking about. I’m always hungry to learn more. To know more about how the world and people work. I guess that’s why marketing is a good fit for me.
Unfortunately, I think people are so defensive and divisive in our society these days that people may perceive what I say as me thinking I’m “right”. They may be afraid to comment because it may stir up an argument. It’s sad. Really sad.
I know I’m not always right. But what I do know is I’m always thinking and I have the courage to write what I’m thinking about.
Am I a great writer? Hell no. Do I want to be? That would be a nice by-product.
What I really want to do is inspire thought in others. Generate ideas in others. Spark productive conversations. This is where real learning happens. Not memorizing shit for an exam about a topic that you don’t care about now or never will.
A long time ago I figured out that if you find yourself having to really work to memorize something for an exam, guess what? It’s probably not important to you and never will be. Granted, for some this memorization is critical- they’re called lawyers, doctors and…that’s probably it.
For the most part, the education system is broken. Learning will never be broken. I love to learn but I hated school. I am always reading and listening to something- especially marketing or history-related topics. I LOVE learning. Always have. I hate education. It’s a waste of time. For most people, at least.
I’d be willing to bet that I read more- by a long shot- and am continuously learning more often now than a lot of the people who had a better GPA than I did in college or high school. GPA’s don’t mean shit in the real world. Sorry. They may help get your foot in the door when you graduate. That’s about it. And a lot of times they don’t even do that. Again, for most people in most professions.
I would love to hear your thoughts- in a productive way. I’m not looking for an argument and I won’t acknowledge you if that’s where you go.
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash