Blogging about blogging warning.
Most mornings, I write a little bit and have a couple iOS shortcuts that make it easy for me to outline topics for different things.
At this point, the following seems to be true.
Things I can do quickly
- Outline a topic
- Make a connection between sources (something in one book relating to another, or something in a podcast relating to another thing)
- Read things, listen to things (not particularly fast at these, but I just do it a lot because I’m a robot and I don’t listen to music much)
- Record audio
Things I do (very very very) slowly
- Actually write the thing / make the video
- Edit the audio
I was giving Work Clean another listen this week, and there’s a chapter on finishing actions that reallly struck me.
Brainstorming some examples:
- If you’re a sculptor and you’re in a room full of pencils and paper, you’ll sketch a bunch of stuff out and plan your next sculpture. If you never actually get into a room with tools to sculpt, you won’t finish, no matter how much you plan.
- If you’re an actor and you’re in a room with the script then you can rehearse all you want. If you never get to a movie set then you’ll never finish, no matter how much you rehearse.
- If you’re a writer and you’re in a room full of books, you can read all you want and plan your writing and keep it in your head. If you never actually get in a room with tools to write and share your ideas, you won’t finish.
I’ve caught myself in this over and over and over, and am always reminded of some of Seth Godins wisdom: Write in the Editor. (Which I mentioned here, here, here, here, and here.)
While writing this post, I’ve found something that’s seeming to work well. (Until it doesn’t, then I’ll be on the lookout for the next perfect solution.)
This helped me focus on finishing this post. If I sit in here for 30 minutes a day then I’m confident I’ll be able to publish… something.
It constantly reminds me to focus on finishing.
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And as I was titling, categorizing, and tagging (all finishing actions) this post, I was further reminded that I’ve come to this same situation with the same conclusion in the past:
