How to Use Writing to Sharpen Your Thinking | Tim Ferriss

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Summary Key Points: - Write to freeze your thoughts and look at them in a different way whenever you want - lawyers are great at that as they are trained and skilled at looking and thinking about every word and its' meaning - writing is rewriting - 2 scrappy pages per day minimum of writing, brain vomit, worthless - then revise them in at least 3 rounds, first for yourself, second round of edits, for his fans who would love it, third round for the critics who will be twisting everything - ask people to highlights parts that are unclear - if something makes you wonder highlight it - if you doubt it take it out - indicate the 10% I should keep no matter what - if I had to cut 10% what would you cut - Writing systematically and revising systematically will help you in becoming a good and skilled writer - Writing is the most important practice

"They can love it, they can hate it, but it should not confuse anybody." Great philosophy for anything creative/artistic

Writing has pulled me out of severe depression in the past. Listening to your podcast Tim saved my life. Thank you brother

Writing is a severely, and sadly downplayed form of art to really discover just who exactly you are. Thank you, Tim.

Summary: - Ferris credits much of the success he has had to writing and by constantly practicing writing - Writing lets you analyze your thoughts and sharpen them to ensure your statements are not confusing - very difficult to do in your head - Write 2 pages a day, even if they are crappy, that way you set yourself up for improving the next day - Rewriting is key Rewriting: - When rewriting, first rewrite for yourself, then rewrite based on what your fans want, and lastly rewrite based on how critics will twist your words/sentences - Also have professional writers proof read your work - lawyers or people with legal experience are excellent substitutes - People can love or hate your work, but it should not be confusing - remove any confusing words or sentences - When rewriting be aware when your mind is wandering while reading - it can indicate the current part is too slow/boring - When in doubt take it out

Thank you. My husband is absolutely brilliant at everything, very intimidating, and now I can see what has been helping him. He constantly types out any realizations and thoughts he has. He says that it helped him gain so much clarity on life and where he is going in general. I will also be trying out these morning pages.

I’ve been writing in my journal every night for the past few years and doing morning pages since the beginning of the year. It has definitely made me less anxious, helped me worked out problems, and focus my days.

Writing is truly a gift that we can all work on. Thanks for the video Tim.

That's good, I prefer sitting in my car a having a two way conversation with myself like a crazy person. Worked out a lot of shit that way.

Just as a photograph captures a moment we cherish, writing captures our thoughts in the moment, helping gain clarity on our thoughts. Writing down our thoughts also helps take the load off our mind from things which may stress us out. Writing regularly helps us become more articulate n analytical, thereby helping in problem solving.

I keep a diary since one year, I found one a year ago I wrote when I was 10 and it was absolut gold. Diaries get crazily precious with time, everything you write isn't worthless after 10 years. This reflect my mind cause I'm an historian...

That’s awesome Tim. Thanks for sharing. Using the CUB review is also great. Asking somebody to read and mark the parts of the text that are CONFUSE, UNBELIEVABLE or BORING. The reader don’t need a technical background for that.

I just love how you, Marie, and many of her other guests inspire us and make everything more manageable. Thank you so much for being you out loud for us!

I'm not a professional writer, but these tips really resonated with me and have given me some new ideas to try in my own writing. I would also include YouTube comments, Twitter replies and all other written communications in the "two crappy pages a day". Going back and re-reading your writing a day wiser and with other people's feedback, reactions and consequences presents a valuable lens through which to improve your writing and communication. I imagine looking back through your old videos and listening to previous podcasts has a similar effect. I think it's key to take the layered approach to editing as Tim suggests; be open to receiving feedback at every stage, from different sources and viewpoints, but balancing it fairly with your vision and intention for that writing.

Jordan Peterson has explained this exact same thing a few years ago. Though he deliberately focuses on writing essays to improve critical thinking skills. He even provides awesome guidelines on writing good essays.

Thank you Tim. You are my best mentor and inspirational person on this quarentine. You dont have an idea how you help me so much. I am such alone at home, no cellphone, no TV, but now I have my blog like you and I am writting every single day and learning English with your podcasts. Thank you. I respect you and I love you so much!

Thank you Tim. I've been practicing writing for long time, and it has proven for to be a tool which sharpens my thought into concrete ideas, action plans, revealed my past mistakes, and much more. It's like zooming in and out at the same time, so I notice details I haven't noticed before, and I also saw the bigger picture. Highly recommended.

Thanks Tim! I was writing the first couple months of the year and have gotten away from it the past few weeks. I've noticed my meditations haven't been as deep and there's been an underlying feeling of disconnect recently. Figuring it was the isolation or possibly because I've been watching the news again (gag), I keep on keeping on. In this morning's meditation, I could feel a push back toward my pen and paper. I love the serendipity that I wasn't looking for anything regarding this subject and you arrived on my screen. No accidents! Be well brother!!!

Thanks a lot Tim! I’ve been meaning to start including writing into my daily practice and this makes it much easier to get started