Happy 4th of July!
I have decided to change the focus of this blog. Now it will just be my personal blog where I will write about any topics that strike my fancy.
Today I created a website dedicated to increasing our liberty called American Revolution 2.0.
I will also be updating my Experimental Living website in the near future. This website is dedicated to self-experimentation.
Enjoy.
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I have always been a very left-brained, math & science type of guy. I used to always get high 90s in math & science classes and low 80s in English and social studies types of classes. Not surprisingly, my first college major was aerospace engineering, and my second major was computer science. Unfortunately, this type of technical ability doesn’t generally lend itself to good writing. Writing never really clicked for me. I absolutely loathed writing essays, and I particularly hated essay tests. I ran across an old high school essay a few years ago, and I was pretty shocked. My writing ability was awful! I couldn’t believe that I was the one who actually wrote it!
I have obviously improved quite a bit since those days. I have received quite a few compliments from people who actually know me pretty well but didn’t know that I could write. It’s actually not all that surprising that they didn’t know I could write, because I have never written a book, or a magazine article, or published a paper, or done anything that exposed them to my writing before I started blogging.
The interesting thing is that I never intentionally set out to be a good writer. It kind of happened by accident, and it happened slowly over time. The Internet, combined with my argumentative nature, made me a better writer. I spent so many hours on Internet message boards crafting persuasive arguments that I eventually became a good writer. One thing that I found extremely helpful was that I felt far less pressure when I wasn’t trying to write to please a teacher.
I don’t claim to be a great writer. I’ve never taken writing classes or read anything on being a better writer, but here are some strategies that have been helpful in making me a better writer.
Strategies for Improving Your Writing
1) Read a lot. I think that this is very important. The more that you expose yourself to the writing of talented writers, the better you will be at writing. I read non-fiction almost exclusively, but fiction would probably work just as well. Books that are less technical in nature are the best for this purpose. This will also help improve your vocabulary and give you a better understanding of the proper usage of words and phrases.
2) Practice. I won’t use the hackneyed cliché that practice makes perfect, because I don’t believe it. The practice needs to be deliberate if you really want to improve, and you will never be perfect. It helps to have something to motivate you to improve. In my case, I was motivated to make more persuasive arguments, and writing well helps you do that.
3) Don’t worry too much about structure. I used to stress out about how to write an essay. I used to worry about the damn rules that my English teachers taught me about how to structure an essay, etc. I used to worry about how to properly prepare an outline. It’s sad how much agony that I would put myself through because I didn’t know the “proper” way to write, whatever that is. I don’t worry about that anymore. I just focus on getting my point across. I just get an idea and run with it. Rather than worrying about structure, I just think of the best way to organize my thoughts, and I let this organization dictate the structure.
4) Write naturally. This is one of the most important strategies that I can recommend. I used to spend a lot time worrying about how to word something, but now I just write like I speak. Your writing should just flow naturally and be conversational in nature. There is no need to be fancy. I personally find it annoying when writers try to write at a level that is above their conversational ability. It just feels very forced and fake, and it distracts from the point being communicated.
5) Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. One of the surest indicators of a poor writer is a work riddled with grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. Many people downplay the importance of these factors, but I think it is a huge mistake. These errors are highly distracting and disrupt the reader’s chain of thought. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a grammar Nazi. I often end sentences with a preposition when it sounds natural in the situation. The biggest weakness that I notice in most writers is the improper use of punctuation. Punctuation is critical in letting people know when to pause and in giving people visual cues to separate different thoughts. The lowly comma can be especially useful in telling people when to pause, but it is omitted surprisingly often.
6) Give your writing the “smoothness” test. After you have written something, test it for smoothness. Good writing flows smoothly. If you can’t read it fairly quickly, it probably fails the smoothness test. If you feel like you are stuttering and stopping as you read through what you have written, then you should probably try to find a better way of wording it, or you might need to improve your usage of punctuation. I am a voracious reader, so I tend to read very quickly. One of the things that I have noticed is that poor writers always force me to slow down my reading pace quite dramatically. The punctuation, grammar, spelling, and usage are all so bad that I have to go back repeatedly and figure out what the person is trying to communicate.
That’s pretty much it. I just try to make my writing natural and smooth. I let the organization of my writing naturally follow the organization of my thoughts. To the chagrin of English teachers everywhere, I’m willing to break the rules whenever I damn well please if it feels right. I have probably made what some people consider to be grammatical and punctuation errors in this blog post. I’ll get over it.
Just go with it.
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From around the Web
Zen Habits – The end of busy
Dumb Little Man – 11 Inspiring Life Lessons from Bruce Lee
A List Apart – Habit Fields
The Seattle Times – Long Beach woman who lived frugal lifestyle leaves behind $4.5M
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This Week’s Posts
06/03/10 – Why It Matters What Other People Think of You
From around the Web
Fast Company – Why Change Is So Hard: Self Control Is Exhaustible
Lisa Sonora Beam – Cutting the Crap: A Way to Clear Clutter Forever
Becoming Minimalist (Guest Post: Jeffrey Tang) – Minimalist Connoisseurs
Paul Buchheit – What to do with your millions
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The conventional advice that you hear constantly is to not be concerned with what other people think about you. In one sense, it doesn’t matter what people think. If Joe Blow doesn’t like the way you dress, or doesn’t agree with your political beliefs, or thinks you talk too much, it probably doesn’t matter much, so the conventional advice is reasonable. However, in another sense, you should be concerned with what other people think of you, because if enough people that know you have a particular opinion of you, it’s probably pretty accurate.
“What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson-
Every day you exhibit certain behaviors, and they tend to be pretty consistent. People observe these behaviors and make an assessment of your personal characteristics. It’s not a conscious thing. It’s just something that humans naturally do. All your behaviors communicate the type of person you are. If you behave a certain way consistently, it reinforces in people’s minds that you have a particular characteristic. If you occasionally act inconsistently with your normal routine, it won’t be enough to change people’s minds about what you are like. If you behave very inconsistently on a routine basis in a particular area, people will likely have a very fuzzy opinion of how to characterize you in that area.
We each have character traits that we value, and we each have character traits that we hate. We don’t always act consistently with the traits that we value, and we don’t always avoid acting consistently with the traits that we hate. What traits have you communicated to others through your consistent behavior? If a stranger asked a good friend of yours what you were like, what traits would your friend say that you have? What traits would immediately come to mind?
If you value focus, do you think others would characterize you as a focused person? If you value determination, do you think others would say that you are a determined person? If you detest laziness, do you think others would say that you are lazy?
It is often difficult to give ourselves accurate self-assessments, but sometimes it helps to step outside of ourselves in order to get a more objective view. Think about things you do or say each day. If you were another person, how would you perceive your actions and words? If you are feeling really courageous, you can even ask people how they would characterize you in certain areas. Just make sure that you don’t give them pain for telling the truth, even if it isn’t what you want to hear.
The idea behind this exercise isn’t to make ourselves feel bad. The idea is to get more accurate information about what our character traits really are. It’s about finding areas that we think we need to improve on, not because others think that we need to improve, but because we want to improve for ourselves. It’s also about discovering specific ways to improve in these areas. For example, ask yourself, what would I need to do to be perceived as a focused person? What would I need to do to be perceived as a determined person? What would I need to do to be perceived as a cheerful person?
What behaviors can you start performing on a consistent basis in order to get people to begin thinking of your desired character traits when they think of you?
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This Week’s Posts
05/27/10 – Succeed by Failing Massively
From around the Web
Steven Pressfield Online – Do It Anyway
Far Beyond The Stars – 27 Reasons Why You Should Never Have a Job
Seth Godin’s Blog – Multiple dumbnesses
Step 1 Minimalist – Why You Should Write Your Minimalist Manifesto
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I’m going to go out on a limb. I will bet that you couldn’t walk on the day that you were born. Assuming that you can now walk, you became successful at walking by failing MASSIVELY. You got up. You fell. You got up. You fell. You repeatedly failed over and over again. Eventually your persistence paid off. You began to walk more and more and failed less and less. Without reading a single personal development book, you applied this success strategy to everything you did. You learned to speak, dress, ride a bike, and do all sorts of things by being persistent in the face of massive failure.
You Were Born Relentless…
As a small child, nothing was going to get in your way of learning how to be successful. Adults were wimps compared to you. Failure didn’t phase you. You just pressed on and tried again and again. You relentlessly took action over and over. Your ego never used failure as an excuse to quit. And it’s a good thing! Can you imagine if you gave up on learning to walk or talk or dress or feed yourself? Luckily, your parents encouraged the heck out of you. They smiled and cheered you on at your every attempt, and they praised any sign of improvement as a success. You linked pleasure with making an attempt whether it resulted in success or failure.
… and Then It All Changed.
Eventually, the party was over. As you began to get older, your parents began to cut you less slack. Failure became less acceptable. Your parents did this because they felt that they were protecting you. In some ways, they were. Unfortunately, the criticisms piled up over the years and conditioned you to fear failure. Now you fear failure even when it rationally doesn’t make sense. You are afraid to ask out the pretty girl or the handsome boy. You are afraid of speaking in public. You are afraid to ask for the sale. These are all actions that really can’t hurt you, but the fear of failure is deeply conditioned from childhood.
Okay, So Now What?
I’m glad you asked. It’s a very good question. It’s also a question that I don’t quite have a great answer to. Overcoming strong conditioning is difficult. We have to find a way to make failure less painful if we are ever going to have the relentlessness that we were all born with. We have to find a way to take our ego out of it. If we continue to take failure personally, then it is something we will continue to avoid, and there is simply no way to be successful without failing. A lot. If you can genuinely change your beliefs about what failure means to you, then your behavior will follow.
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This Week’s Posts
05/17/10 – The 90-Day Challenge: Weekly Status Update
05/19/10 – Are You Emotionally Attached to Your Stuff?
From around the Web
Psyblog – The Psychology of Attention
Psyblog – Boost Creativity: 7 Unusual Psychological Techniques
The Art of Great Things – What to Do When You’re Lost – 6 Ways to Conquer Uncertainty
Steve Pavlina – Forming Intentions
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About two months ago, I read a post on the miss minimalist blog that pondered:
“I’ve often wondered, if the place I live was suddenly struck by political unrest or natural disaster, could I walk out the door and leave everything behind?”
I thought that this was a great question. I asked myself, what if all of my stuff was destroyed? Or stolen? Or if I had to abandon it?
The answer that popped into my brain surprised me. I realized that in many ways I would be relieved! You might be thinking, “Are you out of your mind?” Not really. I don’t use the vast majority of my stuff. It just takes up space, makes things harder to find, and makes things harder to clean. I like space and find minimalist homes to be relaxing. My condo is pretty large for one person, and I think the reason is partly to store my stuff and still have a spacious living area.
I’ve already mentioned that I would like to get rid of most of my stuff, so why haven’t I? Part of it is lack of time and energy, but a large part of it is that I am emotionally attached to my stuff in a variety of ways. I don’t keep my stuff for rational reasons. That is why I would be relieved if my stuff was destroyed or stolen. I would be free of my stuff while being relieved of the guilty feelings of getting rid of my stuff. Plus, then I would get a fresh start. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a clean slate to start with?
Ways You Might Be Emotionally Attached to Your Stuff
1) Fear that you might need it some day. This is a common one. How many things have you owned for many years under the theory that you might need it someday? Ask yourself, how likely is it really that I will use this again? What will it really hurt if I don’t have it? Could I borrow the item temporarily? Or rent it? Or go without?
2) Hatred of throwing things out. This is another classic, especially for the older generation that was brought up to save and reuse everything. I’m definitely guilty of this as well. I have empty boxes and bags and stuff “just in case” I need it. I have things that don’t work that I’m going to fix or have fixed “one of these days.”
3) Guilt about getting rid of gifts. Admit it. You have stuff that was given to you as a gift that you don’t want and don’t use, but you feel guilty about getting rid of it. When you think about it, it really is a waste to hang on to gifts you don’t use when someone else might be happy to have it.
4) Feelings of overwhelm. You might have so much stuff that you don’t know where to start. I know that this has been a problem for me, and it continues to present a challenge. I need to stop worrying about how much stuff that I need to get rid of and just attack it consistently and methodically.
5) Feeling that you are supposed to have stuff. My family has given me decorations, paintings, plants, furniture, and all sorts of stuff because normal people have stuff, and I had little stuff. The funny thing is that although I appreciate the sentiment, I never asked or wanted any of it. I’m supposed to have stuff, so I have it.
6) Feelings of uncertainty about how to go about getting rid of your stuff. Should you sell it? If so, how? E-bay? Yard sale? Should you donate it? Goodwill? Salvation Army? Do they even want it? Where are they located?
7) Sentimental attachment. This one is almost universal. You probably have pictures and mementos and items that remind you of things. Some are probably buried in closets and won’t be looked at unless you happen to move or you stumble upon it accidentally while looking for something. If it’s the memory that you don’t want to lose, can you just take a digital picture of it and then get rid of it? Yeah, I know I’m a cold-hearted bastard, but it’s just a thought. 
What are some other ways that you might be emotionally attached to your stuff?
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Today is Day 47 of the 90-Day Challenge. We are just over halfway through it already. I have set 4 goals that I want to accomplish in 90 days:
This week I batted about 0.500. I worked on my e-book for several hours and began to completely revamp the format. I have basically decided to give up on trying to do 2 books, and now I am just going to set June 30, 2010 as my target date for my book launch. I still have plenty to do, and the biggest challenge relates to things that I still don’t know how to do, especially design a book layout that looks professional and set up a website to sell e-books. The other goal that I worked on was eliminating clutter. I have made quite a bit of progress on this front. I have said all along that Phase 1 would be eliminating clutter, and Phase 2 would be reducing my stuff. I might end up jumping the gun on Phase 2 and work on getting rid of most of my massive book collection.
I didn’t do anything towards the other two goals. My back is doing much better and feels like it was before I injured it again. I will probably begin walking again to slowly get some exercise. Nothing new to report on the dating front.
My energy level is much improved, but it is still far from ideal. Part of the improvement is from my body adapting to lower caffeine levels. I was drinking 4 cups of coffee and at least 1 cup of tea every morning. Now I’m down to 2 cups of coffee – one before work and one after I arrive. Then I’m done. I also did better about going to bed earlier.
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