How to become a ridiculously good writer
文章目录
Over the last 5 years, I've written articles and newsletters that have generated millions of views.
But I wasn't born a naturally gifted writer.
Here are the 3 things that made the biggest difference:
Writing is one of the most valuable skills you can learn. So why is it so damn hard?
If you want to launch a digital product, good writing is non-negotiable. It’s literally what determines whether an audience will even stop scrolling to give your product a chance.
And even outside of that, writing is a huge skill. It’s how you articulate yourself to your friends, family, and colleagues, and based on how you express your thoughts, you shape whether they will be well received or not.
I can really relate to a lot of struggling writers.
Because what ‘seems’ like it should be one of the most straightforward skills can actually be freaking hard to get right.
I've thought about why, and I've narrowed it down to three main blockers.
Blocker 1: having something to write about (lol)
There will be times when you sit down to write, and you just have no idea what would be interesting to post. You had all these good ideas pop up in your mind the last few days when you were doing other things, but when it’s time to start, poof, they vanished.
Blocker 2: actually writing that in a way that reflects what you’re TRYING to say
Or maybe you do know what to write, and for whatever reason, it’s just coming out all wrong. It reads more like a Wikipedia page than a story of what you actually experienced and went through. Maybe you bring in AI to help, which feels good in the moment because you feel like you’re making progress, but suddenly you have something that sounds 0% like you.
Blocker 3: making sure your readers actually understand you
Maybe you do have an idea, and you write about it and think you've captured your story perfectly. As far as you're concerned, the writing makes perfect sense. But when someone else reads it, they struggle to follow what you're saying. You've used terms they're unfamiliar with, skipped over explanations or assumed they know things they don't. And the worst part? You might not even realise it, because everything makes perfect sense to YOU.
In this article, I'm going to share how to overcome each of these blockers.
So that the next time you sit down to write, you know what to write about, how to communicate your ideas clearly and how to make sure the people reading actually understand what you're trying to say.
Whether you're building an audience, launching a product or simply trying to communicate better, these are skills that will serve you for life.
Give your brain a chance to be creative
It seems harmless.
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Scrolling through YouTube shorts, TikToks, Instagram reels.
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Watching hours after hours of Netflix in the evenings to ‘unwind’.
Pick your poison.
Most of us have one in this day and age. For example, I personally can’t resist a good cat video.
But here’s the thing.
The problem with constantly consuming content is that you rarely give your brain a chance to come up with ideas of its own.
Think about it.
You wake up and check your phone. You listen to a podcast while getting ready. You scroll through X during lunch. And when you finally get home, you put on Netflix.
At what point did you give yourself a chance to actually THINK?
And then you sit down to write and wonder why you can't come up with anything interesting.
This is why I think good writing starts before you even open your laptop.
You need to give your brain some breathing room.
A few things that have helped me:
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Reduce the amount of time you spend doom scrolling on social media.
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Swap some of your evening screen time for reading.
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Go on walks, runs or outings without constantly checking your phone.
And when an idea does pop into your head, WRITE IT DOWN.
I have a running notes document on my laptop where I capture ideas as soon as they come to me.
Because I can't tell you how many times I've had a great idea, convinced myself I'd remember it, and then completely forgotten it.
Summary
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Reduce the amount of time you spend consuming content.
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Give yourself some phone-free time to think.
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Have a system to capture ideas immediately.
Want to take your writing to the next level?
Some context on where this comes from.
I’ve been writing for 5 years. I wrote and edited a paid newsletter with over 30,000 subscribers, then ghostwrote 40+ articles for a content creator that generated millions of impressions. Over the last few months I’ve published 10 articles on my own account, which have done 276,000 views.
There’s only so much I can fit into one article, so I’m hosting a live writing workshop for people building an audience on X or Substack.
I’ll take you through my process for coming up with content ideas, turning them into long-form articles, and giving your writing the best chance of reaching more people. There’s time for Q&A, and you’ll leave with real templates you can use on your next piece.
Wednesday 21 October, 4:00 PM UTC. 90 minutes. Recording sent to everyone who signs up. $39.
Click here to join the workshop
Regard every piece of writing as a transformation
Your long-form writing can feel like a Wikipedia page sometimes if there isn’t a clear story.
This story does not need to be some J.K. Rowling level universe.
It’s really just a ‘before’ and ‘after’ type journey.
You want to paint a clear picture of what your life was like BEFORE implementing what your writing covers and what it was like AFTER.
Some examples:
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Fitness. Perhaps before you started exercising 2 times a week you felt low confidence. You skipped social events because you didn’t feel good in your own skin. Afterwards, you felt proud of yourself and were more likely to accept social invitations.
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Career. You were stuck in a job you hated and didn’t get any interviews when you sent out applications. You kept changing your CV and finally found a format that landed. And you got a few interviews.
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Investing. You used to spend all your income and have nothing left for investing. Until you built a good method for saving money and budgeting. Then you were able to invest 10% of your income each month.
Notice how none of these were necessarily extraordinary achievements. I did it like this on purpose. Because I’ve spoken to a lot of people that want to write and are worried they aren’t an ‘expert’. You don’t have to be. You just need to find one thing you’re better at than you used to be.
Here's how I like to structure it:
Section 1: The old way
Explain what you were doing before and the problems it was causing you.
Section 2: The new way
Show what changed and the benefits you experienced.
Section 3: The mechanism
Explain exactly HOW you went from the old way to the new way.
For example, if you're writing about fitness:
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Old way: You weren't exercising, felt insecure about your appearance and avoided social events.
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New way: You started exercising twice a week, felt more confident and became more social.
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Mechanism: The specific changes you made to build that exercise habit.
My experience is that a lot of people jump straight to section 3.
But when you do that, the reader doesn't understand why they should care.
The old way helps them relate to your problem.
The new way shows them what's possible.
And THEN they're interested in learning how you got there.
Summary
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You don't need extraordinary achievements or expertise to write something valuable.
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Take readers on a journey from the old way to the new way.
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Explain the specific steps that helped you make that transformation.
Dumb it right down
This one is going to sound weird.
Why on EARTH would you ‘dumb down’ your writing?
Blasphemy.
And I get it. At school and university, we're taught to write with DEPTH and complexity. To showcase our knowledge of a particular topic.
Pull out all those quotes, facts and figures from the USSR to write the most compelling history essay.
Let's go socialism, Marxism, proletariat, bourgeoisie, five-year plans, dialectical materialism. The whole lot.
And then in corporate, you almost have to learn complicated language to 'join the club'.
When I first joined banking, I remember being totally perplexed.
There were so many acronyms. I felt like everyone might as well be talking another language.
I sat in meetings and genuinely had no idea what people were talking about.
“Let’s make sure we track the EBITDA for the AR, account for the FX exposure, reconcile the P&L, and flag any discrepancies in the EOD report before the next QBR.”
I was writing the minutes and just praying they made sense to other people who spoke this strange language.
And after a few months, I started speaking their language too.
The problem? When I eventually started writing on X, I brought that same complicated language with me.
My writing was so complicated that it was alienating my audience.
The exact same way I felt alienated when I sat in that meeting room taking the minutes.
Here's something that helped me.
When you're writing, imagine you're explaining something to the OLD version of yourself.
Before you knew all the technical terms, frameworks and systems you know today.
Would that version of you understand what you're trying to say?
If not, simplify it.
And if you find that you can't explain something simply, that might be a sign you don't understand it well enough yourself.
Go back, do some more research, and then try again.
The goal isn't to sound smart. It's to make sure the reader actually understands you.
Summary
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Write for the reader, not to impress them.
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Imagine explaining your ideas to a younger version of yourself.
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If you can't explain something simply, make sure you understand it properly first.
Good writing isn't about using complicated words or having some extraordinary story to tell.
It's about having something worth saying, figuring out how to say it and making sure the person reading actually understands you.
And like any other skill, the more you practise, the better you'll get.
One last thing
If this was useful, the workshop goes considerably deeper.
90 minutes, live, on finding ideas worth writing about, turning them into long-form articles, and giving that writing the best chance of reaching more people. Q&A at the end, and you’ll leave with templates you can use straight away.
Wednesday 21 October, 4:00 PM UTC.
