Why do I write online? [#55]

I've been writing online for ~15 months now (since December 2022)! That's pretty awesome. Anyway: I write online for a number of reasons:

1. I want to improve my writing
2. I want to grow my audience
3. I want to have a database of my thoughts

I'll explore each of them in detail.

1

I think writing is the best, most valuable, most transferable skill ever. If you're a good writer, you can:

• Communicate effectively with your peers
• Express your ideas clearly
• Persuade others with a strong written argument
• Craft engaging stories

Almost every job requires writing in some capacity, so you'll automatically become way better at your job if you improve your writing. Also: have you ever heard of skill stacking? Go take a second to read about it. Learning how to write well is one of the best skills to add to your stack, because writing well is extremely hard but can be extremely rewarding. So if you're a good writer, you can open up a ton of opportunities for yourself.

So how did I become a better writer?

Most people tend to think that writing ability is fixed. You're either a good, decent, okay, or bad writer. This is very wrong. Writing is a skill that you can drastically improve. You just have to put in the reps. You have to write and publish a lot of words. That's just how it is! My early articles sucked: every time I look back at some of them, I cringe. (I even cringe at some of the more recent ones!) But I've gotten significantly better after publishing 54 articles on the internet.

Writing is an excellent skill to learn, but you have to put in the reps.

2

We live in a crazy world, because you are reading these words on this screen right now. I didn't have to give you a piece of paper with my handwriting on it. You can just open ntnbr.com/55, and read the article on your phone, or tablet, or computer, or... idk... Apple Vision Pro.

My point: you can share your ideas with billions of people thanks to the power of the internet. It's so much easier than it was in the past. Back 30 years ago, if you wanted to publish a book so that people could read about your ideas, you had to do this:

1. Write the book
2. Go find a publishing company
3. Actually convince them to publish your book
4. Work for months with a whole team to edit your book
5. Wait for more months for the printing company to print your book
6. Success!

If you want to publish your ideas nowadays, you can do this:

1. Write the book (or a blog article, or whatever)
2. Put it on your blog or website
3. Success!

See how much easier it is nowadays? Plus, the internet has made it possible for people on the other side of the world to read your ideas. That was almost impossible 30 years ago.

If you're a good writer, have good ideas, and write online, you can grow a huge audience because of the power of the internet. If you have good ideas, you should write about them on the internet. There is virtually no downside to writing about your ideas online (unless you write about super controversial topics), but the upside can be crazy.

People like David Perell and Tim Urban have accumulated a massive audience and achieved great success just because they have good ideas and they write about them on the internet.

It's certainly not easy to build an audience by writing, but it can be extremely rewarding.

3

If I want to share ideas with my friends, or have them read about my thoughts on a certain topic, I don't have to reconstruct or re-explain my thoughts. I've likely already written about them on my blog! As a sidenote: I really like having convenient URLs. All of my articles have an accompanying number, so article #6 is ntnbr.com/6. (This makes it super easy for me to remember most of my articles.)

Also, there's something really valuable about having a database with all your best ideas and thoughts. You can revisit that database anytime you like. Once you write about a great idea you have or a fun thing you experienced, it's there forever! You'll never forget it, because it's in writing, and you can reread it as many times as you want and share it with everyone.