16 Apr 2025 #writing
For almost 5 years, I wrote and only heard crickets.
Then, everything changed when I bought my first writing course and started taking writing seriously, not just for fun, but something I was committed to improving.
I started to see more likes, comments, and shares on my content when I started doing these three things:
1. Study writing subskills
There’s more to writing than just typing.
Writing is a set of subskills to master: headlines, introductions, outlines, storytelling, copywriting, cliff-hangers, and conclusions.
I took a notepad and wrote a list of 10 writing skills I wanted to learn. Then I started working on each of those subskills one by one.
Instead of long and boring introductions, I started using one-sentence openings to attract readers into the rest of my writing.
2. Hand-copying to go to the writing gym
“Writing is learned mainly by imitation”—Writing to Learn by William Zinsser
I started copying sample pieces by hand as an exercise to learn enough copywriting to be dangerous. But I also applied it beyond copywriting.
When we write by hand, we’re forced to slow down and notice and absorb patterns. So next time, we sit down to write, we’ll have those patterns in the back of our heads.
Grab a post or a book section from your favorite writer and copy it by hand. These days, I’m hand-copying some of James Altucher’s books.
Copy, imitate, and then adapt it to your own style.
3. Tell more stories
“Let Wikipedia spit out facts, you have to spit out stories”—Tim Denning
There’s a reason why a Wikipedia article or a scientific paper sounds soulless and emotionless. They’re full of facts. They’re written for a selected few. They’re not written to be remembered.
The easiest way to make our writing memorable is with stories.
I could tell you, “No job is safe.” You’ll probably nod in agreement and forget it. But if I tell you, “The day my boss called me to his office and asked me to hand in my company ID, I learned there was no safe job.” Chances are you’ll remember the second one more.
We’re driven by stories. That’s what we’ve been doing as humans since we climbed down from trees and sat around the fire in caverns.
Thanks to sharing my stories from my past jobs, I finally saw traction with my writing. I finally got more than two likes and not just “Thanks for sharing” as comments.
If you want to stand out from AI-generated content, don’t just share facts. AI can generate facts. Only you can generate stories that connect.
15 Apr 2025 #misc
An owl blinking in a large forest made us all jump in surprise.
It was back in 4th grade.
We all were sitting in a large conference room while a guest teacher disassembled a computer. He took every part, showed it to the class, and told us its name.
# # #
That year, the school competition was to build a computer out of recycled materials.
I built mine with boxes and Styrofoam. OK, when I say “I built,” I mean my mom or my aunt. I don’t remember exactly who. My display was made with an old X-ray image.
We exhibited our computers on tables in the school hall while a group of teachers walked around taking notes, trying to find the most creative one.
I didn’t win the competition. My X-ray display wasn’t enough to win.
But after the competition, I put my computer on my desk at home. I pretended to work with it. Sometimes I still pretend.
# # #
After putting all the parts back in place, the guest teacher turned it on.
We all jumped in surprise. We started pointing at an owl blinking in a large forest. After a few seconds, the forest became an enchanted house with bats flying around. I was frozen sitting next to my friends, staring at that thing. Whatever it was that thing.
It was an animated wallpaper. LOL. It must have been Windows 95 or 98.
# # #
I don’t remember what happened to my first computer ever.
But, fast forward a few years, we had our first real computer at home. Or my second one.
It was a Windows 98 computer with a 56K internet connection plugged into a wired phone line. Oh! The famous buzz when we picked up the phone while my dad was connected to the internet. The days of Yahoo and Altavista.
Only my dad used the computer because “it wasn’t a toy.”
We had to restart the computer after every minor configuration and every software installation. We used a protection filter on our displays. They were almost radioactive. And after using it, we put pajamas on our computer before going to sleep. Dust was its arch-enemy.
My favorite wallpaper was an astronaut jumping around in outer space. That was Windows 98.
And that’s how old I am.
14 Apr 2025 #writing
1. Title your reaction posts with “Re:”
I’ve written response or reaction posts before, but I named them with my own titles. Yesterday I found this idea to use “Re:” in titles for response posts.
2. Make your urls easy to pronounce.
I already learned from Derek Sivers to write short and memorable URLs. But this time, I also learned to make them easy to pronounce. For example write URLs using “dash,” which is easier to pronounce than “underscore.”
More blogging tips? Here are two tips I’ve been following. They’ve helped me keep my daily blogging streak.
13 Apr 2025 #writing
Imagine stepping into a restaurant, only for the waiter to say, “You don’t seem to have enough money to eat here.” Would you stay? I know I wouldn’t.
Never, ever, blame your readers.
That’s a mistake I’ve learned to avoid in my own writing, especially when writing sales copy for landing pages.
Instead of blaming your readers, make them feel heard and understood.
The other day, someone tried to sell me access to an online community and shared his landing page. The headline? “You didn’t go to Harvard. You didn’t apply to McKinsey.” He was trying to sell leadership coaching.
Another day, someone shared the landing page of a fiction writing course he was preparing. The headline? “You don’t know how to tell good stories.”
I didn’t want to continue reading past the headline of those two pages. I felt like a schoolboy getting on the bus, walking down the aisle, hoping for someone to smile back—only to be ignored or bullied.
A headline should attract the right audience.
But we should attract the right audience without making them feel dismissed or rejected.
Someone who feels dismissed or rejected stops reading, and worse, they won’t buy.
A couple of alternatives for those landing pages:
- “You don’t need to spend 4 years and pay Harvard tuition to be a leader people want to work with.”
- “It’s hard to tell good stories. I tried plenty of templates and frameworks. None of them worked. Until I learned this method.”
Boom! Just like that, no more pointing fingers at the reader. Would you keep reading if those two were the headlines? After all, nobody likes being blamed.
12 Apr 2025 #coding
“Do anything to wake up the experts.”
That was a phrase we repeated at a past job. We were building a gateway-like software to connect small companies to the Government’s tax office.
It took us a couple of years to build a minimum viable product. We were behind the Government’s changing requirements and our own clients’ expectations.
We were late almost all the time. Often we knew we needed to finish something, but we weren’t sure what or how. Apart from emails or conversations with clients, we didn’t have clear requirements or specs.
In those moments, we woke up the experts.
To show some progress, we built on a quick prototype or a half-baked idea. Then, after looking at that half-baked idea, a stakeholder, project manager, or product owner, would speak up, saying that what we had wasn’t what was needed. Then, we started to work on a real solution.
When looking at a bad answer or a half-baked idea, it turned out everyone was an expert.
The fastest way to get a good answer is by giving a bad answer, by waking up the experts.
For more workplace lessons, check the leadersship lessons I learned from this project and the lesson from the most expensive hambugers I’ve tried