#18 Three Ways to Drastically Improve Your Writing

-

For the last one and half years, I have been trying to improve my writing. A majority of my time is spent thinking about writing rather than actually writing. Writing is a skill and it can only be improved by practicing. Not just practicing but continuous consistent deliberate practice. Thinking about improving the writing will only help you get so far.

In order to make real improvements to your writing, you have to write. So in this article, I will share with you 3 ways you can follow that will drastically help you improve your writing skills.

1. Write Every Single Day

Nothing can beat consistency. Our brains are designed to get better at things that we do on a consistent basis. When it comes to writing, I don’t think there is a better way to practice writing and get better at it than writing every single day. It doesn’t matter what you write, how much you write, and the quality and clarity of your writing. As long as you create a system for writing and follow it every single day without excuses, you are good to go.

2. Follow the 2-1-3 Rule

This is a rule that I have created. It essentially means that for every one hour you spend writing, you should spend 2 times more time thinking and planning and three times more time reading, analyzing, and editing your writing. Writing is basically putting thoughts on paper in the form of words. And for that process to be easier and more effective, you need to give it some time. That’s why planning is a very crucial part of good writing. And writing is the art of editing. Every great writer in the world is not only a good writer but also a great editor. Spending as much as three times more time reading, analyzing, and editing your writing than the time you took for actually writing can and will surely help you understand your flaws, your strengths, and ways in which you can improve the next time.

3. Write Publicly

When you know that people are gonna read what you write, you will be more careful and you will put in more effort to make your writing as best as you can. Writing privately in a note app or a personal diary is good but that will do very little in helping you grow as a writer. If you want to get drastically better at writing, you need to share with the world what you produce and get real-world feedback from real people. In the information age of the internet and social media, it’s easier and simpler than ever to write something and share it publicly. Platforms like Quora and Twitter are great for sharing your writing with the world.

Writing is not easy but it is not that hard as well. If you know what you should do and you are willing to do it with courage and patience, you can get better at anything so can you with writing. I hope the three ways I mentioned above will help you become a better writer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#19 To Write Better, Think More Clearly

-
One of the most frightening things about writing is the very act of sitting down to write. Most of the time, we have a clouded idea about what it is that we want to write and we have a vague plan for writing it down. But when we sit down to write, our minds go blank and we feel stuck. The scenario mentioned above happens to me all the time. In fact, that is the very reason why I procrastinate on writing most of the time. I have a huge list of ideas and threads I have written down as bullet points and headlines that I want to write about in the future. But whenever I select one topic or idea and set out to write about it, I feel stuck. I don't know where to start and how to start. Recently, I came across a tweet and it was like an eye-opener for me. The tweet essentially conveyed the idea that the clearer your thinking is, the easier it would be for you to write. I immediately understood the problem I was dealing with for a very long time. I felt a great sense of relief and I knew...
Read more

#14 The Doer's Mindset

-
  Everyone wants to live a better life. But when it comes to setting goals and working on them, most of us, including myself, often fail miserably. At the same time, there are some people among us who do achieve what they set out to achieve, no matter what. They say what they will do and they do what they said they would do. Nothing stops them from pursuing their goals and dreams. It has always fascinated me seeing someone stick with a routine for long enough until they reach where they wanted to be. It drives me crazy to see those hardworking people at the gym who hit the gym consistently without any excuses and build those stunning abs. While we are here, wishing, daydreaming about a distant goal, and doing nothing about it, those people work hard and make their dream a reality. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what makes them, the doers, different from us, the wishers, and I have come to a profound observation. What makes the doers different from the wishers is not the...
Read more

#6 Motion vs. Action

-
Why do most of the smart people in the world fail to achieve success and in life? We know that to be successful, there are some things that need to be done. It is only by doing those things that one achieves success in whatever area they are working on. What are those things that need to be done? First, we should have a clear idea about what it is that we want. It can be making 10,000 $ a year or losing weight or become a good friend or a husband, whatever it may be. This is the result that we want to enjoy and the endpoint we want to reach. Most people are really good at this step, at knowing what they want in life. Now the second stage is the learning and planning stage. This includes learning about the business from various sources if starting a new business is your goal. This includes reading about a new diet plan if losing weight is your goal. And comes the last and the toughest part which is taking action. This is where you do something about what you have learned. This is th...
Read more