This article has had such a profound impact on me that I find myself contemplating the idea of forming a regular writing habit on Substack. Through my personal experience, I have discovered that writing allows me to truly live and connect with the world around me. Each time I engage in the act of writing, I am immersed in a world of creativity, self-expression, and personal growth. Thank you Nix for the inspiration š¤
Thanks for sharing. One thing I found helpful is the habit of walking in the morning, without phone or clock, just the sound of birds and nature. I gather my thoughts as I circle my neighborhood and jot them in a notebook. It seems that when Iām in the house - the things of this world pull me in through distraction. Even though the phone is off or in another room, I can sometimes hear its voice.
I just started a new job, and havenāt written anything for a while. Mostly just wanted to give myself some space to adjust, and also try to cleanse the āgotta use everything at my disposal to get moneyā panicked feeling out. Thanks for this piece; it very much helps me align.
"Treat creative endeavors with as much importance as a job. Create writing groups. Set up rituals. Make time. Be paradoxically systematic in your life. View writing as an internal occupation." -> Loved this
"The right question isnāt whether you have enough time to write ā because there is logistical time for anything you properly prioritize ā the actual difficulty is allowing space for beauty, inspiration, and general insight. That requires so much space. It takes space between stimulus and response to hear your own voice clearly. To trust it. Direct it. To appreciate incremental improvements in quality, to develop good taste." -> entire para a banger
thank you for giving a sneak peak into your process and sharing the notes for other writers. This was such a good and helpful post.
hello! i just found your substack article by trying to google mine lol, and I must say I am in love with everything I read so far. It's always so fascinating to me to read stranger's works that runs so parallel to my own thoughts and personal experiences. Even the inputs you collect and the quotes you share run very close to the network of people I look up to. Looking forward to more of your work. thank you
Great piece. For me it's simple, as soon as I'm on my laptop with my coffee and ready to start the day, I'll spend the first 30 minutes writing. If I don't feel like writing anything worth publishing I'll open my Obsidian and write for myself, whatever comes to mind.
I was thinking about this 'you have to turn up thing' in relation to e.g., yoga, running. I can't determine - from about 2-3 hours of reddit - whether it's actually good to run when you don't want to (e.g., your knee hurts). There are compelling arguments on either side. But with writing the case is generally represented in a much more black and white way; e.g., however much you don't want to write - especially if you don't want to write - you should, you must. Which is fine, but I wonder if this analogy has any legs; e.g., that if you write when 'it hurts' you will wound your ability to write later, you will deepened the hurt, just as you might by running too much with a painful knee (the analogy being: the brain is a muscle, or is like a muscle, or something like that...)
I was going through an internship when I got the idea of starting my substack which was totally unrelated to the work I was doing and I definitely needed to pen the ideas down :p
You've inspired me so much to write and simply write and get better at it. Love your pieces, thank you!
āIt means turning up humbly again and again to the matā is such a perfect descriptor. Itās how I believe the entirety of our lives are best lived.
Thanks for sharing your process on writing. It's really insightful to see how you make the jalapeƱos I saw this chess quote on Agadmator's youtube channel where he has one insightful quote over every chess game he analyzes something along the lines that excellence is better than perfection.
I'm working on finding balance in writing and working but I must write early in the morning before work. Thanks for sharing your process, it helped me think of a routine for me.
This article has had such a profound impact on me that I find myself contemplating the idea of forming a regular writing habit on Substack. Through my personal experience, I have discovered that writing allows me to truly live and connect with the world around me. Each time I engage in the act of writing, I am immersed in a world of creativity, self-expression, and personal growth. Thank you Nix for the inspiration š¤
Thanks for sharing. One thing I found helpful is the habit of walking in the morning, without phone or clock, just the sound of birds and nature. I gather my thoughts as I circle my neighborhood and jot them in a notebook. It seems that when Iām in the house - the things of this world pull me in through distraction. Even though the phone is off or in another room, I can sometimes hear its voice.
I just started a new job, and havenāt written anything for a while. Mostly just wanted to give myself some space to adjust, and also try to cleanse the āgotta use everything at my disposal to get moneyā panicked feeling out. Thanks for this piece; it very much helps me align.
"Treat creative endeavors with as much importance as a job. Create writing groups. Set up rituals. Make time. Be paradoxically systematic in your life. View writing as an internal occupation." -> Loved this
"The right question isnāt whether you have enough time to write ā because there is logistical time for anything you properly prioritize ā the actual difficulty is allowing space for beauty, inspiration, and general insight. That requires so much space. It takes space between stimulus and response to hear your own voice clearly. To trust it. Direct it. To appreciate incremental improvements in quality, to develop good taste." -> entire para a banger
thank you for giving a sneak peak into your process and sharing the notes for other writers. This was such a good and helpful post.
hello! i just found your substack article by trying to google mine lol, and I must say I am in love with everything I read so far. It's always so fascinating to me to read stranger's works that runs so parallel to my own thoughts and personal experiences. Even the inputs you collect and the quotes you share run very close to the network of people I look up to. Looking forward to more of your work. thank you
Great piece. For me it's simple, as soon as I'm on my laptop with my coffee and ready to start the day, I'll spend the first 30 minutes writing. If I don't feel like writing anything worth publishing I'll open my Obsidian and write for myself, whatever comes to mind.
I was thinking about this 'you have to turn up thing' in relation to e.g., yoga, running. I can't determine - from about 2-3 hours of reddit - whether it's actually good to run when you don't want to (e.g., your knee hurts). There are compelling arguments on either side. But with writing the case is generally represented in a much more black and white way; e.g., however much you don't want to write - especially if you don't want to write - you should, you must. Which is fine, but I wonder if this analogy has any legs; e.g., that if you write when 'it hurts' you will wound your ability to write later, you will deepened the hurt, just as you might by running too much with a painful knee (the analogy being: the brain is a muscle, or is like a muscle, or something like that...)
I was going through an internship when I got the idea of starting my substack which was totally unrelated to the work I was doing and I definitely needed to pen the ideas down :p
You've inspired me so much to write and simply write and get better at it. Love your pieces, thank you!
P.S.: I did launch my own substack :)
this makes me want to continue writing what i left longgg time ago. thank you, i enjoy your newsletter a lot!
"Ordinary moments are made divine by the fact that they are happening in this particular moment in time."
This right here. It's always the smallest, simplest of moments that I remember most.
amazing
Loved this - āBut in return you must be disciplined in creating space for creativity. ā
āIt means turning up humbly again and again to the matā is such a perfect descriptor. Itās how I believe the entirety of our lives are best lived.
Never got a chance to run on the pier, but ran around UC Berkeley and def felt like my heart was gonna burst. Hills be tough
Thanks for sharing your process on writing. It's really insightful to see how you make the jalapeƱos I saw this chess quote on Agadmator's youtube channel where he has one insightful quote over every chess game he analyzes something along the lines that excellence is better than perfection.
I'm working on finding balance in writing and working but I must write early in the morning before work. Thanks for sharing your process, it helped me think of a routine for me.