What to Write When You Don't Know What to Write

Issue #6

Hi guys,

This is the sixth issue of the newsletter. For the first five, I had absolutely no problem coming up with a topic to write about. But for some reason it’s different this time. Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep or drink enough coffee yet, or maybe I have just completely run out of things to say!

Fortunately I know The One Productivity Hack To Rule Them All - just start.

For many people, not knowing what to write seems like a pretty reasonable excuse to not write anything. But through years of self imposed procrastination torture I’ve learned that the hardest part of any undertaking is getting started.

There is nothing worse than a blank page.

When I’m writing a new piece of music, a lot of times I’ll roll a 12-sided dice or flip a coin to have some low-level decisions made for me. If I don’t know what to write I let random chance choose a key, tempo, sometimes even the first two notes. It’s infinitely easier to edit and modify something than it is to create it out of thin air. So as soon as I have two random notes I can decide if they feel right, if they have a need to continue, if I want to change them in some way. And then I’m off and running.

I put off starting a YouTube channel for years, even though I always had a feeling it was something I would enjoy doing. Recording that first video felt super awkward and uncomfortable. But when I finally said “screw it” and turned on the camera, everything else fell into place. When I recorded my most recent video the other day I felt completely relaxed, and I’m already looking forward to the next one!

If only I had started sooner, I’d be how much farther ahead? If only you wrote the first note, first word, first whatever of the project living in your mind, how far ahead would you be?

So in some sort of meta situation, just starting to write something for this week’s newsletter was inspiration alone for what to write about.

Until next time,
Ryan

This Week’s Recommendations 🤔

1. 📼 Channel - How to ADHD

   

   Last week I read a post on Reddit from someone who was struggling with motivation, and one of the comments was "check out HowToADHD on YouTube". I checked it out myself and How to Know if You Have ADHD caught my eye so I opened it up, but then got pulled away by something else. Five hours later I open the browser on my phone and there's that video about ADHD that I forgot about, so...
   
   How to ADHD is a great channel. Entertaining, informative, and making a difference for people. There was even an article written in the New York Times about it a few weeks ago! There is a quote from the article that stood out to me about the value in creating a shared language among the community:

   “Mr. Rogers had a whole bible of rules for how he used language on his show,” she said. “According to my community, one of the most helpful things I’ve done has been to give people the language to describe their challenges and the strategies.”

   The host Jessica McCabe is lively and funny, and has given me some ideas about how I'd like to improve for my own channel. I think it's worth checking out a few videos even if you don't have ADHD; you probably know someone who does!

2. 🧠 Service: mymind - The extension of your mind

   

   I have tried many bookmarking services over the year, the one that probably got the most use is Evernote. Unfortunately, things are easy to get into Evernote but difficult to get back out. So lately I've been trying out mymind and am pretty happy with it so far.

   There are some kinks that still need to be worked out, but in general the visual appeal is great and the auto tagging is incredibly valuable as a time saving device, or if you’re like me and want to do as little maintenance as necessary.
   
   I still have a few invitations left if anyone reading this wants to give it a try!

3. 📹 Video Series - 60 Seconds to Roam

   

   Last week I shared Roam Untangled, a beautifully crafted and in-depth course on how to use Roam Research. This week's recommendation about Roam is almost the opposite!
   
   60 seconds to Roam is a new video series from Mark McElroy that moves just one topic at a time in minute long chunks. As great as a deep course is for getting a solid understanding of a topic, sometimes this little bite size items can be great too. Especially with something like software where you might just want a reminder on how to do a single specific thing.
   
   Mark is relatively new to YouTube like I am, and it's inspiring seeing his video quality improve as each new episode comes out.

What I’m Reading 📚

1. Name, Place, Animal, Thing by Lux Narayan

   

   A man has a midlife crisis and finds ways to reconnect with life. The reviews for this book were great, but I’ll admit I’m not that into it. I don’t think the writing is very believable (the dialogue feels so over-written and not at all like how real people talk to one another).
   
   But it’s relatively short, and since I’m lukewarm but not cold on it I think I’ll power through to the end.

2. Designing the Mind by Ryan Bush

   

   A blend of mindfulness, stoicism, and rational thinking, Bush pushes the metaphor of our brain being a computer to the extreme and suggests that all of our thought patterns are algorithms. Understand the algorithm and you can reprogram it.
   
   It’s more fun to read than the other one, maybe just because it “feels smart,” but I’m not sure how much I’m going to end up taking away from this book in the long run.

This week’s video 🎥

How NOT to develop a musical idea