THREAD: I didn’t start participating on Twitter until I was 40 years old.

When you learn things in your 40s, it’s not too late to pretend like you figured them out in your 20s.

Here's 1,000 words on what I’ve learned about writing, creativity, and putting yourself out there:

People have been building tools for thousands of years to free you to do more creative work.

Do it.

If you have enough curiosity, attention, and time,

No one can stop you.

Everyone on the internet is asking you the same question: what have you done for me lately?

The internet rewards people who enjoy what they're creating.

The internet rewards people who take remote control of your attention.

The internet rewards people who publish more that people who prepare to publish.

When things get hard or complicated:

-Get started. It’s the hardest part of any task
-Keep going. Success is inevitable through hard work over time
-Challenge yourself. Joy and duty are one and the same

The way Paul Azinger describes Tiger Woods in this video is the way I feel about great creators and performers in any field.

They raise their work to an art form, and every one of their “shots” carries extra integrity.

For example: @jackbutcher @ljin18 @gregisenberg

Don’t define “your niche” at the outset; just start sharing.

The more you share, the more you interact with like-minded people and discover about yourself.

I've learned more about myself by participating than I ever did consuming.

If you worry less about your creative outputs and more about your creative inputs,

The outputs will take care of themselves.

Write two pages about anything. Don't use the verb *to be* (No am, is, are, was, were, been, or being.)

Those two pages will change the way you look at writing forever.

Watching or reading something a second time isn't just twice as effective, it's ten times more effective.

No one cares about the last thing or the thing before that

The main thing is the next thing

Simply make outputs faster than you deplete inputs

Success in four steps:

-Share ideas in the spirit of helping others
-Apply ideas in a continuous cycle of learning
-Create things from the things you’re consuming
-Capture less value than you create

The closer we observe the more we learn
The more we learn the more interested we become
The more interested we become the closer we observe, in a virtuous circle.

Don’t write about new interests; write about new forms of old interests.

Successful founders are optimists living in the future.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." - Helen Keller.

“One must see it, not as it is, but as it will be.”
-Carl Becker

When your creative process stalls, read a classic book on any random topic.

"Usefulness is not impaired by imperfection. You can drink from a chipped cup." -Greta K. Nagel

How to be creative and happy:
-Preserve what's important to you
-Discover what's important to others
-Forget everything else

Taking notes on the quality work of others associates you with quality work. Before they created their own masterpieces, some of the best writers of the past 150 years started by writing book reviews.

Today the options to do the same are unlimited.

The first and second laws of the internet:

Be Helpful
Be Yourself

Top performers listen more intently than the average person, and they’re more selective about what you’re listening to.

My favorite people on Twitter are curious, optimistic, enthusiastic, resourceful, imaginative, forward-looking, and kind.

If you want your writing to feel rich, get rid of things.

If you want self-education, write.

Knowledge decays with an alarmingly short half-life.

We underestimate how much information we forget day to day. Think of the last podcast you listened to, then try to remember five things you learned.

Then skim this summary of a single conversation. https://twitter.com/jmikolay/status/1381635288238325761?s=20

“Take bets until you find one that goes nonlinear.” - @naval

“Ask yourself, ‘Can I give more?
The answer is usually “Yes.’”

-Paul Tergat, distance runner, Olympic champion

Great observers can't help but create.

On the internet and in real life, good writing is valuable writing.

“When you wrote a paper, did you fail the paper if you didn't change what the teacher thought?” -Larry McEnerny, Director of Writing Programs, University of Chicago

Most of the value in writing comes from compressing what's there, not adding something new.

Don’t spread ideas too thin. Instead, concentrate them.

Otherwise, in the words of George Kennan, "The assailant weakens himself as he advances."

Put your own stamp on the information you consume.

Active content creation comes from active content consumption.

To quote Kirby Ferguson, “Creativity comes from without, not from within.”

Creative victory is the ability to publish again and again.

The naturalist John Muir, Father of our National Parks, philosopher and writer, looked at the world the way creators look at books and the internet...

Be kind to yourself.

“Eventually, all things merge into one,
and a river runs through it.”

Norman Maclean
1976