TLDR:
- Ask yourself, “what makes you want to get the ball rolling?” What problem is it you have that you badly want solved?
- You have to keep putting the reps in, and develop consistency and discipline in the process. In fact, they both go hand-in-hand in my opinion: if you have the discipline, the consistency comes as a domino effect.
- Seek feedback from the people in your circle who are also interested in the same thing you’re doing. Also look to expand it with likeminded people who are on the same journey as you, and especially those who have walked the talk and have achieved the outcome you desire.
- To get smart, keep your mind fresh by constantly engaging in high quality conversations with the people you’ve expanded your circle with. Not only will you never be out of ideas, but your hunger for curiosity will never be satiated.
- Journal your thoughts at the end of the day, trying to answer the thoughts that were constantly lingering throughout the course of the day with all the information and intellect you’ve assimilated that has led you to obsess over this thought. You’ll be transcending to the next level, and you won’t even realize it.
A 3-step framework applicable to anything it is you’re doing
“Get going, get good, and get smart.”
Ali Abdaal says this phrase 20 seconds into the preview of the How I Write podcast by David Perell episode uploaded today.
Immediately after hearing this, it got me thinking about how this was essentially the framework I subconsciously had in mind when I started a newsletter in a niche I really wanted to publish creative content in.
Obviously then, I had absolutely no idea that this was a part of my vision to improve my craft of writing, but hearing this gave me the opportunity to look back and reflect on how I interpreted it all this time.
It never occurred to me until today that such an instinctual drift was innate even in vastly successful people such as himself.
Ali explains it eloquently himself during the episode, but I’d like to give my own take on how I believe this can be a universal principle that can be applied across any domain that crosses your mind.
Get going
What makes you want to get the ball rolling?
For me, it was intellectual curiosity, specifically one that was born out of desperation to improve my technical understanding of the niche.
To do so, what came to mind was to write on topics I was interested in and formally convey my thoughts and my personal take on it, with prose that was well-setup and organized to make it as easy as possible for the reader to coherently understand what I think about that topic, and why have I formulated said opinion on it.
As Paul Graham and Michel de Montaigne would say, I was basically writing to try and figure something out, with essayer being the French verb defined as “to try,” and the essai meaning an attempt.
But this principle certainly isn’t limited to just writing in my view. What problems do you currently have which no one but you can solve?
That is the perfect way to get the ball rolling, in hindsight that is how I got my ball to roll.
Get good
This is pretty straightforward.
To get good, you have to keep putting the reps in, ensuring that you’re at least a bit better than your previous rep each time.
It’s all about developing consistency and discipline in what it is you really want to work on.
Most people don’t need this banged into their heads, but success won’t come overnight, particularly when you’re trying to occupy space in a very niche area. So you need to have discipline to persevere, and with it, comes consistency. Both go hand-in-hand.
On top of that, seek feedback from people in your circle who also have an interest in the niche you’re building something in every time. You don’t want to be that meme where the guy is having a conversation with a wall, or even worse, in an echo chamber you don’t even realize you’re in.
Also, look to expand your circle by being active in microcosms of that niche. If you’ve been able to develop a decent enough reputation in the niche, you’ll be able to expand your circle with like-minded people who are not only on the same journey as you but are at the end of the outcome you desire to achieve, and being able to establish such connections is well worth its weight in gold.
I was somehow deemed good enough to have somewhat of a reputation, so I was able to meet many such people, one of whom is my editor for whenever I still publish content in that space, and still in touch with everyone else to this day to rub shoulders with and continue to build my intellect in that space.
Get smart
Speaking of intellect, let’s talk about the last step of the framework: get smart.
They say that good writers change their opinions over time, something that perfectly center aligns with the Bayesianism philosophy.
Essentially, the process occurs as a result of recalibrating the lens of your outlook on life and everything you perceive by all the bits of information you’re assimilating.
That’s how I see it at least.
Of course, this principle can once again be transferred over to any domain as the Bayesian probability would tell you; it’s not limited to just writing.
For me, to get smart is to constantly be having highly intellectual and thought-provoking conversations with the aforementioned people in the previous section I’ve had the privilege to expand my circle so that you’re respecting your attention by keeping the mind always fresh with unique perspectives, rather than being open to digest whatever information it is you’re exposed to.
This way, your hunger for curiosity will never be satiated, there’ll always be some room left.
To complement this, I’ve also found journaling the thoughts you’ve had throughout the day right before you go to sleep and trying to answer them on your own based on every piece of information you’ve consumed and conversations you’ve had that’s led you to have this lingering question(s).
I see it as an exercise that can transcend you to the next level of what it is you’re working on, for you’re now becoming increasingly intentional and deliberate with every single action you take on a daily basis.
All of this is a part of my way I see how you can universally apply “get going, get good, and get smart.”