Timeless ideas are rarely online. So why write?

Why am I becoming less consistent (as a writer)?

i think the best part is at the end. go there if you’re in a hurry.

about consistency

Consistency is such a cliche term in the world of blogging. Every writer ever, when asked about their secret to success, will mention the word “consistent” or its synonyms. Myself included.

I didn’t just stop at writing about “being consistent”, I went as far as teaching over 400 people how to be more consistent with their writing, and creating communities to help them stay consistent.

Understandably, consistency was my key to success in the blogosphere. I was a terrible Literature student. None of my Literature teachers (nor my mom) believed that I could write more than 5 coherent sentences.

I used to be terrified of writing, not to mention writing in front of thousands of people 🤣

I only got better at writing because I was forcing myself to churn out essays once every week in the first year, then twice or thrice per week in the past 4 years. More than 500 blogs were published. 100+ per year on average.

This writing did not come from talent. It came from discipline (synonym: consistency).

As a new blogger, consistency gave me 2 things:

1. More opportunities to learn from my work: more blogs = more reps + more data = better. For me, becoming better is the byproduct of being consistent.

2. More memorability for the audience: nobody will remember a new writer who only writes once a year. Showing up consistently is the surest way to remind people of your existence.

When you’re new, being consistent is the most important and controllable factor in growing your skills and your audience.

Consistency took me here 👇

first year being a full-time writer (and founder)

In September 2023, I became a full-time writer and founder.

If I were to look back at my first year in this role, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t happy with the quality of writing I produced - and the quality of life I was leading.

Under the immense pressure of time and money, I was able to produce more “classic”, long-form work this year than any other previous years combined. I built a kick-ass lifestyle, balancing creative work and business. My daily mornings are reserved for business and afternoons for writing. I was healthy, productive, and creative - all at my peak.

To consistently produce high-quality blogs, I must constantly do 2 things:

1. LEARN A LOT to better understand and explain the world, and

2. REFLECT A LOT to better understand and explain myself

Even though my learning curve was VERY STEEP as a writer, I’ve reached a point in writing where I’m no longer excited about “going to work” aka writing every day.

In the past month, I’ve noticed a few things:

• I’m getting bored of the newsletters and podcasts I’ve always been enjoying. My creative inspirations are no longer inspiring me.

• I’m gravitating towards different, more sociable, creative projects like making videos or planning PR campaigns with my team at MỞ.

• I’m getting more interested in learning timeless ideas from great books than producing timely content on okay blogs.

These, together with the soon-closure of MỞ, are signs (and conditions) that I’m transitioning from a Creator to a Creative / Artist soon.

from “The Creator to Creative Ladder”

With no financial or branding pressure, I will soon enter my Creative phase - to create whatever and whenever I want. I will soon only put out work that I’m 2000% proud of.

Writing, soon, will be something I do purely for my exploration that my readers (if any) are free to join.

It is a privilege to be here. But it also required A LOT of hard work to be here. It took 5 years and 500 blog posts. It took showing up every week to read, learn, take notes, write, ship, gather feedback, and repeat. It took building and leading a team. And then a community of more than 1,000 people.

So yes, I feel like I deserve this upcoming promotion 😎

I’m excited to teach “How To Be A Creator” one last time with Writing On The Net #7. But after that, please expect to hear less from me. I’ll only show up when I have something of real substance to add 🫶

But really, I’m becoming less consistent because 👇

Timeless ideas are rarely online

They’re usually hidden in books that fundamentally change how people think, feel, and act.

Take Farnam Street by Shane Parrish - one of the most popular newsletters on Earth - for example, if you’ve read Shane’s book “Clear Thinking”, I bet you wouldn’t need to read any weekly newsletter from Farnam. The fundamental principles are already in the book. The newsletters are just distribution channels for the book, sprinkling fragmented ideas from the fundamental principles.

The same thing applied to “Atomic Habits” and James Clear’s newsletter - 1 is the timeless idea, and the other is the distribution channel.

There are, of course, a few exceptions like Paul Graham’s “Do Things That Don’t Scale”, Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 True Fans”, Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail”, etc. that actually created paradigm shifts (how A LOT OF people think, feel, and act). The other 99.99% of online writing belongs to the “old things repeated” camp.

As someone who’s been writing in public for 5 years, repeating myself countless times in the process, I found fewer and fewer timeless ideas to be explored and written about.

Jason Zweig, The Wallstreet Journal’s legendary columnist, once wrote:

My job is to write the exact same thing between 50 and 100 times a year in such a way that neither my editors nor my readers will ever think I am repeating myself.

[…] I don’t ever expect to convert all my readers to my viewpoint. I would be a fool to think I could. But I’d be a worse fool if I ever stopped trying.

Like Zweig, I fully understand the benefits of repeating timeless ideas, packaging them in different formats, and reminding people (and yourself) of the valuable lessons.

But I no longer have the energy for it :)

I’ve given that energy, hopefully, to my 400+ students from Writing On The Net.

I hope they will continue my legacy, continue writing consistently, continue delivering values they believe in, to everyone they interact with, online or in person.

I hope my writing, if they continue to be spread, will find the right audience, at the right time.

I hope online writers will never stop exploring timeless ideas, and delivering them in a timely manner.

Not everyone has read The Lean Startup, The Long Tail, Clear Thinking, The Almanack of Naval, or any other books you consider “classic” or “fundamental” to understanding the world. Not everyone understands these principles or has even heard of them.

So it is your duty, as a blogger, to write about them. Because someone, on the Internet, desperately needs to read it.

What’s known to millions, is unknown to billions.

Great Blogging = Timeless Ideas + Timely Delivery

If you still have energy, keep writing :)