It has been a year since this piece of land was created, and in this year, I have been updating my thoughts or learning at a rate of one article per month. In this year, I have also experienced various things and witnessed the rise and fall of various social phenomena. This article is a review of the writing themes of this year.
Writing is deeper thinking
Although I have nearly 20 years of education and have mostly engaged in intellectual work and maintained a reading habit after work, I often write long paragraphs of text during casual conversations with others. I have received encouragement and accepted rebuttals, but whenever I have to write a specific article, I always feel anxious and unable to find the right path. I often have to think for several days, and in the end, I still feel dissatisfied and unable to start. This is partly due to a lack of practice in writing skills and also related to my insufficient thinking and understanding of certain things. As for my monthly writing, I hope to discuss a topic in depth, and the process of writing is more about self-exploration for me. Many thoughts are constantly investigated, tracked, and pulled out while writing. Writing is a process that forces me to engage in deep thinking.
In the previous theme writings, I have been trying to show my thinking process and present some methodologies. I think it is meaningless to only provide the results of thinking for most people. Those are just pieces of information that we can easily search on Google and do not deserve to be memorized. What we need to understand is how others think step by step and deduce to reach a certain point. How others think may be the part we should learn.
If there is a lack of writing skills, we can read some books on writing methodologies targetedly, record the basic methods, and use them in each writing. Mastering four or five commonly used methods can help us write good texts, and in this case, we will be ahead of most people in writing. As for my own writing or other activities, I have summarized the following points:
- Don't be afraid, just start
Many times, we are not unable to do something, including writing. Even if the writing is bad, we can still write something. But why do most people not write in most cases (I'm talking about the situation where they want to write but never start)? Based on my personal experience, the main difficulty lies in the action of "starting writing." I call it the "germination moment." For example, I may have wanted to write an article for a long time, and I have even scheduled it, but the truth is that this task will be transferred from one day's schedule to the next day's schedule. The reason behind this is the tendency to avoid this task in my heart. I feel that it is troublesome, difficult, and requires thinking, etc.
How did I solve this problem? Just start directly, regardless of how bad it is, don't think about completing it at once, just start doing it. If we complete this step, it is equivalent to completing 30% of the task. Overcoming our emotional resistance and avoidance, we have already completed a large part. If we want to write about a topic, then write down all the content we can think of in paragraphs. At this time, you will find that you have already written so much. Based on these contents, we can continuously generate more questions and thoughts, solve existing problems, and state our own thoughts. With the gradual accumulation of content, we will be surprised to find that we have written a lot of words, and they are not bad. At this point, we have basically entered the rhythm of writing.
So, to sum up, when you don't know how to start writing, first let go of the idea that this task is difficult and needs to be avoided. Second, don't think about writing with clear logic and clear points at once, but write down your thoughts paragraph by paragraph, even if there is no clear main line. Third, you can follow the new questions and thoughts that appear in your own points and ideas, find more thinking, and record them.
- Writing structure is important
After going through the above steps, we can already see that we have written so many words. Of course, the texts in different paragraphs may have significant differences and jumps. At this time, we need to determine the main structure of an article. We can reread the existing paragraphs and think about what we want to express step by step, how to develop it, and create a mind map-like structure diagram of "what to express first, what to express later, and how to express each step."
When we have the structure diagram, we can sort the existing texts according to the structure diagram, and deal with the areas that need modification and improvement. Overall, this will result in a relatively good article.
Of course, some people may prefer to organize the structure of the article before writing. Then you may ask why we need to write down our thoughts paragraph by paragraph before organizing the structure of the article. In fact, in the process of writing down our thoughts, we are dispelling the consciousness of "writing this article is difficult." At the same time, the process of organizing fragmentary thoughts is also a process of rethinking the topic. If we are asked to think comprehensively and rigorously about the entire topic, we will definitely hesitate to start. It is precisely because we can freely record our existing thoughts that this operation is stress-free. At the same time, in the process of outputting seemingly scattered paragraphs, we deepen our thinking about the topic, laying the foundation for organizing the main structure of the article.
- Iteration and optimization are more important
Our cultural attributes influence us with the idea that "if you do something, you must do it perfectly, otherwise don't do it." Then, in the consciousness of most people, it becomes "if you can't do it well, don't do it." This leads to many people being unable to start because they want to achieve perfection. In my experience, no matter what, just start and make improvements along the way. For example, if we want to go 20 kilometers away, we may start by walking, then buy a bicycle when conditions permit, then a motorcycle when conditions are better, and finally a car. The most important thing is to start writing and then optimize it repeatedly. The idea of trying to write something good at once is the most terrifying obstacle.
Don't be afraid to start writing because it may not be good, but there is one thing to be cautious about: don't wait for inspiration to come before starting. I know some people who believe that writing is an expression that emerges from inspiration. But I think writing is more like a craftsmanship. By constantly writing and revising, our perception and control of words will continuously improve, enabling us to express and think better. Inspiration is not a specific attribute; it is something that needs to be accumulated continuously. Our perception, contemplation, and understanding of the world, silently and for a long time, gather into inspiration. Writing more with words and building our own sources of inspiration in writing is what we should do.
- Learn from top masters
In this era, there are too many things that can disturb our minds, making it difficult for us to think deeply and explore. We may spend three or four hours watching short videos but rarely spend an hour reading an academic book. We often deceive ourselves by saying, "I am watching knowledge-sharing videos." But the knowledge we learn from spending a lot of time on short videos may not make much difference to us. These pieces of information can be searched at any time and do not require us to memorize them. It is just a reason for us to justify our avoidance behavior while avoiding thinking.
We not only need to know a certain piece of knowledge, which is just the result of someone's thinking. What we need more is to learn how others deduce from a phenomenon step by step to reach a conclusion, what thinking process they use, and how they argue. We need to learn how others explore the essence of things through phenomena and what paths they take. Only by learning these can we have our own thinking and draw conclusions when facing different situations.
Speaking of this operation, many people may wonder where to learn from. In fact, reading the works of top masters is a good method. For example, if you are interested in market economy, search for the top masters in this field and read their works. After reading them, you will basically become a half expert because the works of these masters revolve around a problem and deduce step by step to reach a conclusion. In the process of reading, we follow the author's thinking and subtly form a thinking method.
At this point, someone may raise the question, "It is too difficult to read academic works at first." I have also encountered this situation. In this case, we can read books that interpret the works and then read the original works. Be sure to read the original works. Reading should not be rushed. Reading a good book carefully is better than simply reading several books.
Rethinking writing
Unconsciously, a year has passed. In this writing process, I have expressed my thoughts and exploration of the world. Many viewpoints may have changed from when I first wrote them, but this is also what attracts me. It shows that our thoughts are growing. It is like a tree, constantly absorbing nutrients from the outside world and growing new branches, reaching out to unexplored areas.
But I am also trying to write down some content that is not easily eroded by time. This requires delving into the underlying layers of things, exploring the more essential and foundational aspects. In this process, I have also exercised my cognitive abilities and expanded my approach to problem-solving. If writing has any meaning, I think the most important thing is that writing is a process of "seeing myself." We understand things in the outside world, learn various knowledge, and explore things in writing, all of which constantly help us gain a clearer understanding of the world. This understanding comes from the self within us. In writing, our self is constantly developing and growing. At the same time, we also see our own existence more clearly through writing, discovering its strengths and gradually accepting its shortcomings. This process is "seeing myself."
Recording the present
As individuals, we are small and insignificant. I particularly like watching documentaries. From the universe to animals, from humanities to food, the more I watch, the more I feel the insignificance of myself as an individual and the transience of life. But it is precisely because of this that I cherish the short-lived beauty even more. Life is a journey with a hundred-year deadline. How should we live to make life worthwhile? This is a question worth pondering. I don't want to live only for the material desires and ethics of survival. The process is important, and the meaning is important.
For me, writing is a record of my true life. In the digital age, like the mighty river, I am just recording the existence of a real individual here, a living person's "slice of the present world."
Reading List:
Books:
- "Elevation"
- "Five-Dimensional Thinking"
- "Decentralized Society: Searching for the Soul of Web3"
- "Economics of Common Interests"
- "Model Thinking"
Courses:
- "Chen Chunhua's Management Knowledge Course"
You can also find me in these places:
Mirror: Hoodrh
Twitter: Hoodrh