Introduction

I wrote a LinkedIn post this week comparing writing in the business world vs how we learned to write in high school.

It’s been fun these past 5 weeks starting this writing journey.

Writing is a great way to document my experiences.

To get thoughts out of my head.

To challenge my thinking.

To gain clarity.

Do my ideas make sense? Am I as clear and concise as possible? Is this the simplest method to communicate an idea?

I have found communication to be one of the most important life skills. Whether it’s navigating a relationship with our partner, dealing with aging parents, trying to sell a product / service, convince someone to join our company or even get some friends together for the weekend.

Life is constant communication with other humans.

It seems like those who can communicate the most effectively are winning. Albert Einstein has a great quote “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough”.

There are many ways to communicate: verbal, non-verbal, or visual. But I have found writing to be especially powerful for clear thinking and connecting with others.

5 Tips to Improve Your Writing

Shaan Puri and Sam Parr shared some fun anecdotes in their My First Million podcast to help us improve our writing and draw inspiration from unexpected places.

1. Practice Copywork

Copywork is the practice of copying written works. Literally. You sit down and write word for word what someone else wrote.

It sounds crazy, but when Sam compared it to becoming a musician, it made sense.

When first learning the guitar, we don’t start by creating our own music. First, we play other people’s songs and over time mix different rhythms and beats to form our own music.

Same goes for writing.

It can be a blog post, passage from a book, or article online you really like. Sam recommends doing copywork for 10-15 minutes prior to starting your own writing to help get the juices flowing and mind ready.

2. Use Rhythm in Your Writing

Sticking to the music theme here. Writing has rhythm too. Read the excerpt below. I highly recommend reading this aloud if you’re in a place to do so.

Every time I read this, I still think it’s so cool.

When in doubt, Shaan and Sam recommend always make shorter sentences. It’s easier to read. But as you can tell in the example above, throwing in that long sentence can really make an impact.

3. Storytelling

Storytelling is fascinating. I recently read Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks and it quickly jumped to my top 5 books ever.

As you can tell from my Tuesday newsletters, I’m practicing the art of storytelling. I plan on going deep into the topic in a future newsletter but today I’ll share a few tips from Shaan and Sam.

Great storytelling helps you connect with the audience. It’s about identifying what does the character want and what is in their way. Intention and obstacle.

Then establish stakes. What does that character have to lose? Sometimes that’s easy when your story is about a tragic car crash or an underdog winning the championship game. But the best storytellers establish high stakes emotion in a low stakes environment.

Larry David is one of the best at this in Curb Your Enthusiasm. He makes you feel like everything happening is the biggest deal in the world. See below for one of my favorites “The Chat & Cut”.

4. Study Comedians

Have you ever really studied comedians?

I love a good stand up routine just like the next guy/gal, but I’ve never really paid attention to how thoughtful every word, every sentence is in their routines.

All stand up routines start with great writing. There is so much to learn from their timing, storytelling, and persuasion. Next time you turn on Chris Rock or Theo Von, pay attention to the stories. How they set the intention, get you invested, and introduce an obstacle that gets in the way.

Dave Chappelle is one of the best storytellers out there. In his set called Unforgiven, he takes the audience on an incredible journey from a 14 year old boy getting bullied to the current day where he was being tricked out of millions of dollars by the TV networks.

If you have 20 minutes and want to learn expert persuasion, check out this clip.

5. Use the Hemingway App to Dumb Down your Writing

Someone analyzed every one of Warren Buffet’s annual shareholder letters from 1974 - 2022. They found the reading level of the letters started at a 10th grade level and went down to a 4th grade level. And the average words per sentence went from 13 to 7.

As the best investor of all time got wealthier and his businesses got more complex, he made his writing easier and easier for people to understand.

Hemingway allows you to plug your writing in and spits out what level reading it is and suggestions for how to make simpler.

My last newsletter about going to the National Championship was a 4th grade reading level. Whereas my newsletter on Long Term vs Short Terms games was a bit more sophisticated at 7th grade.

Final Thoughts

As of a month ago, I never considered myself a writer. And yet I have been journaling for the past 5+ years every day. But looking back, I have found it enjoyable and rewarding.

Just like any other skill, it comes down to consistent practice, incorporating feedback loops, and improving.

These guys shared some fun ways to learn and improve my craft. I’m excited to put it to use.

Try some of these out with me and let me know how it goes! We can become better writers together.

Thank you for reading! As always please reply and let me know what resonated, what didn’t, or what you question. I love chatting about this stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew