Thread by @jmikolay

@david_perell is halfway to writing 100 articles in 100 days.

Here's my latest summary of his last 15 articles, distilled from 8,000 words to 800.

Installment 2⃣: David's Big Ideas on the Creative Process, Knowledge Management, and Effective Writing

If you want to start creating, but you don’t know where to begin…
🔷Start with curation
🔷Give yourself license to experiment
🔷Gather links and write recommendations
🔷Differentiate yourself by adding commentary
🔷Add an interpretive layer to the links you gather

Curate your intellectual environment…
🔷Collect information
🔷Notice small details
🔷Start to recognize patterns
🔷Classify the world in unusual ways
🔷Stand out with your vivid personal monopoly

Open your eyes to secrets hidden in plain sight…
🔷The secrets you find are those you’ve earned
🔷Earned secrets are more abundant than we think
🔷Find new ideas by venturing beyond the media’s narrow gaze
🔷Investigate the expansive realm of forgotten stories

Remember, progress is combinatorial…
🔷Build on the best ideas of other people
🔷Seek people with a disposition for originality
🔷Surround yourself with people who are missing an imitation gene

Absorb knowledge so deeply it becomes a part of you…
🔷You don’t reach a state of mastery when you know everything
🔷Study others’ techniques until they become part of your identity
🔷Copy the work of your favorite creators so you internalize their wisdom

Admit you’re still learning…
🔷Assume you’re not original
🔷Ask questions and listen more
🔷Focus on what you need to improve

Don’t run away from complexity…
🔷Don’t dismiss your ignorance
🔷Do the opposite: look for things that don’t make sense
🔷Find chambers of knowledge most aren’t privy to
🔷That’s where the gold mine is

Transform existing ideas into epiphanies…
🔷Original ideas are an emergent property of studying other people’s ideas
🔷Change their substance by blending them together
🔷Find further connections and add them to a master list
🔷Discover a narrative only you can write

Quick, write down your epiphanies…
🔷Capture your best ideas
🔷If you want to think deeper, write more
🔷If there’s not much to add, move on

Make creativity a conscious way of being…
🔷Creativity tends to arise in a state of relaxation
🔷Relaxation is preceded by long periods of focused thinking
🔷Creativity favors the unfocused and unconcentrated mind

Create conditions for creativity…
🔷Leave the logical realm
🔷Enter an imaginative one
🔷Clean the windows of your mind
🔷Synthesize ideas you’ve been thinking about

Create conditions for creativity…
🔷Calm your mind
🔷Hear yourself think
🔷Remove yourself from the drama of entertainment and the pings of technology

Shatter the chains of writer’s block…
🔷Close your computer
🔷Get outside and wander
🔷Don’t steer your thoughts
🔷Put your intuition in charge
🔷Create space for the big picture

Find fresh ways to present timeless ideas…
🔷Surprise people with a fresh premise
🔷Present common knowledge in a new way
🔷Focus on high-level generalizations instead of dense historical details
🔷Don’t commit the sin of triviality, where ideas are original but irrelevant

Express ideas only you can write about…
🔷Communicate what experts miss
🔷Find ideas other people can’t discover
🔷Make connections beyond words themselves
🔷Synthesize public information in new ways, either because of obsessive research or a unique eye

Create a Story Box…
🔷If a story makes you say “Wow,” save it
🔷Add your favorite stories from books, articles, and podcasts
🔷Save ideas before you know what to do with them
🔷Save ideas that resonate in addition to ones that are immediately useful

Scroll your Story Box whenever you want to write…
🔷Look for themes and make connections among the stories you
🔷Feel the creative turbocharge that comes with having a Second Brain
🔷Make the most of the intellectual serendipity you’ve created for yourself

Be crisp and direct…
🔷Keep your readers engaged
🔷Make your prose more concise
🔷Give an epiphany every 250 words
🔷Increase the regularity of “Woah, I didn’t know that” moments

Make your writing personal…
🔷Build upon stories and emotions
🔷Establish a connection between you and your readers
🔷Orbit around experiences you’ve seen with your own eyes
🔷Help readers engage with your ideas and share them with friends

Make your writing observational…
🔷Notice patterns other people miss
🔷Look for things that don’t make sense
🔷But don’t be so observational that your writing is dry

Make your writing playful…
🔷Add a shot of fun and enjoyment
🔷Use silly words and inside jokes
🔷Use examples that engage all five senses
🔷Light up your readers’ imaginations with concrete metaphors

Practice analytically, perform intuitively…
🔷Question how the game is played
🔷Learn how unreliable your intuition can be
🔷Use technology and analysis to recalibrate your feel
🔷Find your baseline and then let yourself be an artist, not a machine

Find Installment 1⃣ here...

https://twitter.com/jmikolay/status/1310617554189275136?s=20

Find a Big Idea Summary of David's tweets here...

https://twitter.com/jmikolay/status/1263475761153036294?s=20

And for the next 55 or so articles, follow along here...ageofleverage.com/100

And if you like Big Idea Summaries, hit the follow button and sign up for my newsletter!

letter.substack.com