I think it's terrific - it's what I aspire to as a writer. Tough love, "suck-it-up-buttercup" advice. I used to dole this out regularly in real-life - when I was younger, I coached and raced at a high level as an endurance athlete for a number of years.
I've been writing in earnest for just about a year now - I'm a computer science prof. by trade and I write a lot about Tech/AI/programming, etc. I enjoy it but it's not what gets me the most fired-up.
Hence, I have been branching off into more lifestyle/personal growth stuff - and a few articles that I have poured my soul into have done really well (and some not so much). Which brings me to your writing knowledge and experience - how to do this kind of writing better - the deeper more from the heart style of writing that you do so well.
I don't like to suck, so I'm here for inspiration on how to do this better.
Brother from another mother. Almost 3 decades of training and coaching in bodybuilding and nutrition, built a following about nerding about it in public, and got to the point where it’s just draining me.
I’m more fired up about lifestyle, mindset and personal growth stuff and committed to that direction, but the engagement so far has been really mediocre compared to my writings about minor details about reps and sets.
I’m hoping that working on my writing skills + writing more often, will improve that.
These are great articles. If you don't get a lot of growth its probably because this is a very niche subject. These articles are like masterclass level opinions that only apply to 1% of people who actually workout. I like it because I am one of those.
I would suggest more newbie centric posts mixed in with these types. Also you could probably break these posts up into multiple posts.
Thanks for the energy you bring and the kick in the ass. This is the energy and effort I want to bring to my audience. I’ve spent a long time building an app for families to track their travel adventures. It’s time to focus this same effort on connecting with the people I want to serve. Building the product is the fun, easy part…it’s the writing and promotion I struggle with but what I need to do to have success.
Wow, this one was brilliant and really resonated with me!
But I found the following paragraph a little paradoxical - under "Don’t Do What You Love":
"An “interest” is even weaker.
A hobby is just as bad.
A passion is even worse."
You instead suggest being obsessed.
But how do you even become obsessed with something unless it starts off with some type of interest?
I know for myself that my obsessions are also what I’m the most interested in - i.e. that’s where it all started.
I wouldn’t say that I’m "passionate" about it, at least not anymore. I sometimes even hate it.
I’ve been pursuing my field (health, training, nutrition, mindset) for almost 3 decades and it’s all I know. It would be highly uncomfortable to transition into something else, and if I wasn’t even vaguely interested in it, it would be impossible.
I could probably make a lot of money if I was obsessed about the stock market.
Or real estate.
Or green juice detox cleansing, yoga and perineum sunning.
I’m obsessed about figuring out the "unfiguroutable" with the mind and body. It sometimes drives me nuts that there is so much contradiction in research and so much disagreement between experts, and that in turn drives me deep into rabbit holes, where I share my findings when I eventually manage to zoom back out.
What you said about it going beyond liking or enjoying resonates deeply with me, though.
So it’s just about picking something with a large audience and committing to it?
Not really what I was getting at. I’m very familiar with being uncomfortable, and I agree that I always got the most growth from it. But you endure pain because you know it may lead to something, it has a direction to it, and a drive behind it.
To reiterate my question:
How do you become obsessed with something unless it starts off with some type of interest? Maybe I didn’t understand what you were getting at - but what lead to you to become obsessed? A decision or a trigger/motivation, and if the latter - what triggered/motivated you to pursue writing?
Building a new life after accidental death of husband, which includes: the novel about my sociopath mother which has turned into a memoir of my childhood and life experiences in relation to my sociopathic mother instead, using A Moveable Feast by Hemingway as inspiration on how to configure the chapters (no plagiarizing, just HOW he wrote each chapter), planning to mount it on Amazon Vella. What do you think of Amazon Vella for non-fiction? I found a course which lauds Vella as a fairly non-competitive untapped market for NON-fiction.
PS. Forgot that Amazon Vella may possibly be counted as "short form" as it allows authors to mount one "episode" (chapter/essay) at a time...It's enabling me to not pressure myself to write the whole book at once, but to think in terms of one chapter or section or episode at a time. I know Dickens is fiction, but that's how he wrote: publishing one chapter of a new book in the newspaper (each week I think?)
it's not my first start lol. my writing life began when I was six, writing short stories and a couple of articles for our town newspaper, sending off short stories in college where i also wrote for our college newspaper. wow i didn't mean to sound like I'm tooting my own horn there! i actually didn't know what I was doing much except for the journalistic part. but i kept studying and writing both short stories and novel drafts, til at last Id created something long form that was also readable and self published first on Smashwords (now draft2digital). Even though there's more, I'll stop before everyone thinks I'm an insufferable bore! but I'm obsessed you could say, which is one of the important things you pointed out recently in Unfiltered. You're inspiring, Tim!
I got serious about my writing this year when my son confessed he’d never read anything I wrote. But he added, “but someday I’ll have time to read and even if you’re gone I’ll have all those words you wrote waiting for me.” Powerful stuff. Yes I can relate.
“Don’t do what you love like a fairy princess…” - brilliant but so opposite what career self help books have been panning to us for 2 decades. I’m inspired and numbed at the same time. So much to noodle on. Great post - thank you.
As usual you have a talent for clicking the right buttons.
I write about anti-patterns - I am writing a book Bob and Alice - anti-patterns in love, life and tech.
Am I obsessed?
F-k yea.
I'm obsessed with anti-patterns. The things people do that make them fail and they know it with the certainty of a man jumping off the 70th floor
My failures over time have changed me from a mostly-positive person to a uber-positive person that says f-k you to clients that annoy him and distract me from the mission.
I'm writing on my substack 1x/week and on Twitter and LI 2-3x/day
I'm building an offer for first-time founders - Push founders to success faster.
I am preparing of a job for a specific profile I like (In IT) , as for now I am just a fresher and from your posts I learn to put myself fully into my preparations and now I am going to quit being an average mediocore person. Thank you
Great post, Tim. You really do have a knack for informing and inspiring.
I related to so much here, but this line did it for me: “When you tie what you’re building to your mortality, it’s a gut punch that’ll knock the wind out of you.”
I write Money Talks for my 10-year-old daughter. It’s the blueprint I’m leaving her for how to be smart with money. I write two columns a week there and am forced to go deeper as you’ve described with every attempt. It makes a huge difference in my writing when I must think about my words she’ll be reading long after I’m gone.
Thanks for starting my Wednesday on a good note. Please keep it coming!
Thank you, Tim. I appreciate your kind words. I never knew my father and refused to allow my daughter to grow up like I had to. I moved to Chicago from Oklahoma City to be with her in 2017 after my divorce.
Anything I write about my darkest days I am proud of. Because it has required the deeper reflection you referenced.
In that vein, my best piece of writing at Money Talks was exploring my old drinking habits. Here it is if you ever want to read something of the sort. I’d love it if you checked it out! https://moneytalks101.substack.com/p/am-i-an-alcoholic
I only made it a few paragraphs in when I "needed" to write something down that resonated with me: "The words that resonated... need to use in my writing and my thoughts ... “obsession” “energy” “inspiring” this one trite" ... I keep a file for "inspiring thoughts" on my desktop to open at a moments notice to write things down to come back to when I need thoughts!!!
It is what I am doing and showing them that people comment about all the time. The painting in-progress shots and words telling them the small changes I made and why! This is my obsession and I believe energy that makes my work what I love.
Now I can go back up and finish reading your post.
My obsession is painting and teaching ... playing with the changes in my paintings and it shows up somewhat in my writing. The painting is the biggest one, and I give in-progress photos of the small changes ... minute changes ... that the words, the explanation, will tell, therefore show the viewer what I did. I teach a lot about painting, and those changes are important and many do not make them because they are small. I also should have said the obsession is somewhat with the words I use so people see the changes in the painting. Words then become an obsession as well.
I’m creating whatever I feel called to in my heart. Right now that’s on creativity, consciousness and self-realisation. Soon it’ll capture all that and be injected into a focus of complete Boundlessness. I know it’ll help people one day. How? The how doesn’t matter. The obsession matters more.
Ohhhh I love that you said that. Cannot agree more Tim!
I do mate! Just published a piece on it, it's quite in depth but it's been a huge part of my journey to encounter a guy named Dr. David Hawkins and his work (which I go into in the piece). In that piece I link to another Substacker, Scott, who does excellent work around consciousness/spirituality on here too :)
I needed this today.
Thanks.
What about this did you find helpful Brenda?
On point, again.
You piss me off, in the best way. More depth to aspire to. Keep it coming.
Thanks, Tim.
What about the writing pisses you off John?
Toungue-in-cheek.
I think it's terrific - it's what I aspire to as a writer. Tough love, "suck-it-up-buttercup" advice. I used to dole this out regularly in real-life - when I was younger, I coached and raced at a high level as an endurance athlete for a number of years.
I've been writing in earnest for just about a year now - I'm a computer science prof. by trade and I write a lot about Tech/AI/programming, etc. I enjoy it but it's not what gets me the most fired-up.
Hence, I have been branching off into more lifestyle/personal growth stuff - and a few articles that I have poured my soul into have done really well (and some not so much). Which brings me to your writing knowledge and experience - how to do this kind of writing better - the deeper more from the heart style of writing that you do so well.
I don't like to suck, so I'm here for inspiration on how to do this better.
Does that help? :-)
Brother from another mother. Almost 3 decades of training and coaching in bodybuilding and nutrition, built a following about nerding about it in public, and got to the point where it’s just draining me.
I’m more fired up about lifestyle, mindset and personal growth stuff and committed to that direction, but the engagement so far has been really mediocre compared to my writings about minor details about reps and sets.
I’m hoping that working on my writing skills + writing more often, will improve that.
Yup, sounds like the same dinghy. Thanks for sharing. I've given you a follow, let me know how it goes!
Love to see this sort of camaraderie John.
Hey Borge, can you link me here to your best work?
Ooff...my "best" work. Well, this is a long-form article that got a lot of great feedback:
https://www.borgefagerli.com/blog/secret-ingredient-muscle-growth-not-just-volume-its-you
This is an article which is more in the direction of where I want to take my writing - didn’t get as much traction, though:
https://www.borgefagerli.com/blog/discipline-key-to-transformation
edit: 3 of my best performing IG posts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3A5ubQqHZw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3W8VXZKK1o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4SujueqwMy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Taking a look at them right now Borge.
These are great articles. If you don't get a lot of growth its probably because this is a very niche subject. These articles are like masterclass level opinions that only apply to 1% of people who actually workout. I like it because I am one of those.
I would suggest more newbie centric posts mixed in with these types. Also you could probably break these posts up into multiple posts.
Helps a lot. Can you send me links here to some of the posts of yours that have done well?
Sure. Thanks, Tim.
Personal life, travel:
https://medium.com/bouncin-and-behavin-blogs/i-bought-a-one-way-ticket-to-nowhere-and-met-my-wife-d6f55dca0a2a
https://medium.com/travel-memoirs/finding-my-path-through-the-shifting-shades-and-colors-of-kelimutu-indonesia-6831a907cbce
https://medium.com/travel-memoirs/i-fell-in-love-with-my-beijing-tour-guide-1431ae12047a
Tech:
https://pub.towardsai.net/as-a-heavy-user-my-mood-towards-gpt-has-changed-heres-why-fc05d42059ab
https://pub.towardsai.net/gpt-4-advanced-data-analysis-a-beginners-guide-to-charts-and-maps-d59763487750
The last tech article (crazily enough) is my biggest earner on Medium at $620. The first personal article is #2 at $615.
John, these articles are so good. The first one is my favorite. Congrats on your success. Make sure to build your email list.
Hi Tim,
Thank you so much for taking the time out from what I am guessing is a pretty full plate to read them.
And for the positive encouragement and feedback.
Above and beyond.
Thanks for the energy you bring and the kick in the ass. This is the energy and effort I want to bring to my audience. I’ve spent a long time building an app for families to track their travel adventures. It’s time to focus this same effort on connecting with the people I want to serve. Building the product is the fun, easy part…it’s the writing and promotion I struggle with but what I need to do to have success.
The niche of travel is such a good one Chris.
Wow, this one was brilliant and really resonated with me!
But I found the following paragraph a little paradoxical - under "Don’t Do What You Love":
"An “interest” is even weaker.
A hobby is just as bad.
A passion is even worse."
You instead suggest being obsessed.
But how do you even become obsessed with something unless it starts off with some type of interest?
I know for myself that my obsessions are also what I’m the most interested in - i.e. that’s where it all started.
I wouldn’t say that I’m "passionate" about it, at least not anymore. I sometimes even hate it.
I’ve been pursuing my field (health, training, nutrition, mindset) for almost 3 decades and it’s all I know. It would be highly uncomfortable to transition into something else, and if I wasn’t even vaguely interested in it, it would be impossible.
I could probably make a lot of money if I was obsessed about the stock market.
Or real estate.
Or green juice detox cleansing, yoga and perineum sunning.
I’m obsessed about figuring out the "unfiguroutable" with the mind and body. It sometimes drives me nuts that there is so much contradiction in research and so much disagreement between experts, and that in turn drives me deep into rabbit holes, where I share my findings when I eventually manage to zoom back out.
What you said about it going beyond liking or enjoying resonates deeply with me, though.
So it’s just about picking something with a large audience and committing to it?
You say it's hard to transition to something else because it's uncomfortable. But what growth ever comes from comfort?
I never pick things based on how large the audience is. That's like chasing viral trends. I chase what I'm obsessed with that makes me feel something.
Not really what I was getting at. I’m very familiar with being uncomfortable, and I agree that I always got the most growth from it. But you endure pain because you know it may lead to something, it has a direction to it, and a drive behind it.
To reiterate my question:
How do you become obsessed with something unless it starts off with some type of interest? Maybe I didn’t understand what you were getting at - but what lead to you to become obsessed? A decision or a trigger/motivation, and if the latter - what triggered/motivated you to pursue writing?
Building a new life after accidental death of husband, which includes: the novel about my sociopath mother which has turned into a memoir of my childhood and life experiences in relation to my sociopathic mother instead, using A Moveable Feast by Hemingway as inspiration on how to configure the chapters (no plagiarizing, just HOW he wrote each chapter), planning to mount it on Amazon Vella. What do you think of Amazon Vella for non-fiction? I found a course which lauds Vella as a fairly non-competitive untapped market for NON-fiction.
Troy, what a story! Sorry to hear about your husband.
I tend to find starting with books is hard work. I encourage writers to do short form first and social media.
PS. Forgot that Amazon Vella may possibly be counted as "short form" as it allows authors to mount one "episode" (chapter/essay) at a time...It's enabling me to not pressure myself to write the whole book at once, but to think in terms of one chapter or section or episode at a time. I know Dickens is fiction, but that's how he wrote: publishing one chapter of a new book in the newspaper (each week I think?)
it's not my first start lol. my writing life began when I was six, writing short stories and a couple of articles for our town newspaper, sending off short stories in college where i also wrote for our college newspaper. wow i didn't mean to sound like I'm tooting my own horn there! i actually didn't know what I was doing much except for the journalistic part. but i kept studying and writing both short stories and novel drafts, til at last Id created something long form that was also readable and self published first on Smashwords (now draft2digital). Even though there's more, I'll stop before everyone thinks I'm an insufferable bore! but I'm obsessed you could say, which is one of the important things you pointed out recently in Unfiltered. You're inspiring, Tim!
I got serious about my writing this year when my son confessed he’d never read anything I wrote. But he added, “but someday I’ll have time to read and even if you’re gone I’ll have all those words you wrote waiting for me.” Powerful stuff. Yes I can relate.
Make sure he has lots to read Frances.
“Don’t do what you love like a fairy princess…” - brilliant but so opposite what career self help books have been panning to us for 2 decades. I’m inspired and numbed at the same time. So much to noodle on. Great post - thank you.
Glad it sparked something Karen.
Hi Tim -
As usual you have a talent for clicking the right buttons.
I write about anti-patterns - I am writing a book Bob and Alice - anti-patterns in love, life and tech.
Am I obsessed?
F-k yea.
I'm obsessed with anti-patterns. The things people do that make them fail and they know it with the certainty of a man jumping off the 70th floor
My failures over time have changed me from a mostly-positive person to a uber-positive person that says f-k you to clients that annoy him and distract me from the mission.
I'm writing on my substack 1x/week and on Twitter and LI 2-3x/day
I'm building an offer for first-time founders - Push founders to success faster.
I have no idea how to go from here to there
Danny, I've never heard of anti-patterns. Can you explain what they are in a simpler way for dumbs dumbs like me?
Also, can you send me your best piece of writing? (here)
Tim -
Pattern - Ikea kit, instructions, tools
Anti-pattern - Ikea kit - throw out the instructions and tools and DIY
Pattern - template for success
Anti-pattern - template for failure
Here's one you might like -
https://dannylieberman.substack.com/p/we-slaughter-our-finest-desires
Reading now Danny.
Tim - to me, it's all about your consistency and above all else your relatability. Very simple, but very true.
Thanks, I always draw inspiration in its many forms from your writing.
Cheers Peter
Damn, this is great. I'm inspired and motivated to to figure out this writing business! No quitting, no excuses. Thanks.
I run an entire academy that teaches it Jesse and love it too.
I am preparing of a job for a specific profile I like (In IT) , as for now I am just a fresher and from your posts I learn to put myself fully into my preparations and now I am going to quit being an average mediocore person. Thank you
Best time to do it is as a fresher.
Great post, Tim. You really do have a knack for informing and inspiring.
I related to so much here, but this line did it for me: “When you tie what you’re building to your mortality, it’s a gut punch that’ll knock the wind out of you.”
I write Money Talks for my 10-year-old daughter. It’s the blueprint I’m leaving her for how to be smart with money. I write two columns a week there and am forced to go deeper as you’ve described with every attempt. It makes a huge difference in my writing when I must think about my words she’ll be reading long after I’m gone.
Thanks for starting my Wednesday on a good note. Please keep it coming!
What an awesome topic Darnell. Your daughter is so lucky. What's your best piece of writing?
Thank you, Tim. I appreciate your kind words. I never knew my father and refused to allow my daughter to grow up like I had to. I moved to Chicago from Oklahoma City to be with her in 2017 after my divorce.
Anything I write about my darkest days I am proud of. Because it has required the deeper reflection you referenced.
In that vein, my best piece of writing at Money Talks was exploring my old drinking habits. Here it is if you ever want to read something of the sort. I’d love it if you checked it out! https://moneytalks101.substack.com/p/am-i-an-alcoholic
I love that you did that for your daughter Darnell :)
Loved this!
What was your favorite part Silvia?
I only made it a few paragraphs in when I "needed" to write something down that resonated with me: "The words that resonated... need to use in my writing and my thoughts ... “obsession” “energy” “inspiring” this one trite" ... I keep a file for "inspiring thoughts" on my desktop to open at a moments notice to write things down to come back to when I need thoughts!!!
It is what I am doing and showing them that people comment about all the time. The painting in-progress shots and words telling them the small changes I made and why! This is my obsession and I believe energy that makes my work what I love.
Now I can go back up and finish reading your post.
Marsha, I'm not clear on what your obsession is. Can you explain?
My obsession is painting and teaching ... playing with the changes in my paintings and it shows up somewhat in my writing. The painting is the biggest one, and I give in-progress photos of the small changes ... minute changes ... that the words, the explanation, will tell, therefore show the viewer what I did. I teach a lot about painting, and those changes are important and many do not make them because they are small. I also should have said the obsession is somewhat with the words I use so people see the changes in the painting. Words then become an obsession as well.
Okay now I get it.
Real men cry, and own it. Love it Tim.
I’m creating whatever I feel called to in my heart. Right now that’s on creativity, consciousness and self-realisation. Soon it’ll capture all that and be injected into a focus of complete Boundlessness. I know it’ll help people one day. How? The how doesn’t matter. The obsession matters more.
💜
Roc the world needs more on consciousness. Do you have more to share on this topic? Who is your biggest inspiration?
Ohhhh I love that you said that. Cannot agree more Tim!
I do mate! Just published a piece on it, it's quite in depth but it's been a huge part of my journey to encounter a guy named Dr. David Hawkins and his work (which I go into in the piece). In that piece I link to another Substacker, Scott, who does excellent work around consciousness/spirituality on here too :)
https://iam.rocguiducci.com/p/mind-is-the-enemy-part-2-an-encounter
Reading now Roc.
Wowsers, pressures on haha. I hope you got some value from it Tim!
I love your inspiration and encouragement to keep showing up and doing better.
I write about resilience, resistance, joy and beauty in our troubled times on Moordays at Substack . Thanks Tim 👏
How's your Substack going Susan?
Slow and easy, I am refining , getting better and making some fabulous connections. I learn loads from you and am in it for the long game.
At 72, it gives me purpose and pleasure to offer some of my learnings/experiences to support others . Thank for asking x
Glad it's working out. Being around other Substack writers is a huge advantage.