How to Use Writing to Sharpen Your Thinking | Tim Ferriss

Without writing, it's pretty hard to capture and freeze your thinking, so that you can sharpen it: for example, observing when you're using words that are not well defined or when you're saying things that don't need to be said.

An easy way of getting into the habit of writing, of moving a pen with the aim of seeing your thinking on paper, is starting the practice of Morning Pages (3 pages of stream of consciousness).

It helps you by taking your worries and negative thoughts from your head and putting them in a freeze-frame (so that you can go along with the rest of your day) and it also allows you to see when you are dull or sharp in your thinking.

... for revising your writing:

• The first edit is for yourself (what you like and what you think is good)
• The second round is for the people that like what you write ( the people you think will like your material)
• The third round is for the critics (for the people that try to find the smallest mistakes in your material).

• Aim to choose people that are not trained to proofread and ask them to highlight the stuff they find confusing.
• Ask them to note the moment when their minds start to wander while they're reading your material. Opt to take those parts out.
• Ask them to indicate the 10% of your writing that you should absolutely keep (if there is a 10% that is worth keeping).
• Ask them which parts they would cut off (10-20%) if they had to cut something.

"People can like what you write, they can dislike it, they can love it, they can hate it, but it should not confuse anybody."