Paul Graham has an essay on writing - and why you should write.
You can know a great deal about something without writing about it. Can you ever know so much that you wouldn't learn more from trying to explain what you know?
I find this to be true and in large part this why I blog (please note that I'm in no way trying to equate myself to Paul Graham or any serious writer). In part to get the ideas out of my head (to hopefully make room for new ideas) and because writing those thoughts and ideas down helps me to better understand the subject whether it be how the the vaccines may effect your health or how a free agent signing may help one of my favorite sports teams.
Comedians are perfect examples of this. Most great comedians get an idea for a joke and the first thing they do is write it down. Then they rewrite and rewrite the joke until they feel it is ready to test out on an audience. And based upon the reaction of the audience they'll probably rewrite the joke some more. Changing words and maybe adding some tags.
This is basically a repost from last year but finding that Morgan Housel post on Selfish Writing made me think of it.
It has been true of both training and education worlds that if you want to really know a subject, prepare to teach it. I found this to be undeniably true and taught it to my trainees and students. I remember a specific situation where I told my trainees to prepare to teach me -- talk about mental scurrying about! There is nothing more motivating than asking yourself, "What questions might they ask?" (!)
ReplyDeleteAnd may I say again, I know of no other blog that is so informative on so many subjects of thought. Wow! To bad you are there and I am way down here.
Thanks Bob - I appreciate it.
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