🧿 Creating Content

At the end of this, you’ll know what stops people from sharing what they know, why talent matters less than knowledge and practice, and when, what, and where to start.

Why it is worth it #

Writing your thoughts down:

1. Brings clarity to your thoughts.
2. Deepens your understanding of the subject.
3. Builds your personal brand.
4. Gives back. (Think of how many blogs and videos you have learned from.)
5. Trains you to write and think in a concise, coherent way.

Patrick Winston opens his How to Speak lecture with this¹:

Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas, in that order.

What stops people #

I know many talented people who do not share what they know. Their reasons are usually these:

1. “I don’t have enough time.” You can make time for this.
2. “It isn’t perfect yet.” It won’t be. Publish and work on feedback.
3. Discomfort with feedback, or fear of trolls. Don’t let either stop you.
4. Keeping knowledge to yourself as a competitive advantage.
5. “I’m not as talented as the people who already write.” Talent matters less than knowledge and practice.

Talent is the small term #

The quality of what you create depends on three things: knowledge (K), practice (P), and talent (T). Winston writes them as a formula and adds that “the T is very small”.

He tells a story about it. Guess before you read his answer.

Fig. 1Talent, knowledge, practice

Knowledge #

With enough knowledge, you can surpass people with natural talent. You gain knowledge by being curious, so ask questions.

Note: You cannot predict when a piece of knowledge will become useful.

Practice #

Practice is the bridge between talent and knowledge. Whatever your talent, practice makes you grow.

Talent #

Consider it a gift.

“I’m not as talented as others, so I’ll put in more effort to learn.” — My university project partner on why he works so hard. He was right, and he is doing well now.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. ― Calvin Coolidge

When to start #

There is no ideal time. Start now.

This post is an example. I set draft = false nine minutes after the first commit². The next section read like this:

## What ?

to write ? serveral options.

1. Pick anything that interest you
2. One find it easy for you but challenging for others
3. One has put lot of efforts and hard work in learning skill, teach.
4. Anything out of ordinary, or just simple topic like.

I rewrote it five days later. The Calvin Coolidge quote above came from a Hacker News comment³, which a draft could not have received.

What to write about #

1. A topic that interests you.
2. Something you find easy and others find hard.
3. A skill that took you a lot of effort to learn.
4. Anything out of the ordinary⁴, or a simple topic.

Where to publish #

Pick one format to start with.

Text #

A website (like this one :)), a newsletter, or a book.

Audio #

Podcasts on Spotify or YouTube, Twitter audio group calls, or a WhatsApp community.

Video #

Short form (Reels, TikTok), long form (YouTube, Coursera, educational sites), or live (Twitch, YouTube).

AR/VR #

Games, or comments with ideas on posts.

May the force be with you 🧙

FAQ #

Thank you Vaibhav for reading drafts and suggestions.