Why I Decided to Start Writing
Nontechnical writing was never easy for me. In this article I discuss the reasons why I started writing.
"Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I have never been a writer. I don't think writing essays in grade school count as serious writing. I probably did most of my writing during my PhD 👨🎓, primarily due to a deep fear of "publish or perish". But it was only limited to writing technical research articles. I recently came across a book titled Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. The book changed my perspective in quite a few ways - the most important one being sharing your ideas with the world. So, here are the reasons why I decided to start writing ✍.
Documenting My Thoughts
I read on a variety of topics including personal development, parenting, personal finance, startups, tech, etc. The only issue with reading a lot is that my mind is always occupied with thoughts, ideas and opinions. But being an introvert, I am not comfortable sharing my ideas with everyone I meet or speak with. I need a medium to document my thoughts. And writing is one of the most ancient forms of documenting ideas.
Gaining Clarity Over My Thoughts and Ideas
It is well-known that writing gives you clarity of thoughts. It is also true the other way around. You can't write well if you don't have clarity of thoughts. My hope with writing is that I'll be able to achieve better clarity of thoughts and ideas.
Sharing My Learnings with the World
I always love to share my learnings with the people around me - mostly with my wife 😉 and close friends and family. Some people find it useful and others thinks I'm a nutcase (again, my wife! 😀). On a serious note, I strongly believe in democratizing knowledge sharing. So, if the readers of my blog find the articles useful, great! If not, I still need my articles to refer back to them in the future.
In the future, I want to write a post on what are NOT my objectives with writing. The reasons may include:
- Gaining a following.
- Seeking social validation.
- Monitizing.
But that's a topics for the future. Until then, adios!