Antoine Lehurt

Write more, but shorter

I recently stumbled upon an article from Mike Crittenden, Write 5x more but write 5x less, in which he shortly explains why we should write more, but shorter.

It’s a concept that resonates a lot with me. Since I started to follow the Zettelkasten method for taking notes, it became clear that I must write to have clearer thoughts. It helps me to be sure that I understand a concept by explaining it. By using the notes I create, I also aim to publish more articles on my website. That’s a great way to feel accountable and push me to be as straightforward as possible because someone else could read it.

By writing more, I’ll articulate better my thinking and sharpen my writing skill over time. It’s even more critical now that I work remotely and that most of my communication with my team is done by writing. It will also feel more natural for me to write things down because I will build the habit of writing. (By building habits, we don’t rely on motivation to do something.)

By writing shorter content, I’ll reduce my expectation on how long an article should be before publishing it. It’s also a great exercise to briefly explain an idea or concept to make the content more digestible.

After the “keep it simple” in programming, the “keep it short” for writing.