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We’ve spent 130 years indoctrinating kids with the same structure. Now, as some of us enter a post-lockdown world, I’d like to propose a useful (though some might say radical) way to re…

Yesterday, I announced on Instagram that my newest book, Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors The Brave, is available for preorder. It will be my 12th book in 10 years, and so there were a bunch of comments from people who wondered how I was able to get another one done so quickly.  How do you write books faster than I read them?  What’s your secret to writing so many books?  The answer is that I have a system, a process that helps me be productive. It’s not my system exactly, as I’ve taken many strategies from the greatest writers to ever do it. Although I talk about the creative process at length in my book Perennial Seller (which for some reason is currently $1.99 everywhere you get your ebooks), I thought I would detail some of my rules that I follow as a writer. I think they can help anyone be more productive.  [1] Read. Read. Read.  A book is made of books. “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading; a man will turn over half a library to make one book,” Samuel Johnson said. As I was putting together the bibliography for Courage, I counted something like 300 books I was directly sourcing from.  [2] Always be researching The bulk of the work is researching—collecting stories, anecdotes, and data to marshal your argument. The writing is stringing those pieces together. I’ve found stuff I’ve used in in-flight magazines, discovered snippets on social media, even heard things mentioned on TV. As Shelby Foote put it in an interview with The Paris Review: “I can’t begin to tell you the things I discovered while I was looking for something else.” [3] Put good advice where you work Print and put a couple of important quotes up on the wall to help guide you (either generally, or for a specific project). When I was working on Ego is the Enemy, I had this quote from Machiavelli on the wall to inspire its style and ethos: “I have not adorned this work with fine phrases, with swelling, pompous words, or with any of those blandishments or external ornaments with which many set forth and decorate their matter. For I have chosen either that nothing at all should bring it honor or that the variety of its material and the gravity of its subject matter alone should make it welcome.” I have another quote that I put up for this book from Martha Graham: “Never be afraid of the material. The material knows when you’re frightened and will not help.” [4] Make commitments I turn in a book proposal for my next book before my latest one comes out. When I have a commitment that I know I have to meet, Resistance doesn’t have the time or space to creep in. Right now I am on a book year path for the next four years. It keeps me honest and keeps me working. Meet deadline, or death.  [5] Work with great people Success requires greater investment in the creative process. Pay for professional help. There’s that saying: if you think pros are expensive, try hiring an amateur.  [6] Have something to say “To have something to say,” Schopenhauer said, “by itself is virtually a sufficient condition for good style.” [7] Have a model in mind Thucydides had Herodotus. Gibbon had Thucydides. Shelby Foote had Gibbon. Every playwright since Shakespeare has had Shakespeare. Everyone has a master to learn from. For me, it’s been Robert Greene [8] Know where you’re going You don’t “find the book as you write.” You have to do the hard work of solving the problem first. You have to figure out the best route, too. One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever got was to–before I started the process–articulate the idea in one sentence, one paragraph and one page. This crystallizes the idea for you and guides you—Nassim Taleb wrote in Antifragile that every sentence in the book was a “derivation, an application or an interpretation of the short maxim” he opened with.  [9] Focus on What You Control As Epictetus says, there’s some stuff that’s up to us, some stuff that’s not. The work is up to you. Everything else is not. If you’re in this for external rewards, god help you. A Confederacy of Dunces was rejected by publishers. After the author’s suicide, it won the Pulitzer. People don’t know shit. YOU know. So love it while you’re doing it. Success can only be extra. [10] Embrace draw-down periods You need what the strategist and theorist John Boyd called the “draw-down period.” Take a break right before you start. To think, to reflect, to let things settle. I started Courage is Calling on my birthday, but not before I took an extended period of just thinking.  [11] Listen to the same song on repeat I’ve found that picking one song—usually something I am not proud to say I am listening to—and listening to it on repeat, over and over and over again is the best way to get into a rhythm and flow. It not only shuts out outside noise but also parts of my conscious mind I don’t need to hear from while I’m writing.  [12] Make little progress each day One of the best rules I’ve heard as a writer is that the way to write a book is by producing “two crappy pages a day.” It’s by carving out a small win each and every day—getting words on the page—that a book is created. Hemingway once said that “the first draft of anything is shit,” and he’s right (I actually have that on my wall as a reminder).  [13] Don’t let the tools distract you  Great artists work. Mediocre artists talk a lot about tools. Software does not make you a better writer. If classics were created with quill and ink, you’ll probably be fine with a Word Document. Or a blank piece of paper. Don’t let [...]

The 4 steps used by a 5-times-bestselling writer

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For the longest time I thought that avoiding being vulnerable to people was strength. It's not. And it hurt my friendships.

The author of Atomic Habits is a master of content repurposing and focused action.

The world doesn’t actually care if you do the things on your calendar. It’ll keep spinning either way. In fact, in many ways it would prefer that you just didn’t. For, every time …

I first came across Parkinson’s Law in Tim Ferriss’s 2007 book, The 4 Hour Workweek. Ferriss summarized it as follows: “Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of the imminent deadline. If I give you 24 […]

Steph Curry recently paid $180,000 to change his Twitter profile to a Bored Ape NFT. In this post, I dive into how Bored Ape Yacht Club built one of the best communities in recent memory.

This is what I have been SUPER EXCITED about... It's @dhof and his creations: @blitmap @sugarthegame @supdrive, and most importantly @lootproject ❤️ Loot is something different. It's something that has never been done before ever. It's a paradigm shift in NFT space. Thread 👇 https://t.co/vbaUF4uGNE

Here is @lootproject's ecosystem for beginners. The latest proof of compatibility of the NFTmetaverse, created by @dhof. Absolutely amazed at how fast the ecosystem has grown in the last few days. Note: This is only half of what happened. More charts to follow. https://t.co/s5H8DTC6Z8

Starting a YouTube channel is, hands down, the single best thing I've ever done in my life. Here are my 10 top tips.

Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking. –Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” 1861 * Charles Darwin was an introvert. Granted, he spent alm…

There are two kinds of programmers, generally speaking. There are programmers who care more about code, and there are programmers who care more about product. The former – I’ll call them “cod…

How you read should be dependent on what you read. In this article, Bruno explores the four reading levels and explains how different books should be read in different ways to do justice to them.

​ ​ ​ My book Four Thousand Weeks is published in the UK tomorrow, which means UK readers have until tonight to take advantage of the pre-order offer: my free five-part email co...

In this newsletter, I’m covering the 2nd most popular request: Rootstock (RSK) and Sovryn (SOV).

When asked "How would you have lived your life differently if you had a chance?" Nadine Stair, an 85-year-old woman, from Louisville, Kentucky, provided these poetic words as her response...

We’re pleased to announce that full DNS namespace integration for ENS is now live on Ethereum mainnet.

If you don’t do what’s important today, you’re robbing yourself of the gratitude you’ll feel tomorrow.

I love this time of year, because as new OSs and devices debut, people who never think about their processes look at what’s new and reconsider how they do…everything. This is where I live year-round. (I’m an overly-analytical person with ADHD, which means I’m extremely detailed about things I can’t

"Insight comes, more often than not, from looking at what's been on the table all along, in front of everybody, rather than from discovering something new."

If we’re hungry, the obvious solution is to eat something. If we’re restless, it pays to get up and walk around. Is stress different? Along the way, it seems as though we got confused a…

Exploring the Polygon ecosystem and all the things you can do

'The Theosophical Society decided Jiddu Krishnamurti was the messiah. Awkwardly,' Oliver Burkeman says, 'Krishnamurti came to believe this was bunkum'

Today would have been the 98th birthday of Ray Bradbury, the greatest sci-fi writer in history, who (by no small coincidence) also happened to know a thing or two about writing. Like many American …