728 Seth Godin Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance Lessons From Isaac Asimov Writing Secrets After 8500 Daily Blog Posts the Dangers of Authenticity Practices for Consistency and Much More
#728 — Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Lessons From Isaac Asimov, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, the Dangers of Authenticity, Practices for Consistency, and Much More
Full Title: #728 — Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Lessons From Isaac Asimov, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, the Dangers of Authenticity, Practices for Consistency, and Much More
Comics and writing engage the reader's imagination by leaving gaps for the audience to mentally fill, leading to a more engaging experience.
Encourage growth in writing by prompting deeper thinking during the writing review process and challenging writers to break down complex topics.
Simplify your work by focusing on clarity and brevity, establishing boundaries and rules to ensure concise communication.
Quality over quantity is important in blog posting, focusing on delivering value to the reader and creating content that is true, interesting, and shareable.
Start a blog post with an attention-grabbing assertion to challenge the reader and give them authority and responsibility to take control.
Creating vacuums is essential for growth, allowing for new opportunities and challenges by stopping current activities.
Being interesting is valuable, even if not high performing, and consistency in daily routines and activities post-podcast is important. (Time 0:00:00)
The Power of Imagination in Comics and Writing
Summary:
Comics are effective because they engage the reader's imagination by leaving the action 'between the panels', where the audience mentally fills the gaps.
This forces readers to be active participants and leads to a more engaging experience. Similar principles can be applied to writing, where allowing the reader space to interpret and connect the narrative enhances their engagement and understanding beyond mere proofreading.
Transcript:
Speaker 2
I have read it, or understanding comics is the one that I read it.
Speaker 1
Yes, understanding comics. Thank you. Yes. The key lesson is this. Comics work because something happens between the panels. Right. In panel one, Superman sees a problem. In panel two, Superman is with the villain. We don't see how Superman got from panel one to panel two. That happened in our brain. So the reason bad comics and bad graphic novels are bad is because the creator didn't understand that. They didn't let our brain do the leaping. They just decided to add a lot of pictures to a story that would be better in words. So what a blog post does is it says, here's a sketch over here. And now I'm over there. You figure out how I got from here to there. And by you figuring it out, the reader, you will grow, you will explore, you will be a voice in this dialogue. It is not just me talking. So when you ask me to review your writing, some people are tempted to proofread. And they don't really mean proofread. (Time 0:10:01)
Encourage Growth through Thoughtful Writing Review
Summary:
Encouraging growth and exploration for the reader by guiding them to think deeper during the writing review process.
Instead of just fixing errors, prompt writers to consider if they are addressing the right questions and purpose of their content. Challenge them to break down complex topics into multiple posts for better reader engagement.
Use intriguing statements like 'biceps are temporary, baseball helmet sizes are forever' to spark curiosity and provoke deeper thinking in the audience.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And by you figuring it out, the reader, you will grow, you will explore, you will be a voice in this dialogue. It is not just me talking. So when you ask me to review your writing, some people are tempted to proofread. And they don't really mean proofread. They mean copy edit. And copy editing means fix the errors. And what I'm trying to do when I'm editing a friend's work is say, are they even asking the right question? Because they can fix their own errors. They don't need my help to do that. And so here, what I'm trying to say is, what is this post for? And what it's for, I think, is to help someone who's not paying attention to realize that there are seven things they might want to think about. And seven is a lot. So what I pitched back to you is this is actually seven blog posts in a series. And what the first one says is, you know, there's some things you're not thinking about that you might want to think about. Here's one of them. And the idea, if I just say to somebody, biceps are temporary, baseball helmet sizes are forever. They visualize that immediately. And then they're like, hmm, what? And then they want to think about what you meant by that. It's a haiku. It's a puzzle. (Time 0:10:45)
Simplify and Ship Your Work
Summary:
The key to success lies in simplifying your writing and narratives, avoiding overcomplication.
Rather than aiming to be the primary researcher or breakthrough creator, focus on helping people simplify and understand. Currently, resistance is setting in, manifesting as adding unnecessary details as a defense mechanism.
It is crucial to establish boundaries and rules for your work, like the rules of haiku, to ensure concise and clear communication.
Consider limiting yourself to a tagline of less than 18 words and two footnote links, while the rest of the narrative should be conversational.
Instead of typing, speak and let your team transcribe. Embrace brevity and clarity by treating your work like a five-minute phone call.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I'm going to interrupt you for a little bit. Please do. You are extraordinarily skilled at not overcomplicating your writing or your narratives. That's how you got this far. That there's very little that you have published where you were the primary researcher and the breakthrough creator of the original science. What you've done is helped people simplify, understand. What's happening here is resistance. You are adding parentheticals to protect yourself. 100%. So what I'm pushing you to do is to come up with boundaries so that you can say, you say, I did a good job and ship the work. Now that could involve having very, like the rules of haiku, very significant rules where you must have a tagline, a come online that's less than 18 words and you're allowed to have two Footnote links, but the rest of it has to be a narrative that you would say to somebody on the telephone. And instead of typing them, you are just recording each one and letting someone on your team type them. If that would be the model, you would have to let go of it because you only have a five minute phone call. You're going to say it as clearly as you can. (Time 0:17:25)
Quality Over Quantity in Blog Posting
Summary:
The key to determining when a blog post is done is not based on a fixed criteria or time limit, but rather on the principle of expressing something known in a way that provides value to the reader and prompts them to share the content.
The blog post creation process involves writing and editing in advance with a focus on making it concise and impactful. The goal is to present information in a manner that resonates with the audience and induces them to pass it along to others for their benefit.
The essence lies in delivering content that is true, interesting, and shareable, rather than unnecessarily long or complex.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
All right, well, I'll do the first part first because it's easier. You asked, how do you decide or know when a post is done? And I texted back, I don't. That's the point. And then I wrote, imagine how hard it would be to have a conversation or even a text thread. If we had to think through whether our turn to talk was over before we stopped talking, right? So my model, my ritual is I write blog posts in advance. And then the night before I review them, I rewrite them, I delete them. So if I get the stomach flu, there's still going to be a blog post tomorrow. And when I rewrite a blog post, the rule is you wait, get points if you make it shorter. You don't get points if you make it longer. And if I can't boil it down more than it already is and it's not deliberately deceptive, it's done because the purpose is tell people something they already sort of know in a way that they Would be grateful for the chance to forward to other people.
Speaker 2
Do you say that one more time, Seth? That seems important.
Speaker 1
If I can show up with something in your bones, you know to be true or interesting or worth thinking about. But I can say it in a way that would benefit you if you could share it with your friends and colleagues. That's a great blog post.
Speaker 2
Benefit you in what possible senses?
Speaker 1
I will give you a trivial one first, which is more than once I have blogged about how stupid it is that there's a pull down menu when you're checking out of a shop and there's all 50 states Listed. That isn't helping anybody. (Time 0:19:27)
Attention-Grabbing Assertion
Summary:
An effective blog post starts with an attention-grabbing assertion, followed by a release that lands an idea.
By using a provocative statement like 'You don't need more time, you just need to decide,' the author challenges the reader and shifts the responsibility back to them. This strategy gives the audience agency, authority, and responsibility to take control of their situation.
A successful blog post can be short and impactful, like Seth Godin's style, or longer, focusing on teaching a concept in a familiar frame to make it more approachable for the readers.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
So there is an assertion at the beginning that creates attention and then a release of that attention that lands an idea. So the shortest blog post I ever wrote, which I'm really proud of is first line is you don't need more time. So that's an assertion. It's controversial. People who feel overwhelmed want to challenge it. And then the delivery is you just need to decide. So that flips it upside down, takes the blame off the system and the people who are making you busy and puts it right back on you, giving you agency and authority and responsibility to Simply decide and then get back to what needs to get done. And so in just a few words, that's an example of a short Seth Godin blog post and a longer one is one where I will try to teach somebody details about something they didn't know, but frame It in a way that they're comfortable with because that's how they might have framed it as well.
Speaker 2
Let me ask a quick question and maybe that I've cut back on my caffeine too significantly, but you don't need more time. You just need to decide what are people deciding? (Time 0:29:09)
Creating Vacuums for Growth
Summary:
Creating vacuums is essential for growth and progress.
By stopping an activity, one can make space for new opportunities and challenges. Embracing change and being a pioneer in evolving media spaces is crucial.
The focus should not be solely on maximizing income or audience size but on serving people well and leaving a legacy of interesting and generous contributions.
Life is a series of projects, not just a job, and vacuums can lead to new, exciting ventures.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I think it's very kind of you to say I'm very good at it. I don't think I'm good at it, but because I'm sort of in public and I do it in a certain way, it's noted. I did five years of a Kimbo was in the top 1% of all podcasts and then I just stopped and I stopped not because I didn't love it. I did love it. I stopped because if I kept doing it, there's something else I wouldn't do instead and creating a vacuum is required so that I will do the hard work of filling the vacuum. If I just keep doing the thing, then there is no vacuum. Sometimes the technology changes. That's why Spinnaker went away. That's why you couldn't keep making VCR games. It's why my head start in the CD-ROM business was worthless because CD-ROMs went away. I liked in every time I did this being a pioneer in a new media space because that's for me the funnest spot and then when the technology changes, I got to move on. Podcast technology is never going to change. You're noting there's a change in the production format and that is a change. In my case, what I'm trying to do is not maximize my income per hour spent nor am I trying to maximize the size of my audience. What I'm trying to maximize is are the people I'm serving glad that I did, that I showed up to solve an interesting problem. And two, as I build the stack of things on the bookshelf behind me, can I point to them and say that was interesting and generous and I'm glad I did it. That's part of a limited attention span theater so it's not for everybody. My whole point of view is that life is projects. It is not a job.
Speaker 2
And when you stopped the podcast and created that vacuum, did you already have something kind of warming up in the batting cage that was pending that you need to create that vacuum for Or did you create the vacuum and then wait for something to get pulled into it? (Time 0:37:57)
Being Interesting vs High Performing
Summary:
The speaker discusses the fundamental difference between being interesting and high performing, highlighting that while they may not hold world records for high performance, being interesting is valuable to them.
They acknowledge the different standards they hold compared to others and express that what brings them comfort may not bring happiness to someone else. The speaker's activities post-podcast involve writing and maintaining a similar daily routine, indicating that their approach to life remains consistent.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I think a fundamental difference between you and me, there are so many of them, but one of them, as I am here talking to what the world tango champion?
Speaker 2
Former world record holder, long time ago, yes.
Speaker 1
Because the only thing I have a world record in is being part of the largest co-author book signing in history in which me and 400 other people all signed our book at the same time. Because I am not a high performer. I am interesting. And being interesting is really important to me, but I am not holding myself to the standard you hold yourself in so many ways. And so I could imagine that the thing that gives me comfort might not make you happy. Right.
Speaker 2
For sure. I agree with all of that. And how does that difference translate to what you would do in the weeks following creating the vacuum after, say, stopping the podcast? Because I guess you have activities that you're still carrying forward. It's not like you're completely idle. You're writing still, presumably.
Speaker 1
If someone looked at me from the outside, I think that they would see that my days aren't that different. (Time 0:41:18)
