Writing is Thinking, Your State of Mind, Learning Context

One Insight From Me

For a long time, I thought I was learning because I was consuming a lot. I ​read books​ constantly. I watched hours of YouTube interviews and lectures. But when it came to actually performing, most of that knowledge wasn’t very useful.

It showed up in simple ways:

• In speaking, I understood the structure, but felt the gap on stage.
• In business, I could analyze case studies, but real decisions felt heavier.
• In fitness, I knew what to do, but consistency was harder than theory.

I knew a lot. I hadn’t really learned much.

Real learning only started when ideas entered real projects. When I had to publish instead of just outlining. When I had to spend my own money on ads instead of studying breakdowns. When I had to train, even when I didn’t feel like it.

Learning moves in two directions: divergence and convergence. You explore broadly, question assumptions, and gather perspectives. Then you narrow deliberately, synthesize, and decide what you actually believe. Over time, you start connecting dots across domains — how discipline in lifting informs consistency in writing, how psychology shapes both marketing and leadership.

Then comes implementation and repetition. Practice is part of learning, but learning is larger. It includes reflection, feedback, correction, and the humility to admit mistakes.

That said, true learning takes time. Ideas need seasons of experience before they become embodied. You don’t learn when you consume. You learn when you integrate (​or you teach​) — slowly, through pressure, projects, and persistence.

Three Ideas From Other People

A good writer doesn't just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing. And there is, as far as I know, no substitute for this kind of discovery. Talking about your ideas with other people is a good way to develop them. But even after doing this, you'll find you still discover new things when you sit down to write. There is a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing.

Paul Graham - ​The Need to Read​

When you face a choice in life, particularly an important one, whether you choose wisely or unwisely isn’t likely to depend on how good your powers of analysis are, but on your state of mind: Having the wrong state of mind is conducive to making wrong choices. Having the right state of mind is conducive to making the right choices.

Edward Packard - ​The View from Ninety​

The more contexts in which something is learned, the more the learner creates abstract models, and the less they rely on any particular example. Learners become better at applying their knowledge to a situation they’ve never seen before, which is the essence of creativity.

​Range​ by David Epstein

One Question to Reflect On

Where in your life are you consuming more than you’re integrating? And what would change if you put something real on the line?