Becoming a good writer

Professional writers rarely write for more than five or so hours a day because writing is mentally exhausting. This means you can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

You might not have five hours to write, but almost everyone has fifteen minutes. To keep yourself focused as you write, consider writing with a timer.

Many use email as a to-do list, which leaves them reacting to life instead of living it according to goals.

It’s difficult to write when you’re checking email every five minutes. Don’t check emails during your daily writing time.

First, research the role and the company to make sure you understand what teamwork looks like at this particular organization.

Then, consider how you can best contribute to a team.

• Stick With Recent Examples: Relaying outdated examples don't usually grab attention.
• Blow Your Own Horn: Pick an experience that shows how you contributed to a team that achieved spectacular results.
• Consider Relevance: Choose an example that's most relevant to the company you're interviewing with.
• Add Value: Select an example that demonstrates your added strengths.
• Focus Your Response: Highlight your story in bullet point form.

• Haruki Murakami was born in 1949 in Kyoto, and instead of moving into a corporate career, he opened a jazz club in Tokyo.
• A few years later, at a baseball stadium, it occurred to him that he could write a novel. That led to Hear the Wind Sing (1979), which won him a new writers' prize.
• He was more like a  black sheep in the Japanese literary world, partly because his books were too American-like.
• Regardless of his critics, his commercial success continued to grow, hitting a high point in 1987 with Norwegian Wood, which sold 3,5m copies within a year of publication.

Haruki Murakami began to perfect the daily writing routine for which he is now as famous as for any single novel. He rises at 4 am to write for five or six hours, producing ten pages a day before a run of about six miles, and maybe a swim.

He believes that he has to be strong physically in order to write strong things.

• It helps to create effective brand messaging.  It determines how your brand is perceived and also builds trust with customers.
• Customer service relies on good communication. "60% of consumers have stopped doing business with a brand due to a poor customer service experience."  Microsoft’s 2016 Global State of Customer Service Report.
• It enables positive team relationships.  Effective communication helps to unite teams and create a safe environment to express themselves.

• It helps to prevent misunderstandings and conflicts. It can help to defuse a potentially explosive dispute while bad communication can set it off.

1. Using a One-Size-Fits-All Communication Approach. Tailor the communication style to the intended audience.
2. Speaking More and Listening Less. Listen to what is said, how it is said, and to what is not said.
3. Assuming Instead of Asking More Questions.
4. Using Negative Tone. Choose words carefully to eliminate negative reactions.

5. Avoiding Difficult Conversations.

6. Reacting, Not Responding.

7. Not Keeping an Open Mind. Accept and respect differences, listen without judgment and consider all sides of an issue.

It takes about 6,400 hours of class time and studying to get a 4-year degree. Assume that it takes you only 5,000 hours to master your field.

While you are happy that you've prepared for your profession, the knowledge you've learned is fast becoming outdated. We can safely assume that in 10 years, 50% of the facts in the field would be outdated. This means that for you, just to keep up in your current field, you'd need to learn 5 hours per week, 50 weeks a year.

When we consider the future of work, there are two trends we should keep a note of. They are:

1. Half-life of knowledge
2. Law of increasing learning

• The 80/20 method: You can get 80 % proficiency in a subject in about 6 - 12 months.
• The 10,000-hour rule: You can become an expert at something if you spend 10,000 hours of deliberate practice on it. 

To go from zero to 80% (good enough) requires a different approach than that needed to get from 80% - 99% (world-class). The last 20% also requires a different level of commitment. For instance, Stephen King spent 6 - 8 hours daily for ten years before he succeeded as a commercial writer.

The gains disproportionately accrue to people at the top. Stephen King probably sells more books than the rest of his category combined.

Being good at many things probably means that you are at 80% of your potential in all of them. It is not enough to stand out. 

Pick a very few things to tackle through the 10,000-hour rule and try and reach 99% of your potential in them.

Hard work is necessary in order to be productive, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

At some point, you start to be negatively productive.

It means scheduling your time according to your natural rhythms:

• Do your most important work at the beginning of the day if you are a morning person.
• Don't feel bad about sleeping in because you stayed up late at night to work if you are a night owl.