Writing without Backspace
Today’s Advent of Writing post will be written without backspace. Sorry in advance.
Writing without backspace is a common strategy to improve on ones writing, the core idea is that you focus on the flow, and don’t interrupt yourself with small details. A way of just getting something out there, a draft, and then edit later. Don’t think ahead, just go.
Ironically, as I’m writing this, I’m more hesitant than ever with each keystroke. I guess most people don’t intend to publish their drafts 😅
Life has no Backspace
In life you very much have to adapt a similar mentality. What you once say cannot be erased. Your only option is to say something new to try to correct your earlier statement. Some actions are so severe that there’s no new statement to revert them. A new bungy jump can’t fix a failed one. So thinking before acting really pays off.
Which is at the hart of the paradox. At the same time we should make more mistakes and be more brave. Quit your job to build your company, pursue your career in acting, build houses if that’s what you want to do! But at some point we reach a fine line. Naval Ravikant talks about taking more risk but avoid things that with a high chance lead to death, ruin or jail.
Distinguishing between these in theory is trivial but in practice we (or at least I) fail all the time.
Own up to your mistakes
Once you say something silly (especially on the internet) there’s no denying that you said it. When I wrote my blog on probability I wanted to make sure most of the wordings and expressions were correct, that there’s no way to, by purpose or mistake, to misunderstand the argument I’m trying to deliver. Honing in on even small nuances to make the blog better and more correct.
This blog is the complete opposite, I knew in advance that I’m going to say something I wont be able to defend in the future. But so what? It’s kinda liberating actually, having that attitude, it frees me from any stress of trying to be as correct as possible.
Once you own up to a mistake, move on with your life, you’ll feel the burden lift away.
Authenticity is scarce, performance is abundant
In today’s world with social media there’s very little authentic takes out there. Most people post stuff for performative reasons. You post how long you stayed at the office, how fast you ran that 10km, how enlightening that trip to south-east Asia was. Even if I dislike the performative aspect of social media I fall for it as fast as the next guy. Not caring what other’s think is really difficult, not seeking social validation is really difficult, being authentic publicly is really difficult.
This post is a humble attempt to be even just a little bit more authentic.
This actually came out better than I imagined in the beginning. I think I made three solid points, nothing revolutionizing but solid arguments. Wording and grammatical edits would improve the text, but that’s not what we’re here for.
I probably won’t do this again in a blog post, but it’s for sure a nice breath of fresh air.
Try!