The 3 Systems All Online Writers Need to Become Creative, Prolific & Happy | RP 113

The 3 Systems All Online Writers Need to Become Creative, Prolific & Happy

All online writers know they need these 3 systems to succeed:

• A notetaking system

• A maker-manager schedule

• A daily writing habit

But most new writers get too overwhelmed to implement them consistently.

After reading this, you’ll know why many new writers struggle to put these systems into place — and start implementing them today.

The reader should listen to me because I’ve gone through this and have spent hundreds of hours learning and testing this out.

System #1: A reading & notetaking system

Great writers read like it's their job.

The most prolific online writers I studied take it one step further.

They have highly optimized systems of consuming content.

I also find that they take notes and synthesize like it's their job.

If you want to learn how to read like it’s your job, here are 3 books for you (how meta is that lol):

• How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler

• How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom

• 10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks-Beale

Here are 3 books that will help you learn how take better notes and retain what you read:

• How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens

• Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte

• The PARA Method by Tiago Forte

For getting notes from podcasts, videos, and eBooks into your notetaking system, I recommend Readwise.

System #2: A maker-manager schedule

Bestselling author Austin Kleon advises creators to,

Very similar to the advice in Paul Graham’s incredibly popular essay on maker-manager schedules.

But the best writers I know take this advice to another level. They ruthlessly..

• Batch meetings

• Limit Twitter time

• Schedule 2+ hours a day for writing

One key idea underpins this obsession: If you want remarkable results, you have to make remarkable changes.

The best writers are willing to let people down so they can deliver what their readers love them for: great writing.

System #3: A daily writing habit

Every aspiring writer is trying to build a writing habit.

But the best writers don't just write 90 minutes a day. They often publish their writing at the end of each session, too.

They have built an underlying publishing system.

So how do you do it?

First, write for clarity. For 30 days.

Here are three writing tactics I personally use to build a daily writing habit for clarity:

• Writing 3 pages by hand

• Type 750 words on Apple Notes

• Brain dump on Obsidian for 30 minutes

Do this consistently for 30 days to get the hang of writing every day.

Then, write for publishing.

The easiest way to do this is through what I call “Interest-Led Writing”. This is when you begin to pick topics you’re interested in, read books about them deeply, and publish what you learn.

This way you learn about your interests and simultaneously build an audience around them.

What’s next? Turn the systems into a feedback loop

Good writers know that talent is not what separates the most prolific writers from everyone else.

It's systems.

• A reading AND notetaking system

• A ruthless maker/manager schedule

• A daily publishing habit

The best online writers compounds all their efforts into an evergreen flywheel that, through time, spins faster with little effort.

A feedback loop.

And this is how you build a writing business that makes money while you sleep.

😉 You're welcome

A selection of interesting links & fun recommendations. It gets random.

• 🐦 Here’s how I use Readwise to learn how to write hooks and copy.

• 📚 Personal MBA by Josh Kaufmann. This book is an excellent gateway to business. It covers 271 business concepts in a way that’s crunchy, yet encyclopedic. But it is so much more than a business book. It’s a book about how to create value in the world. Here’s 3 actionable insights from it:

  • If you want to change your behaviour, change your environment.

  • To get more done in less time, pair Parkinson’s Law with a What If? question. For example, “What if I could achieve my 1-year goals in 3 months’ time?”

  • Start with the simplest system (not the ideal one), then think about how to turn that into a feedback loop.

• ❝Quote I’m pondering: