Many people try to work less by working more and embracing productivity hacks

The key to working less is working less and then working through all the discomfort and eventual clarity that surfaces

Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy?

Here's the great thing about writing: you don't have to do it. All you have to do is not do anything else in that time frame. So: you put your idea down and... now, you don't have to do anything. You just sit there and you eventually will realize "There's a problem here." Right? And your brain will naturally try and solve the problem, and the next thing you know, you're writing! So, it's not about forcing yourself to write; it's about creating a -- what do we call it? -- a "discrete space". Is that the right word? So, that's how you write: create a place and time where that's what's happening... but you don't have to write! Just be there with the problem.

Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it’s beautiful? Simplify, simplify.

Start treating your writing like a startup.

• Ship an MVP
• Talk to users
• Analyze data
• Prioritize distribution
• Solve specific problems
• Focus on reader experience
• Say something different, not better

Lean Writing is the key to writing in the digital age.

Good writing doesn’t come naturally, though most people seem to think it does. Professional writers are constantly bearded by people who say they’d like to “try a little writing sometime” — meaning when they retire from their real profession, like insurance or real estate, which is hard. Or they say, “I could write a book about that.” I doubt it. Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.

Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it's beautiful?...Simplify, simplify.

A few tips on how to be a better writer:

– write about what fascinates you<br/>– make one point per sentence<br/>– use stories to make your point<br/>– cut extra words like "really" and "very"<br/>– read the whole thing out loud<br/>– post publicly (you'll try harder when you know others will read it)

And finally, be more thoughtful about what you consume. The quality of ideas you put in determines the quality of ideas you put out.

Saying you don't have time to write is like saying you don't have time to learn.

The best "writing" is a byproduct of following your curiosity and making sense of it for yourself.

The best writing advice I've ever received:

1. Stop when you have something left to say.
2. Write a 100-word note to yourself where you left off.
3. Pick up with low friction and immediate momentum.

This could be applied to more than writing.

The trick to finding writing time is to make writing time in the life you've already got.

The trick to writing well is to…

– take long sentences and make them short
– take confusing ideas and make them clear
– take unrelated concepts and make them related

…without losing the main idea in the process.

The less a writer discusses his work—and himself—the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.

Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn’t be there.