đ Good morning from Los Angeles! I'm Nate Kadlac, and this is #137 of Plan Your Next. A Sunday newsletter that connects design, creativity, and how you prepare for your next thing.
đĄ Whatâs new?
âď¸ If youâre new here, youâll quickly learn I am constantly building my next thing to diversify my portfolio of bets. My buddy
and I are putting the finishing touches on a drawing course for writers, which should be ready to go before the holidays. If you have ever wanted to learn to draw without any prior experience, get on the waitlist here!đŁ My next project is already in the works, which Iâll share more about soon. Hint: Itâs about inspiring people to draw.
How to never start a writing habit
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be known as someone who wrote online. But, I could never figure out how to build a consistent writing habit.
I looked around at other designers who seemed more established than me. The reason some stood out had zero to do with their portfolio of workâwhich I later realized was less importantâbut because of the ideas they shared publicly.
Instead of sitting down to write, I would read books about writing, read blogs about writing, talk to actual writers about writing, and listen to authors speak about writing.
Iâve launched dozens of personal websites and installed every blogging platform like WordPress, MovableType, Blogger, Ghost, and too many more.
Hell, I tried to persuade myself to write by helping build a startup called Rifr, a newsletter platform now over a decade old. (Which is eerily similar to the incredible platform Iâm writing on now.)
These distractions worked so well that I never started a writing habit.
So if you never want to build a writing habit, follow these five lessons!
Lesson 1: Always compare yourself to other writers
Have you ever watched someone so great at their craft, it gives you hope that itâs not that far out of reach?
For me, watching Roger Federer dance across the court, backhanding returns with ease, gives me hope that maybe playing tennis could be graceful.
Now, Iâve played tennis fewer times than the fingers on one hand. But buried near the back of my skull, next to the minuscule membrane where your ego operates, thereâs a part of me that thinks, âIt canât be that hard.â (Yes, I realize I just admitted to saying that learning to play like Roge canât be that hard.)
With writing, one sure way to keep yourself from sitting down to write is to think itâs easy. By not sitting down and going through the process of coming up with an idea and publishing it out into the world, youâll never need to experience the joy (or hurt) of saying something out loud.
Donât worry, though. Youâll always be safe, and unnoticed.
Lesson 2: Obsess how your blog looks
The curse of being a designer is that I want things to look perfect. It doesnât help when people know this about you and feed into that by saying, âI know the design sucks butâŚâ
The expectation that what you build should look good âbecause youâre a designerâ isnât all that healthy, even for me.
This is one of the best ways never to get started writing: let the way something looks stand in the way of writing.
Instead of letting your audience get to know you through words, just worry about the colors of your Brand Palette, and how a extra spacing might throw off your grid.
Make sure to agonize over fonts instead of words, and what template you should or shouldnât use.
Lesson 3: Pick a niche
Do you ever find yourself with a million ideas rattling around in your head?
I get it. Youâre interesting, have traveled the world, drank coffee from beans that have been passed through the intestines of a toddy cat, summited mountains, and found those elusive passive income streams that everyone seems to be searching for.
Hereâs my advice. Please just ignore 99% of that and pick just one thing to write about. Never waver from that topic, which will bring you endless joy for the next 48 hours.
Ignore the complexity of your personality and the evolution of who you used to be, to who you are now.
Lesson 4: Agonize over who your audience is
One of the first questions that planted the Great Wall of China between me and a consistent writing habit was the flippant question, âThis is great, but who are you writing for?â
Only someone who is struck with the Curse of Knowledge would ask this.
Trying to understand exactly who your audience is will develop over time. Writing for someone else versus yourself early on is a great way to gut-punch your writing habit repeatedly.
If youâre trying to succeed in not writing consistently, spend hours thinking about who you should be writing for, instead of just writing for yourself.
Lesson 5: Never publish
The secret journaling or daily diaries that never seem to surface are a great way to get excited about absolutely nothing.
Keeping your writing to yourself is a perfect way to never let the world inside your stories and experiences. Youâll never have to share your secrets with the world, giving us an inside glimpse into who you are.
While journaling is a healthy practice, never publishing your ideas or thoughts into the world will keep you safe, comfortable, and predictable.
Thankfully, if you avoid every lesson above, youâll write more consistently than I ever did.
âĄď¸ Two creative hits for you to check out next
đ¨âđť A collection of 1077 blogs about every topic
A solid resource for finding new blogs based on what youâre currently interested in. Also, like the index of a book, you can easily see what they value. If youâre interested in Arts and Media, youâre in luck. Not so much if youâre curious about education.
đ¨âđť Austin Kleon builds his dream studio
Iâm amazedâand inspiredâthat Austin has been most productive from his kitchen table. I'll be curious to see if his new studio is a blessing or a curse on his productivity.
âIn the past dozen years or so, Iâve worked in spare bedrooms, garages, attics, and lofts. Curiously, Iâve found that almost nothing beats the kitchen table.ââAustin Kleon
đ See you next Sunday
My calendar is always open to chat about your next adventure, crazy idea, or if youâre feeling creatively stuck.
My goal is to help more people give a damn about what theyâre creating next, through my writing, teaching, and design. If you want to support my journey, the best ways are to make better design decisions more easily, communicate stories with better slide decks, or discover your visual style in my live workshops.
Or, if you want to sponsor this newsletter, sign up here.
Have a great week,
p.s. Words are just words, but if these words made you feel something, would you let me know by tapping on the heart below?
Did you write this specifically targeted at me? đ In all realness though, thanks to you, I figured out what I wanted to say in my first post at 4am today. I wrote it out in a journal and will now move it onto Substack to publishâŚđ¤đź
This is exactly how I did not start my writing habit.! Absolutely loved this piece. Gold.