I've interviewed 20 of the world's top writers over the past six months. Here are the best lessons I've learned... 1. Tim Ferriss: Have a low bar for inputs, but a high bar for outputs. When Tim was writing The 4-Hour Work Week, his only rule for himself was to "write two crappy pages per day." That kept him at the keyboard on a daily basis. But his low bar for writing came with an exceptionally high bar for what he actually shared in public. 2. Kevin Kelly: Don't aim to be the best. Be the only. His writing is driven by the obsessive and unrestrained pursuit of his own curiosities. Whenever I'm with him, I get the sense that he's always fooling around and is somehow so aligned with his work that productive writing can't help but seep out of him. The output isn't forced though. He says: “Productivity is often a distraction. Don't aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible. Instead, look for writing projects that you never want to stop doing.” 3. Cultural Tutor: If it was published in the past 50 years, don’t read it. The problem with new books isn't that they're bad. The problem is that everybody else is reading them, which doesn't give you much edge as a writer. 4. Marc Andreessen: Use a barbell approach to consume information. His method directly contradicts the Cultural Tutor's. He focuses on what's happening right now while also reading a lot of timeless material that was published 10+ years ago. The things he reads are either timely or timeless, with almost nothing in between. 5. Riva Tez: Writing is painting with words. Passion makes poets out of all of us. You don't need a thesaurus if you write with enough heart. When you care about what you're saying, the language comes out fresh. The formal and logical aspects of your writing need not overpower the soul and poetry. 6. Steven Pressfield: Care for the craft of writing. Steven had tried to send me a copy of his new book, The Daily Pressfield, but for a hodgepodge of reasons, I never received it. Insisting that I read it before recording the interview, he drove an hour each way to hand-deliver his book to me, introduce himself for 20 seconds, drive home, and drive right back the next day. He sent a digital copy, and he wouldn't use a day-of shipping service because it was "too important." 7. Tyler Cowen + Alex Tabarrok: The joy they bring to their work. You get the sense that they're drawing from a bottomless well of curiosity because they've found the work they're called to be doing. 20 years into their partnership, they still laugh like childhood best friends when they're together. 8. Ava Huang: Reaching Beyond Consensus To reach beyond consensus is to write something in a fresh and novel way that’s surprising and memorable. And it takes work. The ideas that initially come to mind for you when you're creating won't usually be the best ones, so dig and dig until you find something that surprises you as the writer, and in turn, surprises your reader too.
"You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything." - Henry David Thoreau
"I find that the very things that I get criticized for, which is usually being different and just doing my own thing and just being original, is the very thing that's making me successful." - Shania Twain
@DavidPerellChannel David, it is no accident that you have the same middle name as the one and only Thoreau--you are a brilliant writer and a unique, cherished individual🙇🏻♀ Thank you for all your work🙏🏻 Have a blessed day, Andrea S.
I love the Culture Tutor idea of reading stuff that is more than 50 years old and trusting in the wisdom of father time. I naturally gravitate to history but I had not realised that it is one of the main reasons why I tend to see the world differently than most of my peers. Thank you for this epiphany. History does not repeat itself, but man consistently repeats himself. Learning the patterns of the past, enable us to shape the future of our destinies...
Tim Ferris's do less than you think you can do was the solution that worked for me. I kept thinking I needed to from 0 to 100 or even 80 and I'd burnout after a few weeks. When I start with 10 min and build from there it works. Also if you start burning out you can revert back to 10min just to keep the habit and momentum.
Αρχηγός! ❤ Thank you so much for this episode it is fantastic and gives me so much inspiration to invent things and write. This is only the second episode I watch on your channel but after this I am looking forward to listening to your podcasts with other writers. I will share with my friends! Congrats and keep going, αρχηγέ!
Awesome video David. Thanks for creating this channel and sharing these episodes. I've learned a ton, and have only been watching them for the last few days. So to say I'm hooked is an understatement. Big fan of your work, keep it up.
Excellent work, thank you for reminding me that whatever adjective I put before "writer"-small, up-and-coming, unexperienced, sporadic-that it doesn't detract from the fact that I am a writer with a God given gift for the craft. Thank you for everything you do, and I look forward to the next eight lessons.
I loved this video. You curated your favourite excerpts from the interviews, and you added your thoughts and feelings to them. It was like reading a heavily annotated book. Enriching.
Im absolutely enthralled with this channel, the guests and David. Everything about it is beautiful. The sound quality, the people, the unique perspectives, the studio, and David's calm and very present energy. Just nothing like it! You are the one!
46:49 Read that faucet idea in Ann Patchett's book on writing. Another analogy she uses is learning a musical instrument. You can't expect to sit down one day and be able to play like Yo Yo Ma. It takes continuous, repetitive, dedicated time and effort to practice and hone the craft.
Thanks for your work David :) your energy tells a lot about you. I can feel you're really loving what you're doing and you deserve all the best. The podcast is incredible and you're one of the best interviewers in my opinion. And I watch a ton of different podcasts!! Keep going man 💪
Just found your podcast and I really appreciate it. If you ever want to talk to an anthropologist about worldbuilding me and/or my cowriter would be happy to chat.
Hi, I subscribed today, never saw your channel before. I am planning my very first novel at age 52 and have been feeling very late in the game. Plus English is not my first language, thus feeling very inadequate. This video has been a life changing eye opener. Thank you! I've been hopping between story ideas and thinking of just writing a silly book as take one, in order to just learn the craft. My take away from today is that I have to find the book ONLY I can write, the subject matter that I specifically am intetested in and uniquely qualified for. I know what to write now - Christians, nephelim, and the monster stories that is consumed by women in the thousands (werewolf romance). Women dive into the world of demonology and find their safe place there, and God cries for His precious WOMBmen that are getting impregnated with witchcraft seeds. Hope that makes sense. You changed my life today, and my book in turn, will change other people's lives. If each of us just did what God placed in our hearts, this world would look different.
I love the Riva advice but it's not very practical for most people to cancel plans like that! It is possible to do in your mind though, you can allow yourself to keep thinking of something that you're excited about and not stop
I enjoyed most of those interviews and learned something from them. But I have to ask: why would I listen to anyone who espouses the notion of paying no attention to works produced within the past fifty years? The arrogance of a writer who makes such a statement while implying that we should pay attention to his uttering is immense. His rationale is that if we read more current authors, then we are going to be (essentially) regurgitating that which is already written. Interestingly, he reserves to himself the judgement to distinguish between those things that are current but still worth writing about while the rest of us are relegated to the nether regions of less than analytical thought. I zoomed right past him.
I've interviewed 20 of the world's top writers over the past six months.
Here are the best lessons I've learned...
1. Tim Ferriss: Have a low bar for inputs, but a high bar for outputs.
When Tim was writing The 4-Hour Work Week, his only rule for himself was to "write two crappy pages per day." That kept him at the keyboard on a daily basis. But his low bar for writing came with an exceptionally high bar for what he actually shared in public.
2. Kevin Kelly: Don't aim to be the best. Be the only.
His writing is driven by the obsessive and unrestrained pursuit of his own curiosities. Whenever I'm with him, I get the sense that he's always fooling around and is somehow so aligned with his work that productive writing can't help but seep out of him. The output isn't forced though. He says: “Productivity is often a distraction. Don't aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible. Instead, look for writing projects that you never want to stop doing.”
3. Cultural Tutor: If it was published in the past 50 years, don’t read it.
The problem with new books isn't that they're bad. The problem is that everybody else is reading them, which doesn't give you much edge as a writer.
4. Marc Andreessen: Use a barbell approach to consume information.
His method directly contradicts the Cultural Tutor's. He focuses on what's happening right now while also reading a lot of timeless material that was published 10+ years ago. The things he reads are either timely or timeless, with almost nothing in between.
5. Riva Tez: Writing is painting with words.
Passion makes poets out of all of us. You don't need a thesaurus if you write with enough heart. When you care about what you're saying, the language comes out fresh. The formal and logical aspects of your writing need not overpower the soul and poetry.
6. Steven Pressfield: Care for the craft of writing.
Steven had tried to send me a copy of his new book, The Daily Pressfield, but for a hodgepodge of reasons, I never received it. Insisting that I read it before recording the interview, he drove an hour each way to hand-deliver his book to me, introduce himself for 20 seconds, drive home, and drive right back the next day. He sent a digital copy, and he wouldn't use a day-of shipping service because it was "too important."
7. Tyler Cowen + Alex Tabarrok: The joy they bring to their work.
You get the sense that they're drawing from a bottomless well of curiosity because they've found the work they're called to be doing. 20 years into their partnership, they still laugh like childhood best friends when they're together.
8. Ava Huang: Reaching Beyond Consensus
To reach beyond consensus is to write something in a fresh and novel way that’s surprising and memorable. And it takes work. The ideas that initially come to mind for you when you're creating won't usually be the best ones, so dig and dig until you find something that surprises you as the writer, and in turn, surprises your reader too.
This is so good!
I actually struggle to understand how this content is available to us for free. Your work is greatly appreciated. Thank you, David.
“Don’t aim to be the best. Be the only.” This idea just makes sense and liberates and empowers!
"You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything." - Henry David Thoreau
"I find that the very things that I get criticized for, which is usually being different and just doing my own thing and just being original, is the very thing that's making me successful." - Shania Twain
@joryiansmith I am the first one to agree. Thank you for your comment. Best wishes, Andrea S.
@DavidPerellChannel David, it is no accident that you have the same middle name as the one and only Thoreau--you are a brilliant writer and a unique, cherished individual🙇🏻♀ Thank you for all your work🙏🏻 Have a blessed day, Andrea S.
"let everything happen to you. Beauty or terror" - Rainer Maria Rilke
Deserves at least 100x the views. It'll come mate, keep it up. Standards are so high.
I love the Culture Tutor idea of reading stuff that is more than 50 years old and trusting in the wisdom of father time. I naturally gravitate to history but I had not realised that it is one of the main reasons why I tend to see the world differently than most of my peers. Thank you for this epiphany.
History does not repeat itself, but man consistently repeats himself. Learning the patterns of the past, enable us to shape the future of our destinies...
Tim Ferris's do less than you think you can do was the solution that worked for me. I kept thinking I needed to from 0 to 100 or even 80 and I'd burnout after a few weeks. When I start with 10 min and build from there it works. Also if you start burning out you can revert back to 10min just to keep the habit and momentum.
Archegos is such a gem. It is how I have been building my work but this framework gives it structure. thank you.
Αρχηγός! ❤ Thank you so much for this episode it is fantastic and gives me so much inspiration to invent things and write. This is only the second episode I watch on your channel but after this I am looking forward to listening to your podcasts with other writers. I will share with my friends! Congrats and keep going, αρχηγέ!
Awesome video David. Thanks for creating this channel and sharing these episodes. I've learned a ton, and have only been watching them for the last few days. So to say I'm hooked is an understatement. Big fan of your work, keep it up.
Excellent work, thank you for reminding me that whatever adjective I put before "writer"-small, up-and-coming, unexperienced, sporadic-that it doesn't detract from the fact that I am a writer with a God given gift for the craft. Thank you for everything you do, and I look forward to the next eight lessons.
I loved this video. You curated your favourite excerpts from the interviews, and you added your thoughts and feelings to them. It was like reading a heavily annotated book. Enriching.
Im absolutely enthralled with this channel, the guests and David. Everything about it is beautiful. The sound quality, the people, the unique perspectives, the studio, and David's calm and very present energy. Just nothing like it! You are the one!
Came here and learned plenty. Thanks for sharing 🙂
46:49 Read that faucet idea in Ann Patchett's book on writing.
Another analogy she uses is learning a musical instrument.
You can't expect to sit down one day and be able to play like Yo Yo Ma.
It takes continuous, repetitive, dedicated time and effort to practice and hone the craft.
Damn this podcast is so good. So many nuggets every single time! Great format, you added so much context.
There's sincerity and passion in your work. You are making a difference for sure. Thank you
Great episode David!🎉
Thanks for sharing your takeaways. I've been following along and our lists are pretty close! ✌🏻
Excited for this!
Thanks for your work David :) your energy tells a lot about you. I can feel you're really loving what you're doing and you deserve all the best. The podcast is incredible and you're one of the best interviewers in my opinion. And I watch a ton of different podcasts!! Keep going man 💪
The magic might just be in one core idea, quality over quantity. All the best on this new direction for your work.
Hey David! I really enjoyed listening to this your podcast. Thank you for sharing and motivating budding writers!👍
thank you! very good one!
Incredibly valuable, I’m only 9 minutes in and I can tell how wonderfully dense this episode is. Thank you 🙏🏽
Love seeing your journey and very thankful for you sharing these takeaways with us.
Great implementation similar to Ferris. Core Ideas summary crushed it.
Just found your podcast and I really appreciate it. If you ever want to talk to an anthropologist about worldbuilding me and/or my cowriter would be happy to chat.
Hi, I subscribed today, never saw your channel before.
I am planning my very first novel at age 52 and have been feeling very late in the game. Plus English is not my first language, thus feeling very inadequate. This video has been a life changing eye opener. Thank you! I've been hopping between story ideas and thinking of just writing a silly book as take one, in order to just learn the craft.
My take away from today is that I have to find the book ONLY I can write, the subject matter that I specifically am intetested in and uniquely qualified for. I know what to write now - Christians, nephelim, and the monster stories that is consumed by women in the thousands (werewolf romance). Women dive into the world of demonology and find their safe place there, and God cries for His precious WOMBmen that are getting impregnated with witchcraft seeds. Hope that makes sense. You changed my life today, and my book in turn, will change other people's lives. If each of us just did what God placed in our hearts, this world would look different.
Epic. 👏
Fabulous work!!👍👍👍👍😎
If you like Reagan’s speeches maybe you could interview his speech writer- Peter Robinson at the Hoover Institute
I love the Riva advice but it's not very practical for most people to cancel plans like that! It is possible to do in your mind though, you can allow yourself to keep thinking of something that you're excited about and not stop
any chance we can get seth godin on the show?
GOAT
what is quality bar?
I enjoyed most of those interviews and learned something from them. But I have to ask: why would I listen to anyone who espouses the notion of paying no attention to works produced within the past fifty years? The arrogance of a writer who makes such a statement while implying that we should pay attention to his uttering is immense. His rationale is that if we read more current authors, then we are going to be (essentially) regurgitating that which is already written. Interestingly, he reserves to himself the judgement to distinguish between those things that are current but still worth writing about while the rest of us are relegated to the nether regions of less than analytical thought. I zoomed right past him.