Learning can be made more effective with a regular writing practice. Writing is a useful tool with a number of intrinsic benefits such as improving creativity, providing focus and filtering and improving understanding of the subject matter thanks to the generation effect
Regular writing can be hugely beneficial and research shows that the more you create, the more creative you become. It’s important to commit to regular writing and to make yourself accountable to increase your chances of success. Learning in Public may help provide the accountability you need to commit to regular writing. We should aim for quality over quantity and kill your inner critic in order to try to avoid falling for The Toolbox Fallacy.
“Try your best to be right, but don’t worry when you’re wrong” - Shawn Wang
Weekly Review and Plan
On a weekly basis I review the previous 7 days and how things have gone. I also try to plan ahead and get an idea of what I want the next 7 days to look like.
I really like the Cal Newport plan.txt approachfor the next 7 days:
Once a week, usually on Mondays, I open a small text file named plan.txt and jot down my action plan for the week.
There are no hard rules for this plan. Some weeks it’s a few sentences. Usually, it’s a few paragraphs. Sometimes it spans multiple pages.
One of the key principles here is flexibility.