A Brief Writing History: Journal to Blog

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I am excited to finally join the world of blogging! My goal is to give back and share universal truths.

Background

My journey to this post began 10 years ago. Facing health, prioritization, and memory problems (more on this later), I started journaling to establish baselines and track trends. Simple daily tracking led to massive improvements in nutrition, strength, and peace of mind.

Evolution

Since then, the power of writing has seeped into all aspects of my life. It has helped crystallize my thinking on many topics – from relationships to professional development. For example, I changed the trajectory of my career through detailed writing and analysis – catapulting me from a Jr. Product Manager to reporting directly to the CEO and leading half of the company’s resources within 3 years.

Pushing Publish

Despite knowing the power of writing, I had a mental hurdle to publish my work. Last year, I had a huge breakthrough. I decided the easiest way to get started was by publishing my internal document that helped my peers get amazing results: The 3x Conversion Playbook. The post tapped into a popular topic and (with some hustling) was shared in product, marketing, and startup communities. I even got published in my favorite startup newsletter next to John Cutler, who I looked up to for years!

MatterMark Daily…I miss this newsletter

I felt immense joy from my work being well-received. In the first week, over one-thousand people read my post – 10x more than I had anticipated.

Success inspired me to quickly follow with a related post, which people loved more but was less emotionally rewarding. After one more conversion post, I branched out to write about various topics: a legendary marketing book review, my management philosophy, and even lessons from my grandfather.

Each piece had a life of its own, from origin to gaining enough momentum for me to actually push PUBLISH – no small feat. Many more have died along the route.

I learned that I love moving to whitespace and mapping out new terrain. Staying on one topic had diminishing emotional returns, although the social capital compounded. I envy the people who become domain experts and have the desire to go all-in on one topic. My fate is a wandering generalist, digging into a plethora of topics.

What’s Next

Overall, regular writing has significantly contributed to my personal happiness and professional growth. I look forward to sharing my thoughts more frequently. I cannot say how my thoughts or the blog will evolve, but I aspire to help others gain foundational knowledge that can help their lives.