Do you struggle with writing? I used to a while back but I started doing this simple thing:
I would record myself talking and then edit it later. What technology these days we have so many options to do this. We can record our voice to something like Evernote. We can record audio and get it transcribed. We can record a video and get it transcribed and edited.
We have apps like Grammarly that can edit our grammar with artificial intelligence to become a better writer. Learn the best flow to getting your information out on paper. Learn the best flow to get your thoughts out of your head.
This could be sitting down and just writing, rambling. This could be talking into your phone, this could be making a video and having the conversation edited but the most important thing is getting the thoughts out of your head and into time and space.
Writing is not limited only to what you type with your fingers. Writing has to do with extracting what's in your head and refining it into something that other people can use. Writing is not merely words on a paper but creating thoughts in a construed way that flow and are easily understood to impart an idea to somebody else.
You may argue, “no writing is written on paper” the end of goal could be that. All of us have a unique flow, especially in 2019, to getting our thoughts out. If you're somebody that is more comfortable just talking and recording and having conversations with people, record your voice and get it transcribed.
Even this article right now, I decided to use this method. Opened up my Evernote app, I press record, I started talking into the app and then when it was done I got it edited.
I edited it it with Grammarly and now here's the article.
It took me no more than 5 minutes to do this and I have an article. Weirdly enough I made up so many excuses for why I wasn't able to do an article.
You'll notice this is the first article I've had since July and then I had an epiphany, I was being too hard on myself about my method for writing.
I went back to my original writing method that I use so well five, six years ago by recording my voice, transcribing it and editing the transcription.
I think often we become embarrassed because we use non-traditional methods to reach the end result. You have to find the method that works best for you. For some people, writing is sitting down and typing. Others, it is talking.
For me, I can talk a narrative much better and easier than I can write it with my fingers, which is why I often when I make my video content on social media. I may have paragraphs written at the end but that's only after I got the idea out on video. Find the flow that works best for you.
Just because somebody else said to do it one way doesn't mean that’s the only way to do it. Sadly we have a culture that's restricted to believing that there's only one way to reach an end result. This is a lie.
Find the one that works best for you. As long as you got to the same end result, how you got there doesn’t matter!
The saddest part about our culture is that we shame people that don't get to the same place, the same way that we do. This creates division and is divisive instead of connecting and unifying us. We're all different. We're all unique.
We have different purposes and different ways that our brains operate. It’s time to start having more self respect for yourself and not paying attention to just what other people say or what you were taught in school by your third grade English teacher. We have tools now that help us with grammar.
I am terrible with grammar and spelling. I will be the first one to tell you that I'm not good at it. It's my worst skill. That's why I'm thankful for an artificial intelligence platform like Grammarly that helps with grammar. So try it today! If you have something that you want to express to people write it out, talk it. You can make pause.
While I recorded this audio I made massive pauses verbally because I was thinking about what I was going to say next. I wasn't subject to having to do it perfectly. Then I was able to go and edit it.
When I go to record something on video, it's often because I can string it together in a fluid thought. This topic is one of those areas that I'm not the most confident in but I know that what's in my head needs to get out on paper. So I decided to use the method that I'm telling you to use to record this. You'll notice how well this article came out. In the end, try it yourself.
Use some of the tools that may be on your phone. Most of our phones these days have voice to text and it's very accurate. Google and Apple have both invested millions and even billions of dollars in artificial intelligence technology to translate voice to text. Utilize it to help you create better content and write faster.
As you do this more often you'll be able to come up with better articles, better video content and better snippets for social media content but you have to start with something.
Often inaction and the excuses that we tell ourselves of what we're not good at, limits us to stay stuck where we are right now. It's time to break the box and take the lid off and start utilizing what we are good at. To shore up and hone in the areas that we aren't good at, we can use technology and other people around us to help us.
When it comes to writing, apps like Grammarly and the voice to text on your phone make it great. If you're a good talker, a good speaker, if you're somebody that is really good at writing already, I'm surprised that you got to the end of this article but that's okay.
I would recommend that you write and then take what you wrote and speak it on video and use your writing as notes for video. That'll help you become better at articulating things on video as well and it'll be a loop that's where you can help extract what's in your head and get it into one place to impart it to someone else.
The written word is a way of imparting energy to other people, same with the spoken word, same with video. Find the format that works best for you. We want to use multi-channel forms of media, written audio and visual. You will need to learn how to do all three but find the one that you have the strength in and use other people and technology.
Mainly technology when you start and don't have the budget for staff to reach more people across all of these various media channels and methods.