One Rule I Keep Breaking Here (Part 2)

The other day, I wrote about deconstructing and recombining all the terms I’ve used in this writing journey to clarify what I’m doing here.

Here’s a refresher:

“If I were to ask you to create a profile that uses plain, simple terms, what would you write?”

My first pass at the end of the exercise was this:

“I’m just a 9-5 parent who’s explored a wide range of disciplines trying to find connections among them based on my cultural background and upbringing.

I apply these discoveries to create systems and processes for self-improvement and creating content through this newsletter.”

24 hours later, I got Mark’s response:

“I love how you took the process and made a newsletter [issue] from it…good work…I still think you can make it better…”

He continues.

“Make it clear: What can you do for the person reading it?”

Boom.

This is the question that I’ve feared to answer the most, but he then he provided this gem:

“So I would rephrase it…[Here is what I’ve done | Here is what I can do for you]”

It doesn’t hit until it does.

I had seen this tip countless times throughout the last few years from others.

Heck, I’d even tried it a few times, but it never landed quite right because it felt fake and shallow whenever I did.

The reason? I hadn’t done any of the background work to reach the point where it “clicked”.

I’ve reached that point now.

Let’s keep going, shall we?

If you’re stuck as well, then let’s do it together!

It’s hammer time.

What have you done for me lately?

Let’s tackle the first thing Mark stated.

What can I do for the person reading my material?

I hate this question, because what if I fail?

I’m terrified because if/when it happens, it implies that my life’s work doesn’t have value.

Now that I read what I just typed, it feels stupid to think that way.

It’s not that it doesn’t have value, it’s that I haven’t delivered it in a way that will be help you.

Ok, so what can I do for you that I’ve done for myself?

Damn…what have I done for myself??

Here’s what I’ve done throughout my life…

• juggled multiple activities at the same time

• experienced every artistic medium to some level of proficiency

• finished multiple academic degrees in science, technology, and engineering

• developed a sense of how all these things are connected together to be a better teacher

• created an entire engineering curriculum that was accredited by SC State University for their bachelors program

That’s great and all, but it doesn’t do anyone else outside of my career much good.

What have I done that might be of interest to you?

• iterated my systems and processes to write thousands of short-form posts

• produced hundreds of videos and managed a gaming YouTube channel for three years

• managed a career as well as a family of kids, cats, and dogs around my various interests and hobbies

• figured out my values and how to motivate myself to continue producing dozens of long form articles across Medium and Beehiiv

• learned how to capture thoughts to cultivate a daily writing habit and develop my own bank of inspirational content

That seems more compelling, but now I have a huge problem:

All of this happened in the last seven years as opposed to a lifetime of experimentation.

It all sounds like a badly-written resume…

Honestly, who’s going to be interested if there are a multitude of others who are so much farther along than me?

Everyone says the same thing (including me), that this point doesn’t matter.

But the truth is that it does to me because of imposter syndrome.

Platitudes are great until you attempt to act on them.

Then you realize that it’s far harder beyond the relatability portion.

So this is the list I’ve come up with for the first half of the offer…

Now comes the really tough part.

What’s in it for you?

Most of you have been with me for a long time.

I haven’t really gained any new subscribers to this newsletter for a long time because I haven’t articulated this point that I’ve been struggling with.

How can I help you?

I’ve done many seven-issue series to outline various things that set up the foundation for:

• getting better sleep

• discovering your values

• planning a year’s worth of content

• avoiding some of the common traps of social media writing

• presenting basic principles of critical thinking and endless content generation

and those are just the ones off the top of my head from the past two years.

As Nicolas Cole stated, a half-baked idea offered to the public is better than one never shared.

But I’m iterating on these ideas and digging deeper as I go…

So let’s rephrase the question in light of these revelations…

How do I want to help you?

I talk a lot about developing habits to cultivate your thinking and physical fitness because the two go hand-in-hand.

You can’t be a fat reader and think you’re going to be effective at communicating your ideas over a long period of time.

Creating and leading a movement takes energy, endurance, and empathy.

That’s why I pursue the all these ideas that I’ve broken down and reconstructed them into prismatic thinking.

I want to help you get better physically and mentally so you can effectively develop your own ideas through writing.

Let’s bring it all together.

All together now!

Reminding myself to be clear, not clever.

“[Here is what I’ve done | Here is what I can do for you]”

Here goes nothing…

I’ve consistently cultivated a writing habit centered around my 9-5 parent life by defining my values and sharing my experiences to write thousands of short form posts and dozens of articles across social media platforms.

I can help you get started towards achieving similar results.

It’s the second iteration.

Third time’s the charm?