‘Sometimes You Have To Write To Figure It Out’

Author Daniel Pink compares the writing process to life in his commencement address at Northwestern University, and explains why it’s more important for you to do less planning and just do more stuff.

In the address, Pink tells the story of struggling with an essay and taking it to his professor. His professor told him that he’s struggling because he doesn’t know what he thinks:

Sometimes you have to write to figure it out…This advice wasn’t just savvy guidance for how to write — it might be the wisest advice I know for how to live… Sometimes, the only way to discover who you are or what life you should lead is to do less planning and more living — to burst the double bubble of comfort and convention and just do stuff, even if you don’t know precisely where it’s going to lead, because you don’t know precisely where it’s going to lead.

This might sound risky — and you know what? It is. It’s really risky. But the greater risk is to choose false certainty over genuine ambiguity. The greater risk is to fear failure more than mediocrity. The greater risk is to pursue a path only because it’s the first path you decided to pursue.

We all want control of our lives and the direction we’re headed, but sometimes we can’t figure out how to get there without us just living our lives. Stop planning what you want to write and just write. Stop planning what you want to do and just do.

2014 Weinberg College Convocation Address by Daniel Pink [YouTube via Brain Pickings]