Any good story has a character with a clear intention and obstacle. if either ever becomes unclear the audience will lose interest. the story also needs stakes. it doesn’t need to be high stakes. the stakes just need to be clear.

write like you talk

anything can only be as long as it is interesting

“here’s how i think it’s going to go down” = story which is fun

“here’s why i'm right” = logic / reason which is not fun

do something 100 times and every time do at least one thing a little better

a story is a 5 second moment of change

everyone should have 4-5 signature stories that help people understand where they came from / who they are

the hero doesn’t have to win. the audience loves the hero because of how they try (wreck it ralph)

talk about how you felt (rather than just about what you did). paint a picture. tony robbin’s doesn’t say he used to be a loser. he says he used to wash dishes in the bathtub because he didn’t have a dishwasher.

a story is not what happened. it’s a transformation. you only need to include what happened insofar as it is critical to telling how that change came to be.

vital content will elicit some emotion from some “average” user. start at that emotion then work backwards for how to get there.

an athlete wouldn’t perform in a game with warming up first. writers shouldn’t either. prime yourself for peak state and let the energy flow.

if you want to change your current state focus on your physiology (pushups + cold exposure), focus, and story

excitement is the engine and the rudder. it powers your forward and is a good heuristic for what to go towards

if you’re stuck in the details go general and if you’re stuck in the general go specific to get unstuck

write like you’re writing to one person not to an “audience”

you have to tell people lots of interesting things to establish the reputation of being interesting

have interesting things to say and package them well. separate skillets. powerful combo.

pick one feeling you want people to have and then give it to them more consistently than anyone else can.