Writing is hard and you should make time for it.

Maybe it’s all of the audio books but since becoming a father nearly seven years ago, I have found that my ability to write in prose and in long form has diminished. I used to read and I used to write. Today, I tend to listen and talk.

I love to talk, and do my best thinking while talking. I talk to get my point across to others, but more recently I have realized that I talk for myself. It’s like washing ideas through the river of thought. Each time I dip them in, they come out a little cleaner.

Writing is hard. Writing this article is hard. I have started and stopped several times. I have gotten up for 2 snacks, considered building 2 apps, done 2 loads of laundry and can hear my internal voice telling me that it’s Sunday and I have at least 2 things that need to get done before tomorrow. Writing is hard and I don’t have time for it.

Writing is hard and you need to make time for it. You, yes you, whomever you are! Why you are choosing to read the words that I have put together into sentences I don’t know, but know this. Writing is hard and it’s hard because, like the river of thought that is flowing in all of us, writing is like building the dam, or the channel to guide the river as it winds from the ether to your finger tips to the bytes on an AWS server. It’s hard to think about how you feel about something and then organizing your thoughts into something that conveys the emotion, the feeling, and the meaning of what you are trying to say.

Writing is hard and you have to make time for it. When I think back to my career, if I have had any success much of it is due to my ability to write. I can, every now and then, sit down and put words together that convey a direction, a thought, a strategy for what we should do next to move the company forward. Although, in the past few months I have noticed that I have stopped doing that, and I am the worse for it.

Writing is hard and you have to make time for it. This piece isn’t for you, it’s for me. It’s a reminder that no matter how busy life gets, one of the best things you can do for yourself, for your company, for your family is to think about something you want to say, and write it down.