Why write?

During my daily commute, I have time to wonder, think, read and listen to podcasts about a wide range of topics.

After listening to and reading too many great authors ideas, thoughts and experiences, I decided to improve my writing skills. I am always amazed by the talent of writers to capture the reader's attention and take him on a journey.

How to improve?

I decided to issue a challenge to myself, writing anything and publishing once a week. This means 52 articles in one year, a feat that I am unsure I can conquer, but I will try my best. I got this idea while listening to an interview of one of the most influential and empowered product people in the world, Julie Zhuo, VP of Design on Facebook and author of 'MAKING OF A MANAGER', a fantastic book that I loved.

She made her New Year's resolution to write and publish once a week. And of course, I decided to copy her as an 'imitation is the best form of flattery' kind of thing.

But as soon as I decided to try and write weekly, I was hit by the constant doubt and fear of how will people read what I say because who am I to publish anything? Why should people care?

Here's the thing. I know all about the but's. Through the years, they've swarmed me like mosquitos, determined to suck my willpower dry.

Usually in thoughts like:

But I don't know what to write about.

But I don't have the time.

But who'd be interested in what I have to say?

But I'm a perfectionist.

But I'm not original.

But I'm not a good writer.

I decided to not have any buts and just do the work.

Writing is an exercise, as much as any activity. If people can improve physically by doing it, indeed I can write for the sake of becoming better. Going from 5 self-reviews per article to being able to be confident while writing.

I decided to write for no one other than myself. This selfishness stems from the fear that if I specify an audience, I might discover that people don't like my writing or worse, I produce no specific feedback on anyone… Which is even more terrifying.

So what will I write about? And why am I writing about that?

I will try to write about my experiences as a product manager, a digital entrepreneur, and an all-together person navigating the world in the modern era. I will do my best to write about relevant topics, research the best I can, and receive feedback from people who know more than me. I will aim to be as honest as possible, even if that means that I will sound naive, inexperienced or uninformed.

Benefits of writing as an exercise

Writing can be an excellent exercise for product managers and everyone in general. It requires discipline and focus, and like physical exercise, it yields improvements and gets easier with practice.

Mapping thoughts - writing can create a clear view of your thoughts and help you create a mind map of problems. This is important for tech people as they must clearly explain issues to stakeholders and team members. By writing, this skill can be significantly improved.

Creating stories - our brain is predetermined to think in small stories. This is the best way to process information. Think of a TED Talk; they are engaging because they are a story. The speaker creates a small story to pull you in and "sell" their idea. This is very powerful and creates a connection to the speaker.

Storytelling - Writing regularly will improve your storytelling skills. For example, a great raconteur will find it easier to sell a product or a feature to a group; this is important to managers in general as you need to have the team on your side, following your vision, because if they don't, it will be harder to accomplish. This is also especially important when thinking about how a feature will help a customer. So you write a story on how your product will help a particular persona.

Improve lexicon - English is my second language. Even with multiple years living in London, I can still improve my language skills. For example, I can learn new exciting words that create better notes that engage with more people.

Research skills - while creating small or more significant articles, I tend to research the subject, gather some sources, read books or other articles for inspiration and knowledge. This skill of succinctly resuming information to a 700 or so words article is vital in a world full of information. This also exposes me to information from different fields and sometimes opinions against my own, which is never bad.

So I start this journey with this first article, hopefully starting a roadmap to self-improvement. To quote again the amazing Julie Zhuo that inspired me to start this challenge.

I want to become better, and I want all of us to become better, so we can build more useful, usable, and thoughtful things.