Rewrite Yourself is more than technical and creative writing techniques that improve writing and thinking skills.
It's a way to become more conscious about the meaning we make through the stories we tell ourselves.
Here are the fundamental principles of Rewrite Yourself. They are your lighthouses as you write yourself a new story.
1. Beware The Narrative Economy
The information age overwhelmed every communication channel, and created brand new ones brimming with extraneous information, turning every consumer's attention into a precious, limited commodity.
Nowadays, we buy what we want based on what captures our attention. And nothing captures and directs attention like a narrative.
Advertisers aren't the only ones trying to sell you a narrative. Political parties, government systems, employers, school boards - the list goes on and on.
Even the most well-meaning friends and family want to pursuade you with their narrative.
How can we successfully sidestep so many narratives created for the purpose of supplanting your own? How do we decide which narratives can be trusted to help us navigate the human experience?
By discerning what was handed down to you, what was broadcast to you, and what you independently believe. By investigating and investing in your own story.
What do you deeply believe? What are your priorities? What do you dream of? What stories and beliefs are you sending to the compost? These are wonderful initiations for a Rewrite.
2. Decide that language is important
If you find yourself reaching for someone else's words instead of your own, pause.
Words matter. Whose words are you using, and why?
Look thoughtfully at the words you use to describe yourself. Are they accurate? Helpful? Damning? Dynamic? Do they mean what you think they mean? Invest in a dictionary. Dive into the etymological fingerprints of your favorite words. Sample your vocabulary as if words were flavors of ice cream; there are so many delectible options.
Pay particular attention to the word, "because". This word signals that you have a causal belief. Another word that's fun to watch is "know." What is it that you think you know?
Decide that your language is important. Choose your words deliberately. The words you really mean will help you make meaning that really matters.
3. Write it all the way down
There is a difference between writing and typing. And there is a good reason why many writers choose to write by hand. Morning pages.
4. Routines not goals
Do it daily. reading is fundamental - social media.
5. Sacrifice
To make space for your new understanding, you must let go of the old. When editing, we must be willing to kill our babies. This means letting go of an idea or passage or word that we fell in love with, but just doesn't serve the story or the overall message.
The editing process is crucial. This is where we test our thinking. Editing encourages deep thinking, calm consideration, and a bigger perspective.
But editing isn't the only place where a Rewriter's sacrifice comes in to play. Sacrifice something that gets in the way of the writing. I encourage people to give up one or more social media platforms for 30 days in order to make more room for writing. Most people find that they don't miss it. But it takes effort, and the initial withdrawal can be painful. That's good. That means it's a real sacrifice.
There are other ways a Rewriter can sacrifice. How about giving up a habit like interrupting your friends, and challenge yourself to listen all the way through to the end of their story? Or you could give up late night TV for a book.
What would happen if you sacrificed being vague and phrases like "kind of", and instead took the time to find an exact word that perfectly expresses what you really think?
6. Go for the jugular
If you don't know where to begin writing, start with what's bothering you. What irritates you? Worries you? What peculiar terror wakes you up at night?
You don't have to explain yourself when you begin this kind of writing. Just let it out. Write everything you can't say out loud, everything you hold yourself back from tweeting.
One of my favorite prompts, featured in Rewrite Yourself in 30 Days, is the rant. Write a zero star review of that troublesome person or situation. Scream into the page.
You can go deeper by befriending your shadow and letting them take the pen. Try turning an angry flow into dialogue. Notice your energy level as you write with ferocity. How long can you keep up that momentum? Does the rage crescendo, break, or turn? Is there laughter afterwards? Tears? Watch how the writing reveals yourself in layers.
A writer's job is to write, and any job can become monotonous. So when you sit down with your pen, don't just take a halfhearted stab at writing. Go for the throat.
7. Go outside
I don't just mean take yourself on an Artist's Date, although Julia Cameron is always right.
I mean, even though writing is a solitary sport, don't isolate. Bring your writing outside of yourself. Share it with others, either online or in person. Get feedback from others, once you know how to ask for wha you need., share. go outside your head. This includes channeling - listening to the muse, contacting our higher wisdom. Mindful meditation is helpful for this. As is practicing giving and getting feedback with other Rewriters.
9. Write to find out what you think
Don't wait until you "know" something to pick up the pen. Write in order to find out what you know, or what you think you know.
Writing isn't knowing. Writing is thinking. Knowing is what happens after we've done the thinking.
An EKG machine scribes each heartbeat in real time. Let your pen do that for your brain. Find your brain beat.
Writing makes our thinking visible. Allow yourself to think many things, and to think things through. Writing it down allows you to test your thinking. This article from the Harvard Business Review is nearly fifty years old, but it is an elegant read and a plea for sanity in the workplace through writing, pausing, and reflection. Ita plain illustration of how rereading what one writes, and remaining willing to reconsider the arguments therein, is a direct path to a better understanding of self - even in the workplace.
It's a way to become more conscious about the meaning we make through the stories we tell ourselves.
Here are the fundamental principles of Rewrite Yourself. They are your lighthouses as you write yourself a new story.
1. Beware The Narrative Economy
The information age overwhelmed every communication channel, and created brand new ones brimming with extraneous information, turning every consumer's attention into a precious, limited commodity.
Nowadays, we buy what we want based on what captures our attention. And nothing captures and directs attention like a narrative.
Advertisers aren't the only ones trying to sell you a narrative. Political parties, government systems, employers, school boards - the list goes on and on.
Even the most well-meaning friends and family want to pursuade you with their narrative.
How can we successfully sidestep so many narratives created for the purpose of supplanting your own? How do we decide which narratives can be trusted to help us navigate the human experience?
By discerning what was handed down to you, what was broadcast to you, and what you independently believe. By investigating and investing in your own story.
What do you deeply believe? What are your priorities? What do you dream of? What stories and beliefs are you sending to the compost? These are wonderful initiations for a Rewrite.
2. Decide that language is important
If you find yourself reaching for someone else's words instead of your own, pause.
Words matter. Whose words are you using, and why?
Look thoughtfully at the words you use to describe yourself. Are they accurate? Helpful? Damning? Dynamic? Do they mean what you think they mean? Invest in a dictionary. Dive into the etymological fingerprints of your favorite words. Sample your vocabulary as if words were flavors of ice cream; there are so many delectible options.
Pay particular attention to the word, "because". This word signals that you have a causal belief. Another word that's fun to watch is "know." What is it that you think you know?
Decide that your language is important. Choose your words deliberately. The words you really mean will help you make meaning that really matters.
3. Write it all the way down
There is a difference between writing and typing. And there is a good reason why many writers choose to write by hand. Morning pages.
4. Routines not goals
Do it daily. reading is fundamental - social media.
5. Sacrifice
To make space for your new understanding, you must let go of the old. When editing, we must be willing to kill our babies. This means letting go of an idea or passage or word that we fell in love with, but just doesn't serve the story or the overall message.
The editing process is crucial. This is where we test our thinking. Editing encourages deep thinking, calm consideration, and a bigger perspective.
But editing isn't the only place where a Rewriter's sacrifice comes in to play. Sacrifice something that gets in the way of the writing. I encourage people to give up one or more social media platforms for 30 days in order to make more room for writing. Most people find that they don't miss it. But it takes effort, and the initial withdrawal can be painful. That's good. That means it's a real sacrifice.
There are other ways a Rewriter can sacrifice. How about giving up a habit like interrupting your friends, and challenge yourself to listen all the way through to the end of their story? Or you could give up late night TV for a book.
What would happen if you sacrificed being vague and phrases like "kind of", and instead took the time to find an exact word that perfectly expresses what you really think?
6. Go for the jugular
If you don't know where to begin writing, start with what's bothering you. What irritates you? Worries you? What peculiar terror wakes you up at night?
You don't have to explain yourself when you begin this kind of writing. Just let it out. Write everything you can't say out loud, everything you hold yourself back from tweeting.
One of my favorite prompts, featured in Rewrite Yourself in 30 Days, is the rant. Write a zero star review of that troublesome person or situation. Scream into the page.
You can go deeper by befriending your shadow and letting them take the pen. Try turning an angry flow into dialogue. Notice your energy level as you write with ferocity. How long can you keep up that momentum? Does the rage crescendo, break, or turn? Is there laughter afterwards? Tears? Watch how the writing reveals yourself in layers.
A writer's job is to write, and any job can become monotonous. So when you sit down with your pen, don't just take a halfhearted stab at writing. Go for the throat.
7. Go outside
I don't just mean take yourself on an Artist's Date, although Julia Cameron is always right.
I mean, even though writing is a solitary sport, don't isolate. Bring your writing outside of yourself. Share it with others, either online or in person. Get feedback from others, once you know how to ask for wha you need., share. go outside your head. This includes channeling - listening to the muse, contacting our higher wisdom. Mindful meditation is helpful for this. As is practicing giving and getting feedback with other Rewriters.
9. Write to find out what you think
Don't wait until you "know" something to pick up the pen. Write in order to find out what you know, or what you think you know.
Writing isn't knowing. Writing is thinking. Knowing is what happens after we've done the thinking.
An EKG machine scribes each heartbeat in real time. Let your pen do that for your brain. Find your brain beat.
Writing makes our thinking visible. Allow yourself to think many things, and to think things through. Writing it down allows you to test your thinking. This article from the Harvard Business Review is nearly fifty years old, but it is an elegant read and a plea for sanity in the workplace through writing, pausing, and reflection. Ita plain illustration of how rereading what one writes, and remaining willing to reconsider the arguments therein, is a direct path to a better understanding of self - even in the workplace.
