Stop Writing How-To

Write How-I Instead.

Photo by Ali Barzgar on Unsplash

I’m confused.

7 months ago, I went to the best pie cafe in town.

The worker asked me what my dream was.

I knew I wanted to make a living by writing, so I told him what my dream life looked like.

He encouraged me, saying, “Just go for it, man!”

But that’s not the moral of the story.

Then I asked him, “What’s your dream?”

He said he wanted to be a YouTuber.

“Did you start your channel?”

“No,” he replied.

Then he gave me a bunch of reasons why he hadn’t started:

• I don’t know the best topics.
• I don’t have the best microphone.
• I’ve got a full-time job to deal with.

I don’t blame him for not starting his YouTube channel yet.

His story taught me an important lesson.

It’s easy to tell people, “Do this” or “Do that.”

It’s harder to show them how you do it.

That’s the first benefit of writing “How I” articles instead of “How to” articles.