You Can Learn Any Subject by Trying to Write About It
7 Lessons from Writing to Learn by William Zinsser
It took me years to realize that writing is a powerful learning tool.
Here are 7 lessons from Writing to Learn by William Zinsser:
Caution: I’m not ChatGPT, and this is not a book summary.
1.) Writing, reading, and thinking are integrated.
“Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know — and what we don’t know — about whatever we’re trying to learn.” — William Zinsser
Reading gives you information.
Thinking helps you digest that information.
Writing turns your fuzzy thoughts into crystal clear insight.
Reading, thinking, and writing are interconnected.
If you read a lot of books and still forget them, write.
Please write.
Why?
Because reading and writing together are more powerful than reading alone.
Reading is passive, while writing is active.
Writing is an exercise—not for your biceps, but for your mind.
It helps you turn ideas and facts into insights.
2.) Writing is reasoning.
“Reasoning is a lost skill of the children of the TV generation, with their famously short attention span. Writing can help them get it back.”— William Zinsser
You can’t write well because you can’t reason well.
You can’t reason well because you can’t think clearly.
You can’t think clearly because you’ve never exercised your mind.
What is reasoning in writing?
Sentence B should reason with Sentence A.
As long as you keep reasoning well, readers can stay with you from Sentence A to Z.
3.) Writing isn’t just for literature; anyone can write.
“Clear writing is the logical arrangement of thought; a scientist who thinks clearly can write as well as the best writer.” — William Zinsser
Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, wrote a book about physics.
Howard Marks, owner of a $205 billion asset management firm, wrote a book about investing philosophy.
Jamie Oliver, a culinary influencer, wrote 35 books about cooking.
In school, science-minded individuals are scared of writing.
Literature-minded individuals are scared of science.
Because we think those two things are separate.
Once we change how we see writing as thinking, anyone who can think can write.
4.) Writing to learn is unlike your English class.
“Writing, however, isn’t a special language that belongs to English teachers and a few other sensitive souls who have a “gift for words.” Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly — about any subject at all.” — William Zinsser
I used to hate writing because I had to write about topics I wasn’t interested in.
Picture this:
You get assigned to write about Shakespeare, but you’re obsessed with Sabrina Carpenter.
Writing about topics you’ve never been interested in—that's a nightmare.
Now, writing is one of my sources of happiness.
Because writing online is permissionless. I can write about anything I want.
Find the topics you can’t stop talking about.
Don’t let your English class nightmares stop you from writing.
5.) Models are essential.
“Writing is learned by imitation. I learned to write mainly by reading writers who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and by trying to figure out how they did it.” — William Zinsser
Models are essential.
You need models because we learn by imitation.
Not only in writing, but in most skills, humans learn by imitation.
But read this carefully: imitation isn’t just Ctrl C + Ctrl V.
You have to shed others’ skin once you’ve acquired the skill you want.
Because your originality is the sum of the skills you’ve borrowed from others.
Actionable advice: Pick one role model and imitate them for a month, then move on to another.
6.) You can learn any subject by trying to write about it.
“Writing could get into corners that other teaching tools couldn’t reach.” — William Zinsser
-1,000,000
That’s how I rated my writing skills in the early days.
But I kept practicing.
How?
By hand-copying the books I was reading.
At first, I didn’t know why I did that, but later I found out many copywriters use this technique—copying sales pages word by word.
After 3 months, my writing improved drastically.
Plus, I felt like I was in sync with the writer I was hand-copying.
It helped me understand what I was reading more than ever before.
Because writing is thinking on paper.
Writing helps you
- Sequencing your information
- Reasoning the ideas.
- packaging your thought.
I have to admit this: I’m the byproduct of learning by writing.
Bonus:
- I share what I’ve learned on the internet. The feedback loop helps strengthen my learning speed.
- I teach my old self publicly by pretending to write to him. It helps me organize my thoughts and improve quickly.
7.) A first sh****ty draft is better than a blank page.
“The essence of writing is rewriting. Very few writers say on their first try exactly what they want.” — William Zinsser
A messy draft, where you say what you don’t want to say, is still useful information because failure is a great teacher.
You can polish your disastrous first draft into gold.
Write.
Write your first sh*****t draft.
Let paper help you organize your fuzzy thoughts.
A first sh*****t draft is better than blank page
Friendly reminder: you can’t improve what doesn’t exist.
