Planting ideas for a year
E52: Queen Elizabeth II, WoP and 52 weeks of publishing
Celebrating a year of laying down thoughts
This week:
Celebrating 52 weekly editions of this newsletter. Here is how it started a year ago. And how it has been going.
It is impossible to forecast the events that will impact how our lives unfold. Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth II
What a difference a year makes
A year ago, I was nervously preparing to participate in a new writing course. Now, I’ve been publishing this newsletter for 52 straight weeks. That is a record for me. 🎉
Lessons learned
How did I finally keep a steady rhythm of production?
What is Write of Passage (and how you can join in)
Everyone has a different reason they want to write. If you want to express your ideas with clarity, read on …
Lessons learned
Start small. I first committed to 21 editions as my test case. As I started surveying my readers, one Tilter commented “Your open rate is 57% - 73%? Why question if you should continue? Your readers are clearly engaged. And curious.”
I discovered more about myself as I wrote. I write on three main topics - Future of Work, Climate and Raising Future-Ready Leaders. Each edition allowed me to plant another thought. It is my particular vantage point on society and I get to share my ideas on the 21st-century skills and frameworks necessary for the coming decades.
It has opened doors and placed opportunities in front of me - giving me speaking engagements and an invitation to join the board of a climate-related initiative (E48: Design you Future. Invite it in)
Every 7th edition is a rest and recap edition. Because that is a reminder that we need to learn how to pace ourselves in today’s world. Every seven weeks, I plan the next cycle of seven.
Write less. The first few editions had links to longer essays. But my readers, who primarily access the newsletter on their phones, don’t like to link away too much. It is ok to respond to your reader and adjust the format as you go along.
Publish rather than perfect. I was raised in a generation that did not want a hair out of place. So I have had to retrain my brain to publish ASAP rather than wait for perfect. Some weeks I drag & don’t get it out on schedule.
I notice good writing. I‘m better at capturing nuggets of information for future use. This works for writing my second book too.
Rhythm
“How do you keep up the rhythm, creating complex content, yet keeping it engaging?” I asked Wharton Professor, Gad Allon. I’ve been blogging since 2014. But most attempts I’d previously made at publishing a regular newsletter had withered after 13 weeks. Gathering content was my biggest problem. Editing for engagement was another. As a result, I would tire of publishing. Once I lost the momentum, I found it hard to save face and pick up the pace again.
But here were two writers who were dealing with ‘dry’ content. Gad’s newsletter writes on the Gig Economy, Supply Chains and Operations. Adam Cotterill, a recent grad from Queen’s Commerce publishes Energy related information in his newsletter The Plug. I found myself eagerly anticipating their newsletters each week. I, too, had dry and difficult content that I needed to make interesting for a wider public: Future of Work, Climate.
They let me into their secret: Write of Passage (WOP). A rigorous 5-week cohort-based learning group built on the foundation of Building a Second Brain (BASB). BASB taught us how to gather, store and make information accessible.
Write of Passage – An online course by David Perell
Write of Passage works on producing content quickly, making it playful and engaging. They gamify writing with WOP Crossfit. Imagine staring at multiple zoom windows, heads down, dressed in workout gear and sweatbands, chugging tall drinks of water. After a focused two-hour session you’ve created a strong outline of your next essay in a focused two-hour session. Writing Gym and Feedback Gym allow the community to interact and offer a second set of eyes to your writing.
Curious?
The next session of Write of Passage will run from October 5th, 2022 - November 9th, 2022. Enrollment opens September 12th, 2022.
And if you are interested in a scholarship to attend, click here:
I do not get any benefit from encouraging you to sign up. Except that you will join me in an international community of vibrant, curious minds who want to make the world better. You’ve already met some of them in my Meet A Member section of this newsletter. The Future of Education, NFTs, Chess, Soil - no topic is too small or niche to make a difference. In next week’s edition, I will list some of the many newsletters launched by my peers. The class may last five weeks, but the community carries on. And these are the folks that got me back up when I was ready to give up at edition 21.
David Perell talks about growing your audience. I say this is about getting to the voices in the room that are asking the same questions that keep you awake at night.
People learn in different ways. While home-schooling, I discovered I am a mother to a peer learner. Guess what? Turns out I am a peer learner too. So cohort-based learning — where I have community, rigour, respect, and accountability — really leans into my learning style. It is what pushed the needle.
Nervous that you might be alone in class? I’ll be there. Besides writing my own essays, I have joined the Editor team for the upcoming session. Why editing? Because I learn better when I have to teach. And I can always improve my editing.
Questions? You know where to find me in the comment section below!
RIP Queen Elizabeth II
I am sad. Her constant presence offered stability in a rapidly changing world. I felt this way when a treasured Grandma figure passed away some years ago - like there was a hollow, a hole in my life.
Maybe it was because Queen Elizabeth II was amazingly spry for her age. Naturally shy, she still managed a full day of activity and ribbon-cutting at 93. And she met and conversed with so many - from heads of state to young children. Her smile and sense of humour are being remembered.
I am feeling extra lucky that I happened to be in London for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier this year. It caused me to explore a future me in E38: What could you do in seventy years? And it got me thinking - as a parent, what is an appropriate window of time to plan ahead? Is it 3-5 years or 15-30? Or both? How do we learn to respond with flexibility when change happens?
Here is the thing. As the quiet daughter of the second-born prince, she would not have been Queen, but for a chance romance. When her Uncle Edward chose to abdicate rather than give up the woman he loved, her father reluctantly became King George VI. At the age of 10, her life diverged dramatically. This would happen, once again, when her father passed from lung cancer, making this young mother a Queen at the tender age of 25.
She has since carried that responsibility and mantle of service for the last 70 years of her life. Over her reign, she presided over regular meetings with the UK Prime Ministers - her first was Winston Churchill in the aftermath of the Second World War. Her last public appearance was to invite the 15th to form a government.
Today, my mind is playing games with time - imagining all the inventions and technologies that she saw over her life, the various scandals she knew about and kept secret, how the map of the world and space changed during her reign, and all the existential threats around her.
One that is dear to my heart is Climate. And I think back to her invitation to the audience at COP26 last year when she invited all present to think more about the impact on future generations.
Of course, the benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for all of us here today: none of us will live forever. But we are doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children, and those who will follow in their footsteps.
Thus sets the sun on our Elizabethan Era.
To our tribe of Tilters,
Thank you for walking alongside me this past year, and for your suggestions, queries and comments. It has made my world less lonely. And restored my faith that I am surrounded by great individuals who are looking to make the world a better place, one idea, one action at a time.
Till I see you again,
Karena
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52 editions!! Congrats Karena! And yes after seeing the Crown my mind went to the numerous secrets she had to keep for decades and decades!