What Did I Say?
This blog is now eight years old. I’ve also been writing on Quora continuously for six years this month. Between E@RTC, this site, Middlerock, and Quora, it’s added up to a massive amount of content. This doesn't include my book a year ago. It doesn't include a lot of things.
I write an average of 3,750 words a day according to ChatGPT. It measured my work by months of edits on GPT-4, where I ask it for help with just three things: spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It took a while before it came up with my total edited word count, then it divided that total by the number of days since the initial edit. It would have taken me days to come up with the same thing. It’s a bit misleading because I don’t use GPT-4 until I’m done with my own writing and editing.
That total content is more than an ample opportunity for many to pass judgment on the things I write. Every time I write something, the target gets a tiny bit bigger, but that’s okay. I love to write and I’m not out to make everyone happy, or even comfortable. I know it’s not possible.
The only time I use GPT-4 is when I’m posting for others to read or when I need a suggestion for a topic to write about. The cool thing about GPT-4 is that it can look at all my content and come up with some topic ideas.
That daily average number of words does not include book drafts, emails, etc. This is just 3,750 condensed words a day of online blog content. I’ll bet I write closer to 5,000-6,000 words a day. If I type around 50 words a minute like the average person, that’s only about an hour and a half to two hours of writing per day, so it’s not monumental. I can still do other work in my day. Yes, research can sometimes take a long time, and so do revisions. The total effort is probably closer to three hours a day, all in my spare time. This is a hobby after all.
A couple of months ago, someone commented about one of my posts on Quora and I noticed they had been a part of the Quora community for much longer than me. I could also tell that they commented a lot and their work was thoughtful, detailed, and deliberate. I decided to look up more of those who comment on my posts and I noticed a pattern. Many people comment on Quora but never post a single answer to any questions. Many who comment have given their responses a lot of thought and they do their homework before they write something. It got me thinking about human nature and closet writers.
After talking to a few people about why they don’t post on Quora, I didn’t get specific answers and some of the answers didn’t make sense. Some said they didn’t have time to answer a question, yet their comments took longer than the average answer. It’s like they didn’t want to answer that question at all. I got a lot of deflection. I’ve met many talented people who have some great points of view who won’t write on Quora. So why not post? Even anonymously?
I’m guessing it comes down to two things. One; they don’t think they are writing at a high enough caliber, even though they are wonderful at commenting and clearly write well. Two; they don’t want to be a target and be subject to ridicule and debate as it often happens on Quora. I think it’s why so few on X use their real names, especially when they spout nonsense and somewhere inside, they know it. There are also some who lean conservative and work in a liberal workplace and know it will harm their careers.
Anonymously, they can say anything without much consequence unless someone rats them out. It’s often where you read some very weird stuff. It’s also where you see some of the dumbest posts. Some participants have fought to get anonymous posters and hidden names off the platform entirely and I can see both sides. I sometimes suspect it’s kids spouting off just to troll others. What a society we’ve become. Who would have ever thought that writing under your own name would require any level of bravery? It shouldn’t.
The weird part about writing a lot of content is that you never know how it’s received. If I hit send, I have no idea how many read what I write until long after the post, and I’m not there to see their reaction. Some may love what I write, and others hate it, but you never know unless someone says something and comments back. Often they won’t comment at all when they disagree. It’s just silence. It happens to me on Substack. I can tell when others agree or disagree by the volume of feedback.
It’s especially difficult to get meaningful feedback when you’re working on original thoughts or think past mainstream beliefs and venture into the world of contrarian ideas. Go against the political grain and you could find yourself excluded from conversations. It’s happened to me too. It’s way easier to just not write, but we do it because we all want to contribute to the greater good and besides, it’s fun to advance ideas. I’ve even made some friends this way.
It’s the people who advance ideas who often make others uncomfortable, especially when it falls outside of what’s currently popular. I write with the hope of making a difference, but I never know. It’s an attempt to contribute the best way I know how.
I don’t write for attention as there are better ways out there. There isn’t much fame in writing, except for the very few. What you do create is a massive body of work that becomes a written record and someone somewhere may decide to pick it apart. I care only a little. Sure, like everyone, it would be more fun to be liked than disliked, but in the arena of ideas, we should be debating and learning. It took me a long time to get to that point where I care much less than I once did. I wouldn’t be an effective transformational advisor to other companies if I told clients what they wanted to hear. My job is to get them unstuck and often that means saying what’s not so popular at the office.
Getting out and saying what was really up with me didn’t happen overnight and surprisingly, or not, the more I push towards a contrarian point of view that runs against fad-like concepts, the more people get engaged and support my work. That I didn’t expect. What I do wish is that more would jump in with their opinions and contribute. Quora has a lot of great minds and I wish more would speak up.
Meanwhile, X has become a lot of fun to read. I’m glad participation is at an all-time high and that there are still places to write.