Whatever you write will be left for eternity, so you should write everything with sincerity. Imagine your audience will hang up your words like a work of art.

In order to become skilled in this martial art, you must practice. Without practice you will not build skill. Since writing is such a staple of our lives, it is inevitable that you must and will write. Today you will write a text, a social media message, an email, a letter.

Dear Ben,

These words are from
My mind to
Your heart

Use them for
Fuel forward

Sincerely,
Benny

Every morning I wake to write. I gotta put in that work if I want to feel the vulnerability eventually turn into confidence to share.

You can practice this skill anywhere. The root of this actual writing that you are now reading was created at the foot of the Bay Bridge while I listened to Soul Sol Oldies. Everywhere I go, I carry around a notebook and a little red speaker. I walk, find some place to sit, and write. Sometimes I sing, too.

“Some people are made of plastic
You know some people are made of wood
Some people have hearts of stone
Some people are up to no good
Aaaaah, but baby, I’m for real I’m as real as real can get
If what you’re looking for is real loving
Then what you see is what you get”

You should be ready at all times.

To build writing skill, you must constantly seek to efface yourself. You, everything you are, your name, your age, your entire identity is simply a mask of who you are. Your writing unmasks your mind. You look inside yourself. In order to prove you are game, you must test yourself—to an audience, to your Loved One, to your child’s principal, to your friends, to your boss at work, and ultimately to the audience that matters most: you, yourself. Only you can look into your words and see and feel if they are real: real spider symbols that bite, but that you must learn to pet.

This insect-taming skill, like other skills in your life, helps you learn new skills. Writing is a functional exercise that can help transform many other aspects of your life. It trains your brain to create, and this transfers out to other avenues of opportunity, especially ones that require organization, articulation, precision, and imagination. Through writing, you will, for example, become a more skillful speaker. You will build your intrapersonal intelligence that helps you connect better with yourself, and it may be that if you appreciate yourself as a human being, you can also be able to appreciate others. Writing is therapy for your heart. She listens to you and helps you solve problems. To find this treasure, you must become skillful at digging. 

Make it a point to write with might.