You know, stuff like how to properly renovate your house. For example, I’ve used a drill many times to put together IKEA stuff.

And I’ve also drilled holes in the ceiling to hang a lamp. But I never took the time to properly learn everything about drilling.

What are all the different settings on a drill, and what are they exactly used for? What type of drill bit should you use for what job?

Before I bore you to death about my DIY journey (I’ve never been a fan), let me tell you why I’m sharing this story.

Because what I’m going through now reminds me of when I started to train in writing, a little over ten years ago.

The thing is that everyone knows how to write. We all write messages and emails. We went to school. We know how to write.

But most of us never trained ourselves to write properly.

Writing is not about talent

Many of us want to write well. Why is that?

Not for the outcomes. Especially now with AI. You don’t train to become a better writer to get better at answering emails:

No, you become a better writer because YOU want to be a good writer.

That’s all there is to it.

But you need to have a reason. When I started writing, my reason was this:

“I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do with my life. I always wanted to write a book. So let me take the time to learn how to write properly and do it well.”

That’s all.

Why am I now learning to do everything around the house? 

Well, my wife and I just bought a new house and we’re expecting a child. I don’t want to depend on contractors or handymen anymore.

If my son wants to change his bedroom design, I want to do that together with him. I want to learn handyman skills, use them to do something good, and pass them on..

That’s my why.

And it has little to do with talent. It’s the same for writing. Sure, talent plays a role. But you can get VERY far by just training deliberately. 

Writing as training

The more I write, the more I realize writing isn’t just a creative act; it’s a mental workout. It’s like lifting weights for your brain.

Every session teaches you something about yourself. Your focus. Your patience. Your resistance.

When you write, you see your mind in real time. You see how distracted you are. You see how often you stop to check your phone or re-read a sentence. You see how uncomfortable silence feels.

That’s the beauty of writing. It exposes your inner state.

• If your mind is scattered, your writing will be too.
• If your thoughts are clear, your words will follow.

That’s why I see writing as a meta skill. 

It’s not only about communication. Writing is a practice that gives you many benefits.

So how do you train like a writer?

Start small and do it daily. Make it part of your routine, not your mood.

Here’s what’s worked for me:

1. Write every day, even if it’s short.
   Don’t aim for word count, aim for consistency. Writing 15 minutes a day beats writing for 3 hours once a month.
   
2. Use a timer.
   Set 25–30 minutes. No distractions. No editing. Just write. When the timer ends, stop. That’s one rep.
   
3. Finish something.
   Half-written pieces are easy. Finished ones are what teach you. Publish, even if it’s not perfect.
   
4. Read good writing.
   Reading builds taste. Taste guides your edits. If you only read social media, you’ll write like social media.
   
5. Detach from results.
   Don’t chase likes, shares, or praise. You’re not training the algorithm. You’re training yourself.
   

These small rules compound. Over time, your writing sharpens, and so does your thinking.

Writing as reflection

People assume writing is about expression. But for me, it’s about understanding. I write to see what I think. To find out what’s real, and what’s just noise.

That’s why I write before I make decisions. Before I start projects. Before I invest. Writing clears the fog. It shows me the truth behind my thoughts.

Most people avoid writing because it forces honesty. When you put your thoughts on paper, you can’t lie to yourself. You can’t hide behind vague feelings. You see exactly how you think, which can be uncomfortable at times.

But that’s also where wisdom begins.

The pursuit of good writing isn’t glamorous. It’s boring and happens behind closed doors. 

It’s something you do for yourself at first.

And at some point, you feel ready to share it with others. If they like it, that’s great, if they don’t, that’s fine too.

What matters is that you keep training. 

The secret isn’t to write perfectly. It’s to write honestly. 

So stop waiting to feel ready. Stop over-editing before you’ve even finished a draft. Sit down. Write. Let it be bad. Then show up again tomorrow.

The pursuit never ends

After ten years of writing, I still don’t feel like I’ve “arrived.” 

I always challenge myself to get better. And I never forget my mindset when I started. I just wanted to learn. And I’m still like that.

Some days, you’ll write nonsense.

Some days, you’ll surprise yourself. You can’t have one without the other.

Because in the end, writing isn’t about chasing the perfect sentence. It’s about pursuing the person you want to become.

That pursuit never ends. 

The post The Pursuit of Good Writing appeared first on Darius Foroux.

Everyone I talk to seems to be fighting the same battle. Even when we’ve cut down on social media and turned off notifications, our minds wander.

That chat stuck with me. I wondered why focus remains elusive even when we avoid obvious distractions. 

I pulled out my journal and asked: “Why can’t we focus?”

At first I listed the standard culprits like phones, news feeds, and our endless to‑do lists. 

But I realized those aren’t really my issues. I like to think of myself as a fairly disciplined person. I don’t spend too much time on my phone and don’t use social media a lot.

And yet, over the past year I’ve had trouble getting into deep writing sessions. So I kept digging. What had changed?

After some reflection, I saw the root cause: I’d let go of a practice that had anchored my attention for a decade: Deep Thinking.

The lost habit of thinking time

My journaling reminded me of the book The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham. So I pulled it up again on my Kindle.

Cunningham talks about the importance of “Thinking Time.” He argues that most of us are “too busy being busy to think” and that carving out time to think is the most valuable activity we can do.

Cunningham says:

“Thinking is the most valuable activity you can engage in. Most people are too busy being busy to think.”

Re-reading his book reminded me of a habit I’d built over the past ten years but had unconsciously let slip.

My version of thinking time is simple: I sit down with my journal, put on some background music or a YouTube video I don’t need to pay attention to, and start writing. 

I describe what’s going on in my life, then I ask myself a question and explore it on paper. 

For example…

• Practical questions: “How can I strengthen my back?”
• Creative questions: “What should I write about next?”
• Big-picture questions: “Where is the economy headed?”

Sometimes I just sit and let my mind wander.

Without fail, I come away with fresh insights and a clearer sense of direction.

When I skip this journaling ritual for too long, I always notice it in my work. My focus suffers and writing feels like pushing a boulder uphill. 

But when I return to it, my mind sharpens again. It’s like training a muscle.

Thinking is focus training

Focus isn’t just about eliminating distractions; it’s about training your mind to stay with a question long enough to discover something new.

 Deep thinking is like weightlifting for your brain. It’s uncomfortable at first; your thoughts jump around and you may feel restless. 

But if you stick with it, the scattered noise quiets down and ideas begin to connect. You start to see patterns and possibilities you’d miss in the rush of everyday tasks.

Most of us don’t have a focus problem; we have a thinking problem. Our days are packed with doing and reacting. We seldom pause to ask good questions and then sit with them. 

But the quality of our answers, as Cunningham writes, “will always be determined by the quality of your questions.” 

When we make time to think, we’re actively training our capacity to focus.

How to start your own Deep Thinking practice

You don’t need a fancy setup or hours of free time to build this habit. Here’s how I practice Deep Thinking:

• Schedule a block of 30 minutes where you won’t be interrupted. Turn off your phone and close your email.
• Open a notebook or journal. Start by jotting down what’s been happening in your life, work, or relationships. This warms up your mind.
• Pose a question. It can be about anything that’s on your mind. A decision you’re wrestling with, a project you’re planning, a skill you want to build.
• Write whatever comes up. Don’t censor yourself. Follow your thoughts wherever they go. If you get stuck, stare out the window for a minute and return to the page.
• Stop when you feel clear. You’re not trying to produce a polished piece of writing. You’re giving yourself space to think.

When I revived my thinking time practice again recently, my focus returned. I started working on new articles and even came up with ideas for new books. That energized me a lot.

The fog of the unfocused mind disappeared and I started seeing things clearly again.

If you’re struggling to focus, don’t just blame your phone or habits. 

Consider whether you’ve been thinking deeply enough.

The post Deep Thinking: The Most Important Thing to Boost Focus appeared first on Darius Foroux.

He said: 

“If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

Orwell wasn’t just talking about politicians. He was talking about everyone who hides behind words. The kind of writing that sounds smart but says nothing. 

The kind that uses phrases like “leverage synergies” or “drive holistic alignment.” You read it, and it feels like English, but you have no clue what it means. During my time in the corporate world, I was constantly exposed to that writing, and it always annoyed me.

But here’s the problem: No matter how much you dislike vague writing, if you’re exposed to it, you risk becoming a vague writer!

Orwell admitted that as well. He gave an example of how he changed his own vague writing. One of his sentences looked like this:

“Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity.”

Then he rewrote it as:

“I believe that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language.”

Same idea. One hides behind words. The other tells the truth.

Vague writing comes from vague thinking

Orwell emphasized that vague writing is a direct cause of vague thinking. 

When you can’t express what you mean, it’s usually because you don’t know what you mean.

And that problem is getting worse today. When are people forced to do some thinking?

In between watching TikTok videos or sending back and forth memes to each other?

We hardly ever practice our thinking and writing skills. During the day, we do our work, and in our time off, we just consume content.

Now, if you have a dynamic job that forces you to think about new solutions every day, you don’t really need to make time to practice your thinking skills. 

For example, if you design and make custom furniture for a living, you’re constantly commissioned to make new pieces. And every customer requires something different.

But most of us don’t have careers like that. We generally do the same thing every day. 

But let’s say that your work does require complex problem-solving. 

The problem is that we as humans tend to become complacent. After a while, we all get used to our work and risk doing work on autopilot. I like to believe that my work is also dynamic, but the truth is that my job as an author is to turn complex ideas into simple ones.

The underlying principle is the same. And that’s why I’ve had many periods of complacency as well. That’s why I’m also always investing in stocks.

Being an active investor challenges me to think about my stock picks every day. What should I buy? What should I sell? Why? What’s happening in the economy?

Thinking and journaling about those questions really keeps me sharp. I’m constantly challenging my own thinking and making sure I can articulate my thoughts into coherent sentences.

6 practical rules for clear writing

Alright, writing clearly is important. And to write clearly, you must think clearly.

Because if you can do that, your life will be better on every level. A clear thinker will…

• write better AI prompts
• understand themselves better
• be able to set goals and knows how to achieve them.

That’s just a few of the benefits of becoming a clear thinker and writer. And this is now more relevant than ever.

Let’s go back to George Orwell for some advice.

He ended his essay with practical rules that feel more relevant than ever (and apply perfectly to AI prompts as well):

1. Never use a metaphor or other figure of speech you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Use direct, active language that shows who is doing what, instead of hiding the action behind vague phrasing.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

That’s the “clear thought creates clear output” philosophy distilled.

Break the rules!

Orwell’s last point is my favorite one: Clarity and honesty matter more than blindly following rules.

So even though we’ve laid out a bunch of rules and we can create systems for thinking/writing better, the goal is NOT to always stick to them.

If following a writing rule makes your sentence stiff, unnatural, or false, just break the rule!

The goal isn’t to sound or look perfect in today’s world.

It’s to say something true and human.

The post How to Think Clearly in a World of Noise appeared first on Darius Foroux.

That’s what most of us think about AI.

And unfortunately, a lot of people are using AI like that. The other day I was talking to a friend who’s a physiotherapist. He said, “I used ChatGPT to write a bunch of social media posts and I’m ready to publish them.”

He asked for tips on writing content with AI. I said, “I basically use AI for everything digital except writing content.“

That’s because every other person is already using ChatGPT for their content. So what does that say about you if you also use it?

A dime a dozen.

The AI Writing Curve

Here’s what happened to me in the last few years with AI and writing, in simple terms:

Here’s all you need to know now: I used ChatGPT to create the visual above. I also used it to create an outline for this article.

But I’m writing this myself.

Is AI bad at writing? Not really. It’s actually quite good.

But what I’m doing here is not writing. This is something I only realized recently.

Writing is thinking. Writing is art.

Over the last year, I’ve travelled a lot and met a lot of people. When they ask what you do, I always say I’m a writer.

It often sparks a conversation about books, philosophy, reading, and the craft of writing.

Several people have told me that as a writer, “you’re an artist.”

I have to be 100% honest with you. I never saw myself as an artist. Me? Art? I don’t think so.

I’m a simple dude who grew up in a little town and doesn’t do anything special. I just love reading, thinking, and putting my thoughts into words.

Because when I write, I’m thinking. Writing is really a selfish pursuit. I can’t help but write.

And that’s the key. Writing is thinking.

Every time I sit down to write something like this, I feel like I’m progressing mentally, and I feel energized. I just feel good when I write.

And the funny thing is that no one is reading this as I’m writing this in the moment. It’s just fun to write. Of course, it’s even more fun if people actually read it. But it all starts with joy in the process.

The business of writing is not in AI, it’s in the art and craft

With the impending takeover of AI in the world, many knowledge workers and creators are questioning their future.

What will my career look like in the future?

I think the key to success lies in focusing on what makes us human, which is human connection.

Why do we like to read one author and dislike the other? It’s because we can connect on a deep emotional level with the author we like.

It’s the same with any other type of art, like movies or music. Why do I enjoy listening to Nipsey Hussle? Why do I like Brad Pitt movies? Because I like some things about their character and overall style. I don’t have to like every part of them. But I like how they carry themselves.

And above all, I think they are great at their craft. I love seeing people in their element. It gives me inspiration to get better at what I do too.

So will we outsource everything to AI? I don’t think so. We’re still human. We like art, craft, and intellectual stimulation.

That’s why I’m back to writing every day.

Struggling daily. And loving it daily.

Returning to writing myself was hard at first. I felt rusty and even a bit lazy. As in, “Why would I sit down to write something if AI can do it for me?”

But quickly, I remembered why I fell in love with writing in the first place. Each session pushed my mental boundaries, challenged my assumptions, and reignited my creativity.

Because at the end of the day, writing isn’t just about publishing, it’s about sharpening the mind and creating something deeply human.

It’s tough. But that’s exactly why I love it.

Check out The Writing to (L)Earn Academy

Are you interested in learning the craft of writing and how to earn a living from it? Check out my new academy, which I started with two fellow writers.

Registration is open now. We currently have an introductory rate of 50% off.

Learn more here: writing2earn.com

The post I’m Writing Daily Again. It’s Hard, But I Love It. appeared first on Darius Foroux.

I had just quit my corporate job, owned nothing but a laptop, and figured I had exactly zero reputation to lose by thinking out loud on the internet. 

Ten years, hundreds of articles, ten books, and millions of readers later, that single decision has paid the kind of compound interest no spreadsheet can capture. It taught me that mastery is less about talent and more about what you choose to do repeatedly.

A decade of doing one thing has burned certain truths into my muscle memory. Truths that matter whether you’re coding apps, raising kids, or trying to keep a side hustle alive after your 9-5.

What follows are the ten lessons that actually moved the needle for me. They’re simple enough to remember on your own journey. I hope this is helpful.

1. Pick a Career, Not a Job

This was advice that I read about for the first time ten years ago. And I decided to take it to heart.

The thing about a job is that you only have it to pay the bills. No matter how much you slice it and dice it, that’s what it comes down to. Sure, you might like your co-workers and being part of a group, but would you be there if you didn’t get paid?

When you set out to pick a career, something that you can do for the rest of your life, you force yourself to look at other factors than money.

In short, it comes down to meaning and value. What’s a career that will give you a sense of inner satisfaction but also aligns with your strengths? Something that you love doing and are also good at doing.

So pick a career, start at the bottom, and work yourself up. No matter how hard it gets, at least you’ll love the work.

2. Enjoy Small Things

Our lives are the sum of all the mundane, small things we do daily.

All those little things like having coffee, going for a walk, or simply writing a few words may feel boring at the moment. But the truth is, they make up 99% of your life. Not the big milestones you see on social media.

When you learn to truly appreciate the small moments, your daily grind turns into daily joy. Gratitude isn’t fluffy self-help; it’s practical. It makes your work better, your mood brighter, and your progress steady.

3. Focus on Building Reputation

When my dad and I started a business, I noticed how easily he got meetings. Everyone in the laundry industry knew him. Later, when I worked at the leading IT research firm Gartner, doors opened effortlessly. I just had to mention their name.

Reputation is leverage. It’s trust. It’s Warren Buffett versus social media grifters. Buffett built his reputation over decades. The scammers chase quick gains and burn trust immediately.

Building reputation takes patience and consistent quality work. But once you have it, it becomes your greatest asset.

4. Systems > Goals

Early on, I committed to publishing articles every Monday and Thursday. This simple system removed the need to constantly decide and plan.

Goals are great, but systems get you there. Goals alone can feel overwhelming, vague, or too distant. Systems are actionable, clear, and automatic.

Create simple routines. Automate decisions. Show up consistently. That’s how progress compounds.

5. Saying “No” Boosts Creativity

Early in your career, saying yes can be helpful because it gives you experiences. But if you want mastery, it’s about saying no more often.

Say no to distractions, to tasks that don’t move the needle, and to anything that doesn’t align with your main goal. Saying no creates focus. And focus drives creativity and progress.

The most creative and productive people know exactly what they don’t do.

6. Health Powers Everything

If your health collapses, nothing else matters.

Over the past decade, I’ve faced a few health challenges. And every time I did, my priorities became crystal clear. No amount of success, money, or followers can make up for bad health.

Prioritize your health relentlessly. But more importantly, appreciate it deeply when you’re well. Use your energy wisely, work hard when you can, and respect the body that keeps you moving.

7. Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously

We’re basically here trying to distract ourselves from wondering too much about life, death, and meaning. So, why take yourself so seriously?

Laugh at your mistakes. Shake off criticism. It’s fine if people don’t get you or mock you. They’re not thinking about you nearly as much as you think.

Be serious about your work, but never about yourself. Life’s short. Lighten up.

8. Money Follows Skills

Forget chasing money. Instead, chase skills.

Becoming obsessed with skills—getting really, undeniably good at something—is how you attract money. Not by looking at bank balances or dreaming about fancy stuff.

Money is simply a result. Get good, stay good, and keep improving. Everything else follows naturally.

9. Action Beats Perfection Every Time

You don’t need another book, course, or “perfect” moment. You need action.

Overthinking and perfectionism are enemies of progress. The best performers act first, then improve on the fly.

Don’t wait. Act. You’ll figure things out faster by doing rather than endlessly preparing. Imperfect action always beats perfect inaction.

10. There Is No Finish Line

If you’re looking for a clear finish line, you’re missing the point.

There’s always more to learn, another level to reach, another skill to refine. The absence of a finish line isn’t exhausting; it’s motivating.

A decade into doing one thing, and I feel I’m just warming up. The deeper you go, the better it gets. So keep moving. You’re never done, and that’s exactly why it matters

You’re never really finished. So whether it’s one year into something or 10, you’re just getting started.

The post 10 Things I Learned From a Decade of Doing 1 Thing appeared first on Darius Foroux.