Let me write, I mean, think about it

Writing as a form of thinking is maybe the single most valuable personal habit I’ve built in the past few years.

“Let me write about it” is my new “let me think about it” because writing is thinking. I don’t know what I think or how I feel about something until I write about it. And while writing, I often surprise myself by finding out that I don’t think what I thought I thought.

If you’re thinking without writing, you only think you’re thinking.

Leslie Lamport

So because I’m a slow processor, I’m building the habit of telling people I need to go write about it rather than answering their question in realtime. It displays vulnerability, it gives them higher quality responses, and it shows them that I’m taking their question seriously. Then, as a bonus, I end up with a neat little doc I can send with my response!