In today’s episode, I’m reflecting on what a year of lifting heavy weights has taught me about writing. When I first started working with genuinely heavy weights, I realized that the hard part was not only physical. My brain often told me to stop before my body had actually reached its limit.
That experience in the gym has an uncanny resemblance to the moment in writing when an argument gets difficult, the structure will not quite settle, and suddenly email, footnotes, or “just a little more reading” starts to look very appealing.
I talk about the difference between real rest and avoidance and why both matter for academic writers. Rest is essential and it is part of how growth happens. But sometimes what looks like rest is actually a retreat from the intellectual discomfort that makes our work stronger. I also reflect on consistency, not as writing every day or meeting some punishing productivity standard, but as the practice of returning to the gym, to the page, and to the hard thing that slowly builds progress over time.
All of this is to say that you can do hard things, and it is the act of doing those hard things that makes the magic happen.
Related Content
Writing Should Be Hard
What if I told you that feeling confused by your own argument is actually a good sign? That wrestling with ideas for weeks, months, or even years isn't evidence you're doing something wrong but proof you're doing something right?
Sticking With Your Writing When the Going Gets Tough | Ep. 16
In this episode, I’m continuing the conversation I started in this week’s newsletter called “Writing Should Be Hard.” You can read the newsletter from Tuesday here:
