Why You Need to Write Like an Athlete

The fast track is the slow track.

Photo via Polaris Professional Jiu-Jitsu

When I was in high school, I was on my school’s varsity wrestling team.

Being on the varsity team meant that wrestling season did not end once the season ended in late February. Being on the varsity team meant that your wrestling season ended when your high school wrestling career ended during your senior year.

Good wrestlers train, compete, and work year-round on wrestling.

Another part of wrestling year-round in the Midwest meant that you were training hard during all different circumstances.

We trained hard during blizzards. We trained hard during the humid Chicago summers. We were training hard when we wanted to and when we didn’t.

The funny thing is, when that period of my life was nearing the end, I wanted it to be over. I wanted to be free from the daily struggle of wrestling.

And yet, barely a month after my wrestling career ended, I tried Jiu-Jitsu “for fun” and it quickly became my new wrestling. It became the year-round sport that I’d devote myself to.

Years later, I found writing, and I’ve applied the same vigor and obsession to that craft as well.

I think of writing like a sport.

Here’s how I write “like an athlete”.

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There are seasons, but you never stop training.

I’ve written a newsletter every Friday for nearly 4 years.

I’ve been writing online for nearly 4 and a half years.

The Friday newsletter (and this Wednesday newsletter that I’ve been building as well) are the bare minimum for me. Even in a peak offseason when I’m forcing myself to rest, I write these newsletters. If I’m on vacation, I carve out an hour to throw them together (it’s therapeutic for me).

Writing is like my training.

Even if I’m injured and can’t train Jiu-Jitsu, I am doing something. Even if I have no writing ideas, I write the newsletters. Sometimes, I think of the topics for them in advance, and other times I put them together as it goes.

But writing is a competition for me.

Not a competition with anyone else — I know that we’re all on different paths — but with myself. I owe it to myself to stick with the weekly and daily writing habits I have for as long as I can. I owe it to myself to push when it’s time to push and to rest when it’s time to rest.

Writing like an athlete means consistency and discipline, and I believe that it’s the most sustainable path to success in writing — especially in the digital age.

The tragic story of many great writers.

I love reading classic novels.

Dickens, Hemingway, Kerouac, and many others. These artists inspire me to write more, work harder, and tell the most vulnerable and powerful stories that I can.

But to be honest, I don’t want to be like them.

Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road in 3 weeks while on a drug bender.

Hemingway didn’t even remember composing some of his novels.

They both died young.

Dickens lived into his late 50s, but his life was marred by heavy drinking and womanizing.

The hard truth is that a lot of the writers that I love reading didn’t live lives that I want to live for myself.

They didn’t really write or live like athletes. They were incredible writers — better than me for sure — but they also weren’t the best people. This idea makes me uncomfortable at times. Many of my favorite artists, musicians, and even athletes don’t always have the personal track record that I want for myself.

For me, the goal is to find the middle ground between artists and athletes. To have an artist’s passion with an athlete’s discipline. An artist’s creativity with an athlete’s focus.

This is how I want to write.

It’s not as hard as you might think.

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Closing Thoughts—How to be different

If your goal is to become a digital writer, you need to write like an athlete.

It’s not enough to just write when you have a good idea or when inspiration strikes. You must write consistently, every day (or close to it), for years. I’ve hundreds of articles, a few books, and more short-form posts than I can count, and I’ve found that for the digital building side of modern writing, you need to think of your work like a craft or a sport that you are trying to improve at.

Just like an athlete, you will have seasons. If you’re writing a book or creating a product, you might be working more than when you’re just doing a newsletter or short-form content.

Sports have seasons. writers have seasons.

Write like an athlete.

Be disciplined.

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Want to learn to write with me?

I’m currently taking preliminary interest in the program and there are only a few spots available for the first 4-week cohort, which begins later this year.

This first writing cohort will give you:

• Lifetime access to a community of like-minded writers as the program grows

• Early access to new Modern Writer projects (like the ebook that I’m working on now)

• 4 weekly coaching calls with me (1-1)

• Individualized draft reviews

• Guidance in creating your first 30-day content strategy

This is the first edition of the coaching program and it will change over time.

If this program is something you’re interested in, fill out this form and I’ll be in touch soon :)

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