I'm Stealing Writing Advice From A Drunk Narcissist. Here's Why
Try living like a productivity guru for 1-week. It’s exhausting.
I should know. I’m basically the poster boy for Cal Newport and Jocko Willink. I wake up at 4:30 am each morning, exercise like someone’s chasing me, and journal till my hand cramps.
The routine helps my productivity, but, I’ll be honest, it does nothing for my creativity.
It helps to look in odd caverns in your search for original thought.
I heard on a podcast that the author Catherine Baab Muguria wrote a self-help book about Edgar Allan Poe.
Huh?
A self-help book about a guy who married his cousin?
That’s an odd cavern.
Poe’s life would make Ryan Holiday puke. Here’s a guy devoid of emotional intelligence who gave in to every temptation available in his era.
He once showed up to a meeting with the President of the United States “quite intoxicated” and with his cloak inside out. Then, to forget about the debacle, he stayed in Washington an extra night to party with his buds. He left town after asking his friends to pay for all the damages he caused while hammered.
It was also during this episode that he wrote an infamous letter to a friend apologizing for hitting on his wife.
Despite his character flaws, he became one of the greatest American writers of all time.
My worst fear is becoming like Poe. But I’ll admit, I read Poe For Your Problems and stole some creative advice from one of history’s greatest narcissist.
Leverage The Chip On Your Shoulder
Poe loved trolling other writers in newspapers. Call it his favorite pastime.
Thomas English, Henry Longfellow, Hiram Fuller. Didn’t matter. Poe never missed an opportunity to tarnish the literary elites of his day.
Why? Who knows. It is written that he never forgave the world for his fostered upbringing or for ignoring his work while he scrapped for rent money.
“The harshness of his criticisms, I have never attributed to anything but the irritation of a sensitive nature.” Longfellow wrote.
He lived with resentment all his life, but that chip on his shoulder pushed him to work harder than anyone else.
One of his best works, “The Cask of Amontillado” was actually a revenge piece written for Hiram Fuller about a man locked in a basement. Fuller called Poe a drunk (and he wasn’t wrong).
I don’t troll, and I find resentment exhausting. I write about Stoicism because I’m at my best when I focus on the things I can control.
But I’m also realistic about why I do things. Business gurus teach us to work with pure intentions. Write to help others. Sell real estate to provide for your family. Go to medical school to save lives.
C’mon.
I write to help others, of course, but I’m more productive when I gather motivation from multiple sources.
Like what?
I want to prove a point. To show the world I’m smart. To beat other writers. To elevate my personal brand.
I have an ego, and it wants its opinion out there!
In the times I want to quit, you bet your ass it’s not my “target audience” pushing me to finish articles.
Write When You’re Emotionally Unstable
Poe lost his wife to tuberculosis. She was 24 years old.
How did Poe handle the grief? He took to drink and picked more fights with people who didn’t deserve it.
He also wrote. A lot.
A year after Virginia’s death, he published his most puzzling and fascinating piece that still leaves experts scratching their heads.
Eureka took the audience on Terrence Malick-like Tree of Life experience through space and time and leveraged science to find the answers to our suffering.
Here’s the problem, Poe knew nothing about science. Critics called it absurd and nonsensical, while Poe (in Poe fashion) called it the greatest scientific achievement since the discovery of gravity.
Either way, it turned out to be his most debated and reviewed works because scientists and literary experts alike spent way too much time trying to figure it out.
Albert Einstein called it “a beautiful achievement of an unusual mind.”
I can relate. I wrote an article called “The One Hard Truth About Dating That Young People Learn Too Late.” I wrote it while dealing with a breakup — certainly a place of emotional instability.
I cringe every time I read it now.
I talked about how most relationships are temporary and related that idea to the ephemeral nature of the universe. I don’t totally understand what I wrote.
The monster turned into my most popular article with thousands of views and made a crap ton of money on Medium.
No way I could write that now.
Our minds go to strange places when we’re not feeling well. That happens to everyone. But most people internalize those thoughts and don’t do anything with it.
Why not capitalize on it? Monetize it? Feed the inner beast and accept it for what it is. Perhaps the world can relate.
At best, your creation will go viral. At worst, you’ll cringe at your Frankenstein monster and get a comment like this.
“What a lot of rubbish! Or perhaps Cal can be forgiven for having limited dating experience in his tender 28 years. But then, why pass yourself as an authority on the subject?”
Can’t say I blame the guy.
Believe You’re The Lebron of Your Field
Poe notoriously lied his way into jobs.
He fudged his numbers, touted a faux education, and stole experiences that were his friend’s experiences. He even proclaimed that we swam seven and a half miles along the James River. Upon further review (Google Maps), he only swam about 4 miles.
I’d never lie to get ahead, but we can all take a lesson from Poe here.
When I first started writing online, everything I wrote was safe. I wrote about the benefits of waking up early, how to work hard, and why it’s important to turn off Netflix. I used to write book reviews, for fuck's sake. Boring.
Everyone talks about that stuff and everyone knows it.
When I think about it, I played it safe applying for jobs after college. My resume reflected what I thought employers wanted to hear.
Everyone does that.
Business is not the place to rein in on your bullshit. You must believe you’re the prince of your industry or the next great blogger. You must believe you’re only one article away from greatness or no one will take you seriously.
So go off king.
10X the numbers on your resume. Walk around the basketball court like you’re LeBron. Create when you’re in the pit. Cherish the chip on your shoulder.
That’s how Poe did it.
OK, just thought about the South Park Goth episode where they summoned Poe's ghost, lol. Seriously, thank you for the reminder to stop playing it safe.
What’s that saying, you never make the shots you don’t take… Keep shooting Cal, really enjoy your writing.