alt Hacker NewsI enjoy reading about other people’s approaches to motivation and creativity.
But I very much dislike when they phase it as “you need to” or “this is how it works”. Thinking everyone else’s brain operates the way yours does seems to be a frequent bias among bloggers. And managers.
I encourage those who write about their experiences to keep it in the first person.
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Not only that. My brain operate differently at different times. I may find that an approach that works for me now doesn't work in a year. It doesn't mean the approach is "wrong" or that I was wrong choosing it a year ago. Maybe it was the right approach for that time, and now I have different needs.
I strongly agree, I find it a sign of a mature writer when they write in the first person about such topics. It's based on reflection that personal truths are subjective and it's better to be more accurate (that these are the individual's experiences and learnings), rather than prescriptive (that these are Universal truths and everyone should fall in line).
Cool, I’ll be sure to adapt all of my writing to adapt to your particular psyche.
At no point in this post did the author assert they knew how your brain worked.
> I encourage those who write about their experiences to keep it in the first person.
My therapist gave me this exact criticism our first few sessions. On a more charitable read, writing is as much an exercise for the author as it is for the reader. That you might be the writer talking out loud to themselves, not to you in particular.
In any case, point taken. I will keep that in mind, even though I really would like my writing to have a more assertive tone. There are times one seeks to be told what to do, what to try, rather than having to suffer the tired cliché that "this advice might apply to you, it might not, only you know best."