Jordan B. Peterson - 10 Step Guide To Clearer Thinking Through Essay Writing

This is a summary with key lessons of Jordan B. Peterson’s guide on how to write essays. It is a helpful guide that could help storytellers - or anyone else - to improve their writing skills. The full guide can be downloaded below.

Summary

1. An essay is used to formulate and organize your thoughts around a set of ideas.

2. The mind is organized verbally at the highest level. This coincides with the book ‘The Righteous Mind’, which states that the human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor. Of course, one should not forget that emotions and senses like smell trump these processes, but still.

3. A central question is determined per essay. Getting the question right is the hardest part.

4. From your central question, move on to the 10 next questions. Maximum number of questions/outline is 15. You could use the SEXI model for making a point - State, EXplain, Illustrate. Alternatively you can commingle the questions into other structures like issue/feature/benefit/proof or simply questions.

5. Generally, essay length is 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000 words (10 questions with 10 sentences of 10 words each).

6. Always have a reference/sources list at the end.

7. Write a stock intro and conclusion, but throw them away afterwards.

8. Differentiate between Production and Editing. First produce, then list all sentences and start editing. Reorder paragraphs after editing.

9. Try to stick to the same formats that work for you. These could be Issue/Feature/Benefit/Proof, Past/Current/Future, Why/How/What or anything else that works. The best articles in the world do not necessarily need a clear structure, but flow naturally.

10. How would people in ten years read the essay? This question helps you to differentiate between signal and noise, or what effectively relates to clickbait (for social media) and what is important. It is still relevant to make an intriguing question or statement (clickbait) which can be used in the SEO sentence when forwarding the URL. This is used to hook people into the article. Make the rest of the article future proof and write them as if your kids would read them.

Writing is more than a vehicle for communicating ideas. It's a tool for crystallizing ideas.

Writing exposes gaps in your knowledge and logic. It pushes you to articulate assumptions and consider counterarguments.

One of the best paths to sharper thinking is frequent writing.

— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) December 26, 2021

3 dead-simple steps to edit your writing in 10 minutes or less (that you'll actually use):

— Dickie Bush 🚢 (@dickiebush) April 9, 2022

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