“… the 30-oared ship of Theseus, the Athenians constantly removed the decayed part of her timbers, and renewed them with sound wood, so that the ship became an illustration to philosophers of the doctrine of growth and change, as some argued that it remained the same, and others that it did not remain the same.”
It’s become popular online advice to say, “Write to your old self.” Solve the problems that you yourself had two months or two years ago.
I believe I first heard Rich Schefren say this years ago, but it’s become widespread since.
I don’t do it this way. I don’t write to my old self. Two reasons why:
First, find it hard to move forwards while looking backwards — it gives me seasickness.
Second, I frankly don’t remember who I was two years ago, any more than I can guess who I will be two years from now.
Instead, what I do, and what you can consider doing too, is to write to myself today. I write about what I find interesting, motivating, valuable-sounding right now.
For example, in my email yesterday, I wrote about very high-ticket back-end offers. Why? Because I sense it’s something I should be doing today, or at least in the next few months.
Of course, among the ideas I find interesting many have to do with tennis gossip, identifying plants in the wild, or my own health.
I don’t write about those. I make an effort to choose among all the many ideas I find interesting, motivational, and valuable-sounding, and I only write about those that can also be interesting to people who tend to read this newsletter.
Still, the starting point is always what I find interesting, today, now.
In case this idea resonates with you, I can tell you there are some benefits to doing it this way, at least in my mind:
It’s fresher, more honest, less preachy than writing to my old self.
It can be more valuable to readers — because I’m writing based on my current experience and emotions, rather than on fading or faulty memories.
Ultimately, by focusing on ideas that can make me better, rather than what made my old self better, it makes this newsletter better in the long term, and benefits my readers if they stick with me.
Maybe this doesn’t do anything for you. But then again, maybe it resonates with you on some level.
And if it does, and if you’d like to do something similar, then consider using my Most Valuable Email trick. It’s a way to take ideas that interest or intrigue you, play with them, and make them interesting to your readers, too. For more information on MVE: