How not to regret your life

I’ve been writing professionally for 46 years. I’ve written everything you can imagine. And it all made me smarter.

From writing software documentation, I learned to be brief, logical, and clear. I also learned what it took to turn a bunch of text into a manual, which is, after all, a book.

From writing research reports, I learned to be brief and clear, to write the most important things up-front, and to respond effectively to editorial feedback. I also learned to write only what’s true and new. And importantly, I learned to do research to unearth new insights.

From blogging five days a week, I learned to be punchy and interesting, to write on a variety of topics, to tap a sense of humor, and to develop a topic over months and years. I learned that every experience generates something interesting to say.

From writing books, I learned to define a powerful idea, to name that idea, and to break a huge writing task into appropriate-sized chunks. I learned to stay focused from beginning to end, never letting up on quality. And I learned to collaborate with others on powerful ideas.

From editing, I learned to understand the value of other people’s perspectives and to provide feedback that improves, not only the manuscript, but the writer.

From coaching, I learned to understand the varied psychology of different writers.

From ghostwriting books, I learned to harness my own research and writing talents for the benefit of other people’s ideas.

From indexing, I learned how ideas are structured and relate to each other.

From turning myself into a chatbot, I learned the value of a cohesive set of content and the power of AI to make that content interactive and responsive.

I also learned about myself

I learned that I love writing and editing, in any format and for any purpose.

I learned that I love empowering writers to make their ideas visible and influential.

Above all, I learned to lean into the unknown. New topics. New challenges. New ways to make writing effective. New models and new formats. That’s all scary, and there’s a clear risk of failure.

It’s worth it. And the more diverse the projects you’ve already done, the wider the range of projects you can conceivably do.

All that learning is a total blast.

What have you learned?

I wish for you what I have had: a career full of challenges, opportunities, failures, learning, and ideas.

That’s not going to happen if you keep doing the same thing you’re doing now.

Do you have the courage to broaden your range?

You’ll be able to look back, eventually. Feeling fulfilled, not regretful, means taking risks now.

Go for it.