Loved this breakdown of Learn → Curate → Simplify. It really resonates in a world where everyone’s competing for attention. The reminder that learning is the actual job for creators hit home. Also appreciated the actionable advice, especially around using PKM tools and noticing what sparks curiosity in others. Thanks for sharing this, Bobby!!
Bobby, this article is a goldmine! Thank you so much for breaking down the creator's journey into these three essential, actionable steps. As we're working on Glasp, a learning platform, the three steps, learn, curate, and simplify, totally make sense!
Let me apply it to keep catching up with this so fast-paced economy!
Thanks Benjamin. Great question! Sorry, I didn't get too into the details in this post because I wanted to keep it relatively short.
Yes, there are a few ways I've handled the Simplify step personally. I'll give you an example of each:
(1) Straight Book Review
This is how I started out as a blogger 15 years ago, and it's the most straightforward example of the three, so I won't belabor this one. But you're basically just trying to distill the essence and core takeaways from the book into a 3-5 minute read. Here's an example from the book "Die With Zero" I recently read (and loved): https://bobbypowers.com/review-die-with-zero/.
(2) Book Idea + Your PoV
I wouldn't worry too much about rehashing someone's idea (as long as you attribute ideas). Two reasons why I say that: (1) Any summary you give of another person's idea is automatically infused with YOU: your ideas, your perspective on the world, what jumped out to you, etc. That means your content will be different than anyone else's. (2) Practically EVERY idea is something another person said first, then the next person built on it, and the next, etc. If you write about Cal Newport's famous book "Deep Work" and add your own PoV, Newport benefits because you're pushing his ideas to more people, you benefit by having thoughtful ideas to share with others (and simplify for them), and your audience benefits because many of them haven't read Newport's book and they're getting exposed to it from your post.
One example is this article I wrote about Edward de Bono's book "Six Thinking Hats": https://bobbypowers.com/six-thinking-hats/. This is clearly not a book review because it's infused with my stories and my examples, building off de Bono's work. The key with Book Idea + Your PoV stories is that you want to share stories/examples from your own life and/or give a new spin on what the author said. You try to extend their work while also simplifying the core nuggets for your audience.
(3) Multiple Books + Your PoV
Most of my articles fall into this camp. The beauty of reading a lot is that your brain gets stuffed with ideas, quotes, and data that you can marshal for any future article, book, interview, etc. I see learning as a core part of my job as a creator because I need to consume to create. It gives me ammunition.
So when I write an article about something like "7 Ways to Become a Better Public Speaker" (https://leaderandlearner.substack.com/p/7-ways-to-become-a-better-public), the post explicitly contains a reference to the book "Made to Stick," but it also is comprised of all the other hundreds of things I've read that informed my understanding of that topic. And that composite understanding is what enables me to simplify the topic down into a few nuggets that will hopefully help people.
Let me know if that makes sense or if you have any follow-up questions. :-)
Loved this breakdown of Learn → Curate → Simplify. It really resonates in a world where everyone’s competing for attention. The reminder that learning is the actual job for creators hit home. Also appreciated the actionable advice, especially around using PKM tools and noticing what sparks curiosity in others. Thanks for sharing this, Bobby!!
You bet. Thank you, Kazuki!
Bobby, this article is a goldmine! Thank you so much for breaking down the creator's journey into these three essential, actionable steps. As we're working on Glasp, a learning platform, the three steps, learn, curate, and simplify, totally make sense!
Let me apply it to keep catching up with this so fast-paced economy!
Here's my learning: https://glasp.co/kei/p/470cb2993de814b225a8
Thanks for your kind words, Kei! :-) And I love seeing what you highlighted from the article. That's such a cool feature of Glasp.
Nice write up! Thank you Bobby.
For the simplify step, is it possible to share a little bit more about how to present those crystalized and simplified ideas?
Are you aiming to share those ideas learned with your commentary on top, e.g. Book Idea 1 + My PoV -> Content.
Or are you looking to combine them into a new piece. E.g. Book Idea 1 + Book Idea 2 + My PoV -> Content.
If the former case, how can someone do that in an authentic way so it doesn't seem like we're just re-hashing someone else's idea?
Thanks Benjamin. Great question! Sorry, I didn't get too into the details in this post because I wanted to keep it relatively short.
Yes, there are a few ways I've handled the Simplify step personally. I'll give you an example of each:
(1) Straight Book Review
This is how I started out as a blogger 15 years ago, and it's the most straightforward example of the three, so I won't belabor this one. But you're basically just trying to distill the essence and core takeaways from the book into a 3-5 minute read. Here's an example from the book "Die With Zero" I recently read (and loved): https://bobbypowers.com/review-die-with-zero/.
(2) Book Idea + Your PoV
I wouldn't worry too much about rehashing someone's idea (as long as you attribute ideas). Two reasons why I say that: (1) Any summary you give of another person's idea is automatically infused with YOU: your ideas, your perspective on the world, what jumped out to you, etc. That means your content will be different than anyone else's. (2) Practically EVERY idea is something another person said first, then the next person built on it, and the next, etc. If you write about Cal Newport's famous book "Deep Work" and add your own PoV, Newport benefits because you're pushing his ideas to more people, you benefit by having thoughtful ideas to share with others (and simplify for them), and your audience benefits because many of them haven't read Newport's book and they're getting exposed to it from your post.
One example is this article I wrote about Edward de Bono's book "Six Thinking Hats": https://bobbypowers.com/six-thinking-hats/. This is clearly not a book review because it's infused with my stories and my examples, building off de Bono's work. The key with Book Idea + Your PoV stories is that you want to share stories/examples from your own life and/or give a new spin on what the author said. You try to extend their work while also simplifying the core nuggets for your audience.
(3) Multiple Books + Your PoV
Most of my articles fall into this camp. The beauty of reading a lot is that your brain gets stuffed with ideas, quotes, and data that you can marshal for any future article, book, interview, etc. I see learning as a core part of my job as a creator because I need to consume to create. It gives me ammunition.
So when I write an article about something like "7 Ways to Become a Better Public Speaker" (https://leaderandlearner.substack.com/p/7-ways-to-become-a-better-public), the post explicitly contains a reference to the book "Made to Stick," but it also is comprised of all the other hundreds of things I've read that informed my understanding of that topic. And that composite understanding is what enables me to simplify the topic down into a few nuggets that will hopefully help people.
Let me know if that makes sense or if you have any follow-up questions. :-)