THINK CLEARLY, WRITE CLEARLY

TCWC #2: Entropy, Active voice

Think clearly: Entropy

Entropy is the reason why shit happens and everybody makes their own fortune.

Entropy, referred to often as disorder or chaos, is the natural decay of systems. Everything will eventually fall apart, and it requires conscious effort to keep things in order. It’s just probabilities, really. For every ordered state of things, there are many, many more disordered states.

Relationships deteriorate, video calls suck, cars crash, and companies fail all for the same reason: there is more ways for things to go bad than for them to go exactly as you’d like.

Don’t get me wrong: you can get things right. But it comes with a tradeoff. Entropy always increases, so fighting it somewhere gives it free reign somewhere else. Working 120 hours a week on your startup leaves less energy to prevent your relationships falling apart, for example.

You can’t prevent chaos, but you can try to prevent the things you hold most dear to not falling apart. Ask yourself: “What amount of disorder am I ready to accept, and where?”

Write clearly: Active voice

Most writing is about characters doing things.

The most direct way to tell your story is to use active voice. Wyatt closed the deal. Ryan helped the new client get started. They celebrated and drank a glass of orange juice.

For some reason, we have a tendency to write about things being done by characters—the passive voice. The deal was closed by Wyatt. The new client was helped to get started by Ryan. In celebration, a glass of orange juice was being drank.

Active voice makes your writing direct and easy to understand. It also forces you to be clear about your main message: who is doing what. See the link between clear thinking already?

Active voice has two simple rules:

  • make main characters subjects
  • make main actions verbs

Wyatt closed the deal. Ryan helped the new client get started. Wyatt and Ryan celebrated and drank a glass of orange juice.

Learn it by hand

Write a short summary (5-10 sentences) of how you deal with entropy in your life. Use only simple sentences with active voice: subject + verb + the rest. Here’s an example.

Block time from your calendar right now. (Works with Google Calendar)

In case you have any questions, feel free to reply directly to this email. Until next month!

-Aku

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Think Clearly, Write Clearly helps you to think and write better. Once a month, we cover one fundamental mental model and one timeless writing principle.

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Sources

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Entropy

Active voice