4 Life-Changing Lessons My Blogging 'Master' Taught Me

In March of 2018, I met a writer who would change my life.

Michael Thompson

.

At the time he had a few thousand Medium followers—nothing too ridiculous—but little did I know he’d go on to garner 83,000 Medium followers, write numerous mega-viral articles (like this one that got 7,277 likes), and write a book that got an endorsement from Cal Newport.

I was basically talking to blogging Socrates before he became famous.

I’ve said this before, but Michael is the best writer I know—which is the highest compliment I can give. Today I wanted to give you four lessons he’s taught me over the last six years of knowing him.

1. Write Letters To Your Younger Self

On my other publication,

Finding Tom

, I do a series where I write letters to my younger self. Michael is the reason I do these.

I remember sometime around 2019 Michael coined that phrase on the phone with me.

So what does it mean?

It means that you can torch your ridiculous preoccupation with “niches,” “target audiences,” and “branding.”

You can just write to yourself. Michael’s advice is simple: Write something your younger self needed to hear. That’s it.

In his mega article from 2021 titled “On Peaches, Park Benches, and Choosing What Matters Most,” he reflects on a moment where his son asked to eat a peach with him. But he had things to do. Important work. At least, that’s what he said.

But after he bought the peach and took a 5 minute break with his son, he realized the beauty of this tiny moment soaking in the world—a moment he would’ve missed if he chose to say “No.”

He writes “I was a word away from missing out on that moment because I wanted to spend the next five minutes probably sending an email to someone I can’t remember or trying to write an article that most people would probably forget.”

This is a beautiful reflection, and a lesson to his younger self.

Honestly, this is all I do here at this newsletter as well.

I write stuff I wish I could’ve read in 2018, 2019, or even last week. I write about my own problems, and trust that other people have those problems as well.

It’s a brilliantly simple way to write effective blog posts, and personally, they’ve always been more fun for me to write as well.

2. Let Yourself Process Things Before You Write About Them

Michael recently told me that sometimes he needs months to properly write a blog post. My jaw dropped to the floor when I heard this.

Normally it takes me all of 2-3 hours to write a post. I can really fly, people.

But, gulp, months?!

Michael is the King of blogging, though, so I let him elaborate.

He said that sometimes he needs time to properly process something that happened to him. His subconscious needs to “hash it out” and figure out what it means. He gives himself a huge amount of space to get it right.

I must admit, this is so foreign to me.

But words can’t describe how much I admire this about Michael. Quality has always been the defining factor of his work. He never misses. He is like the Justin Tucker of blogging. For me, I enjoy hashing something out in real time as I write—but for Michael, he sometimes needs months to process something.

He’s also told me that he sometimes spends 8-10 hours writing a single blog post. Holy crap, man. That level of dedication and agonizing over every sentence, word, and even punctuation is so commendable.

That’s why he’s the King in my book. He’s the blogging equivalent of the Dad that tells his impatient kids “we’ll get there when we get there,” and he always takes us somewhere beautiful. It’s always worth it.

3. Help Fellow Writers More Than You Help Yourself

Recently we had Michael join us for our first

Substack Campfire 🪵🔥 ⛺

challenge. It’s just a 30-day Note Writing sprint, and the level of care he showed to his fellow writers in the group was incredible.

This man writes comments like he writes his blog posts. He never phones it in. He is always saying something genuinely funny, heartfelt, or emotional. I don’t know how he does it, but he does.

He calls me once every few weeks and talks to me for an hour or so.

The other day I was helping a coaching client with their branding. They shared a google doc with me. I opened it up and was shocked to see none other than Michael’s name on the right hand side of their Google Doc! He was giving them feedback!

Like, what?

This dude is everywhere.

Michael’s network of bloggers stretches far and wide, and people are superfans of his work because he genuinely cares. I think he spends more time helping other writers than writing himself. I’m serious.

I don’t think he does it for reciprocation, either. He does it because he cares. He does it because he’s a good man. And the sum of his generosity lies in the loyal readership he’s garnered over the years. These people go wild for his work. Just look at his Substack,

shy by design

.

Michael’s generosity with me is the reason I’m currently raving about him in this newsletter.

4. Your Stories Will Resonate More If They’re Relatable

If you’ve read Michael’s work (go ahead and check him out at

shy by design

), you’ll quickly realize he’s a master storyteller. He’s by far the best storyteller I know.

Why?

Well, while there’s so many secrets Michael has, one tip he revealed to me recently was how much relatability matters.

Take his post, “On Peaches, Park Benches, and Choosing What Matters Most,” as an example. I’m not a parent, but I can imagine how hard it is to balance work with family time.

I CAN relate, though, to his underlying lesson: That taking time to reflect on the beauty of life with family is more important than work.

I can relate to that immensely—so much so that it brings a tear to my eye. So, next time you tell a story, ask yourself how universal the situation and the lesson are.

Let’s say you work in air conditioning and heating.

Telling a story about how you fixed an air conditioner isn’t that relatable.

But if you broaden the focus to the anxiety you feel to do your job correctly, suddenly that’s universal. Being a parent is relatable. Struggling to pay bills is relatable. Beginning a new chapter in your life is relatable. Think about what in your life is relatable to other people and start writing about that. I guarantee your writing will start resonating more.

Come Learn Storytelling From Michael Thompson On Thursday

I’m proud to announce that

Michael Thompson

is teaching a 90-minute workshop on storytelling this Thursday at 11 AM EST for paid subscribers of the

Substack Campfire 🪵🔥 ⛺

. He’s going to be:

• Breaking down how he writes viral Substack Notes.

• Teaching us how he writes introductions that hook people.

• Providing a masterclass on storytelling.

I’m not lying when I say this workshop could double or triple the effectiveness of your writing. I personally will be taking copious notes during this event.

Become a paid subscriber here.

Here’s a few viral Notes Michael wrote recently:

During our 30 day challenge, Michael used Notes to grow his newsletter by 311 subscribers.

Telling great stories can:

• Build the foundation of a $100,000+ blog.

• Hook 2x-3x more people to read your entire newsletter weekly.

• Make your Notes perform 10-20x better in the feed.

• Inject some fun back into your writing routine.

I’ve seen firsthand how great storytelling helped Michael write viral articles, score a book deal, and grow a large 5-figure following online.

Become a paid subscriber to the

Substack Campfire 🪵🔥 ⛺

here to get access to Michael’s LIVE training this Thursday at 11 AM EST.

You also get access to:

• Three 30-Day Note Writing challenges over the next year. ($1,500 value)

• Monthly writing workshops with Substack royalty like the one Michael is doing this Thursday. ($2,000 value)

• 15+ hours of existing live trainings with Substack experts like Sarah Fey, Kristina God, Gurwinder, and Veronica Llorca-Smith. ($1,000 value)

Our next 30-day Note Writing challenge starts on October 28th. This is a great time to join us! From now until tomorrow, I’m offering a 17% off discount code to become an annual member to the Substack Campfire. You can get that right here.

This is the lowest price you’ll get moving forward.

If you want to check out all that’s included in the Campfire, read about it here.

I hope to see you there on Thursday!