Should your writing have a goal?
March 21, 2025
I'm finally developing the consistent writing habit I've always wanted, but recently someone asked me this question:
What is the goal of your writing?
Does writing need a goal? If you told someone a joke, and afterword they ask you what the "goal" of the joke was, it's safe to assume the joke wasn't very good.
That being said, it's a fair question. Writing is actually a lot of work and the reasons behind the writing are as important as the content. I didn't give a very good answer in the moment, so I feel like I need to answer it here as much for myself as for others.
Sometimes my only goal is to get my thoughts on paper. Writing helps me think more clearly and articulate concepts I might not be able to piece together off the cuff. This kind of writing may never be shared publicly, and that's ok.
Why I share my writing, and why you might want to also:
That being said, it's a fair question. Writing is actually a lot of work and the reasons behind the writing are as important as the content. I didn't give a very good answer in the moment, so I feel like I need to answer it here as much for myself as for others.
Sometimes my only goal is to get my thoughts on paper. Writing helps me think more clearly and articulate concepts I might not be able to piece together off the cuff. This kind of writing may never be shared publicly, and that's ok.
Why I share my writing, and why you might want to also:
- To connect with like minded people, find collaborators and make friends. Sharing my thoughts in written form helps me find them and be found by these people.
- Isolated thinking isn't useful. I hope by sharing my thoughts I can help other people see an alternate perspective, discover new things, and get corrected when I am wrong.
- A substitute for promotion. The last thing I want to do is annoy people with unsolicited sales and marketing. Simply sharing what I'm working on and thinking about feels cleaner and ideally accomplishes the same goals as more aggressive tactics.
- To get feedback on ideas. I build a lot of different products and my biggest weakness is building the wrong thing. I would rather build than sell/promote, but I want to make my process more collaborative at every stage to ensure I'm building products that help people and solve real problems.
- A resumé. I have an unconventional career spanning client work, bootstrapped companies, and side-projects. Most of these are proprietary or no longer exist. Had I documented the process of building them and lessons learned along the way, I would have a much stronger portfolio.
- To share concepts, brands, businesses, and people that I like and to contribute to the local tech community by telling people about them.
A bonus meta-goal is to get better at writing. If the above are important, getting better at writing will serve to accomplish these goals more effectively.
So to sum up, I'm writing to find my people, to share thoughts, get feedback on them and document my work while sharing things I think are cool.
Published At
Should your writing have a goal? - Ford Makes
I'm finally developing the consistent writing habit I've always wanted, but recently someone aske...
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