Finding Consistency and Clarity, with Jonathan Stark

Behind the Episode
Written By Tom Lietz

In this episode of Storylinking, I speak with Jonathan Stark, consultant and host of the Ditching Hourly podcast. Jonathan shares how writing a decade of daily emails has taught him to build systems that bring people together, clarify thinking, and sustain creative practice without burning out.

“If you’re not publishing it, you’re not getting feedback on it. And having a really tight feedback loop is super useful in terms of becoming more effective at whatever you’re trying to get across.”
— Jonathan Stark

Jonathan Stark is a former software developer turned consultant and author who has been writing a daily email since July 2016. Through his consistency he’s built an opt-in list of around 10,000 subscribers, all united around the idea of building value in ways that separate time from income. He's the author of five books, including Hourly Billing Is Nuts, and hosts the Ditching Hourly podcast. I find his content compelling, but even beyond that I’m consistently impressed by the discipline and clarity he brings to my inbox every day, as he continues to refine and share his ideas. His daily practice has created something far bigger than a mailing list. It's a community of missionaries, as he calls them: people across law, software, architecture, and creative fields who are interested in how each one of us can better create and share value with the world.

Systems help make good practices sustainable

One of the ways that Jonathan has been able to maintain his consistency is by building systems that reduce friction. He has no employees and no assistants, so has taken it upon himself to automate or systematize nearly everything in his practice. "I don't have anybody operationally helping me with anything," he shares. "So having that system allows me to produce a lot of content over time. It doesn't feel like a lot of work." The systems he's built, whether it's a hundred-step checklist for his bi-weekly group coaching calls or automated email workflows, allow him to focus on the one hard part: coming up with the ideas. Everything else is kept as simple as possible.

As I work to launch what’s effectively a second season here of Storylinking, this is a choice I can appreciate. Whether I’m producing this podcast or working with a client and their community, resources are never infinite (and a lot of the time the bigger a project gets, the harder it is to sustain.) What Jonathan models is the importance of designing for sustainability from the start, and it’s something I would encourage you to consider as you build your body of work.

Publishing creates a feedback loop that clarifies thought

Jonathan is very clear that his practice (and many of the practices he recommends) are based in interactive cycles. "A lot of people I talk to will be like, daily writing, I do that. I journal. And I'm like, that's not the same thing," he explains. "If you're not publishing it, you're not getting feedback on it." Said another way, writing for oneself might be incredibly useful for self reflection, but it doesn’t necessarily create the same type of cycle that can help ideas to focus. Publishing forces us to test whether our ideas land, our metaphors make any sense, and how other people feel about what we have to say.

In any storytelling cycle, this type of feedback loop helps ideas to evolve. In Jonathan’s case, writing daily helped him discover what his central mission actually was. For two years, he wrote about pricing, positioning, and publishing without ever really being able to describe the sun in his content solar system. Eventually on an interview, "someone was like, well, what are you the one and only of? And I was like, well, I'm kind of like the ditching hourly guy. And then it was like, boom, light bulb went on." That clarity didn't come from thinking harder. It came from a whole lot of cycles of writing, publishing, and listening to people respond.

For anyone building a storytelling practice or trying to create shared understanding in a community, that cycle is essential. We can't just think our way to clarity. We have to put our ideas out there, see what resonates, and refine as we go.

A clear sun will pull other ideas into orbit

Once Jonathan identified ditching hourly as his central theme, everything else fell into place. He uses the metaphor of a content solar system: one sun at the center with planets orbiting around it. Pricing became a planet. Positioning developed into another. Eventually publishing, productivity, AI, and automation all took their places in their orbits. "Everything is [now] revolving around this central gravitational pull of the theme.,” Jonathan says.

Having that organizing principle makes it possible to write about seemingly different topics on consecutive days, and have it all make sense to the reader. It also makes it easier to decide what not to write about.

For organizations working to build their own storytelling system, I would suggest thinking about your central sun as a unifying theme. What’s the big idea in the middle that will make the orbits of every other planet make sense? It can be incredibly challenging to identify, but once you do everything else becomes easier to organize and communicate.

Speaking builds trust in ways writing alone can't

Jonathan suggests that anyone trying to build a community around ideas does at least two things regularly: write and speak. Writing clarifies thinking. Speaking builds trust and connection. "There's something about speaking, whether it's on a podcast like this or live at a conference or zoom webinar, that attracts the right people," he says. Jonathan describes the efficiency that can come with a certain type of asymmetric intimacy, where the listener starts to feel like they know you, even though you've never met. "You're walking around doing the dishes and this person is like in your ears, in your earbuds. You're technically connecting with them, but your brain reacts as if you're connecting with them."

This is leverage that a community builder can similarly employ. If you’re able to consistently create content (especially audio and video content) that elevates the authentic and diverse perspective of your community, then over time that content will efficiently build a sense of familiarity, even among people who have never met. Producing any media-centric content can take a lot of work, so I would echo Jonathan’s suggestion here: pick just one channel, and commit to consistency. You really don’t need to do everything or be everywhere all at once. Just show up and help others to show up, where you can sustain your own storytelling cycle.

Try it

Pick one idea you care about deeply- probably something you could talk about for hours. Now commit to writing about it once a week for the next month. Don't aim for perfection. Aim for publishing. Write 300 words, hit send or post, and see what happens. Pay attention to what people respond to, and what questions they ask. That's your feedback loop. Listen to it and see where it takes you next!

Additional Resources

Tom Lietz
Next

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