One of the most underrated loops in personal growth is deceptively simple: read, write, get feedback, think, and repeat. It’s not a checklist; it’s a cycle. Each part feeds the next, compounding knowledge and sharpening your understanding of the world. This process isn’t linear – it’s recursive. And its power lies in repetition.
The first step is reading. Reading broadens the mind, not just in terms of facts but in understanding how other people think. Reading things that confirm your beliefs is tempting, but growth often comes from grappling with ideas that challenge you. When you read, you’re borrowing someone else’s brain for a while, inhabiting their logic and perspective. That experience alone rewires your thinking.
Writing is the next natural step. Writing forces clarity. It’s one thing to have an idea rattling around in your head; it’s another to articulate it in a way that someone else can understand. Writing is a mirror – it shows you the gaps in your thinking. “I’ve found that writing a lot leads to meeting people, and in-person discussions lead to more writing,” as one observer noted. The act of writing doesn’t just convey thoughts; it creates them.
But writing in isolation isn’t enough. Feedback is where the magic happens. Feedback isn’t about validation; it’s about iteration. You need others to point out what you’re missing, where you’re unclear, and where you might be wrong. The best feedback comes from experts in the field, but even a layperson’s fresh eyes can reveal blind spots. As Byrne Hobart put it, “The way to meet experts is to write something on their area of expertise that gets you past the not-a-moron filter.”
Thinking is the quiet work that binds everything together. This isn’t passive thinking – it’s active wrestling with ideas, interrogating your assumptions, and finding connections. Thinking is when you digest what you’ve read, the feedback you’ve received, and the words you’ve written, turning raw input into refined insight.
Then, you do it all again. Each cycle sharpens your mind, your voice, and your understanding. The beauty of this loop is that it’s infinite. There’s always something new to read, another idea to write about, fresh feedback to process, and further insights to uncover.
The hardest part is starting, but the rewards compound.
Read. Write. Get feedback. Think. Repeat.
It’s not just how you learn, it’s how you grow.
