Use Clean Sequence 540795 to clarify thoughts on your next chunk of writing
Here's a 490-word article...then I show you how it emerged from Clean Sequence 140497.
As writers, we often start with ideas in our heads and only as we put them on paper do they take solid shape, giving us an ‘a ha’ moment of ‘oh yes, that’s what I think!’. This process is fine but somewhat time consuming. Maybe we could call it the thinking/writing/thinking/writing process.
Wouldn’t it be fantastically useful if we could speed up this process and solidify thoughts even before we’ve struggled to write paragraphs and whole chapters? And then we could communicate clearly even in a first draft.
You can use Clean Sequence 540795 to help you towards this goal. The original idea was developed by the late David Grove who was fascinated by the science of emergence.
Core
Here’s the core of the Sequence:
Decide what you are willing to write about. (I always try to decide on a bite-sized chunk so the output is manageable.)
Say something you know about it. Then write that down on a sticky or card where – importantly – there isn’t space to write very much.
Repeat this five more times.
In all, you will have written on six stickies or cards. By the time you have finished the sixth one, your thinking should have developed and a new perspective can emerge.
Add-ons
On top of the Grovian core, I’ve added a few extra steps that work well for writers:
Cluster the stickies or cards in a way that makes sense. (I sometimes add arrows and linking words between stickies.)
Summarise the sense you have made into an epitome (= short summary that gets to the essence of the thing).
Relate that epitome to what you know about your audience.
When 540795 works at its best, it’s almost magical the way that your thoughts fit together in new ways and a clear understanding has emerged.
My metaphor is that my mind contains a quantity of muddy water, which is ‘evaporated’ by writing things down on stickies, then ‘condensed’ again when I write the epitome. The condensed water - which is crystal clear - is then ready for use.
Benefit
The main benefit comes back to speeding up the thinking/writing/thinking/writing process. It’s just a lot quicker to churn out jotted notes on stickies and a short epitome than pages and pages of very-early-draft writing.
It’s worth noting that the Sequence has received some exceptionally positive comments from people who have used it. For that, I’d like to acknowledge again the genius of David Grove as well as subsequent developments by Matthew Hudson and others.
Watch
You might like to watch this YouTube video that shows the simplicity of the Sequence. Then you might try it for yourself – expect it to take no more than 12 minutes, and if it takes longer than that you’re spending too much time on it. Please do leave a comment about your experience of the Sequence at the bottom of this blog so others can see it too.
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Now I’ll share how the content for that article emerged from a Clean Sequence (code = 140497). The questions posed by the Clean Sequence are in italics:
Thinking of the idea that you would like to communicate…
My draft subheading is: ‘Use ‘540795’ to clarify thoughts on your next chunk of writing’.
And what do you know... about the world of your audiences... that could make this idea useful to them?
As writers, we often start with ideas in our heads and only as we put them on paper do they take solid shape, giving us an ‘a ha’ moment of ‘oh yes, that’s what I think!’. This process is fine but somewhat time consuming.
And, when that's the situation, what kind of needs might your audiences have?
Wouldn’t it be fantastically useful if we could speed up this thinking/writing/thinking/writing process, so we can solidify thoughts even before we’ve written paragraphs and chapters? And then, as we understand deeply, we can communicate clearly even in a first draft.
And what is the idea that you would like to communicate?
You can use Clean Sequence 540795 to help you towards this goal.
And what do you know about how that idea works?
The original idea was developed by the late David Grove who was fascinated by the science of emergence. Here’s the core of the Sequence:
Decide what you are willing to write about. (I always try to decide on a bite-sized chunk so the output is manageable.)
Say something you know about it. Then write that down on a sticky or card where – importantly – there isn’t space to write very much.
Repeat this five more times.
In all, you will have written on six stickies or cards. By the time you have finished the sixth one, your thinking should have developed and a new perspective can emerge.
And is there anything else about how that idea works?
On top of this core, I’ve added a few extra steps that work well for writers:
Cluster the stickies or cards in a way that makes sense. (I sometimes add linking words between stickies.)
Write an epitome (= short summary that gets to the essence of the thing) of the sense you have made.
Relate that epitome to what you know about your audience.
And when that idea is working, then what can happen?
When 540795 works at its best, it’s almost magical the way that your thoughts fit together in new ways and things seem to make sense. My metaphor is that my mind contains a quantity of muddy water, which is ‘evaporated’ by writing things down on stickies, then ‘condensed’ again when I write the epitome. The condensed, clear water is then ready for use.
And when that idea is working, what happens to the needs of your audiences?
The main benefit comes back to speeding up the thinking/writing/thinking/writing process. It’s just a lot quicker to work out my ideas from jotted notes on stickies and a short epitome than from pages of very-early-draft writing.
And is there anything that could add credibility to the idea in the eyes of your audiences?
It’s worth noting that the Sequence has received some exceptionally positive comments from people who have used it. For which I’d like to acknowledge the genius of David Grove and subsequent developments by Matthew Hudson and others.
And when all that, what should happen next for your audiences?
You might like to watch this YouTube video that shows the simplicity of the Sequence. As ever, I suggest you try it for yourself – expect it to take about 12 minutes – and get in touch and let me know how it goes.