Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Always FAST
How to reach lightning speed
The payoff

You may have recognized it by now. But I want to call your attention to it anyway.

The “FAST” acronym is a mnemonic device. A memory tool. It’s designed so that the word actually triggers the system.

Think about it. You want to write something. You want to finish it quickly. What are you gonna do?

Now that you understand the FAST System, it’s almost impossible to look a writing project any other way!

Focus, Apply, Strengthen, Tweak.

Why wouldn’t you use it?

So let’s even go one step further.

Why not use the word to help you write?

Every time you see or hear the word “fast” — whether it’s in print, in an advertisement, on the news, in conversation, or wherever — let it remind you to write. Let it inspire you!

Let the word “fast” — in any context — make you think of Focus, Apply, Strengthen, Tweak. Let the word spark a lightning storm in your mind.

If you really want to reach lightning speed, the trick is to make FAST feed on itself. The System — which gets better with practice. The Pre-Flight — which fuels the system.

And the word itself — which brings it all back to your mind.

It’s been designed to feed on itself. Let it. Use it.

Notice how I’ve taken a common, ordinary, everyday word — a word that describes what you want — and turned the word itself into the most powerful writing tool you’ve got.

I want you to write! And to keep writing!

And to apply the word — the system — everywhere!

Apply FAST when you write your emails. Apply it when you write letters. Apply it when you create ads or newsletters or books or novels or screenplays or magazine articles or technical manuals or employee instructions.

The more different ways you apply it, the stronger your writing will become. The faster your writing will become.

And the more you’ll remember it.

Every time you see the word “fast,” let it help you write fast.

If you grasp this, lightning speed is within your reach.