Summary

Scot Butwell commits to becoming a more engaged and thoughtful reader on Medium, adopting seven habits to appreciate and interact with articles in the way he hopes others will engage with his own writing.

Abstract

In an era where the abundance of information can lead to hasty reading and superficial engagement, Scot Butwell reflects on the importance of being the kind of reader he wishes for his own articles. He acknowledges the temptation to skim through content and the challenge of slowing down to absorb deeper meanings. Inspired by a life lesson from Steven Callahan's book "Adrift: Seventy-six Days at Sea," Butwell outlines seven commitments to improve his reading habits on Medium. These include slowing down, absorbing details, appreciating the person behind the story, engaging with the content through claps and comments, being open to longer articles, finding beauty in each story, and reading with the same attention one might give to savoring toast with avocado. He emphasizes the reciprocal nature of the reader-writer relationship on Medium and expresses his desire to be a grateful and insightful reader, hoping others will reciprocate. Butwell also invites readers to explore his 10-minute masterpiece about the "Mad Monks," encouraging a slower pace to fully enjoy the story.

Opinions

The author recognizes the value of in-depth reading and the struggle to maintain focus in the digital age.
He advocates for a reader's responsibility to engage with content beyond surface-level interactions.
The author draws a parallel between the attentiveness required to survive at sea, as detailed in Steven Callahan's memoir, and the mindfulness needed when reading to truly appreciate and internalize a story.
Butwell emphasizes the importance of mutual support in the Medium community, suggesting that readers should invest time and attention in others' work just as they would want their own work to be received.
He is self-aware about the challenge of avoiding clickbait and commits to giving each story a fair chance based on its title.
The author believes that every story has something valuable to offer, and it is the reader's role to discover and acknowledge that value.
Butwell hints at his own writing style and topics, suggesting a preference for longer, well-researched, and experience-based narratives.

Be the Kind of Reader You Want Others to Be for Your Articles

I am committing to these seven habits as a Medium reader

This article is written for me, but it might also relate to your habits.

I want other people to read my articles, but I sometimes read other writer’s stories like I drank a 64 oz. soda and I’m rushing to make it to the restroom.

It’s the Digital Era we live in, and the platform’s paraments. So much information to choose from we swipe away from a story if we’re not instantly gratified, and we have little patience to focus on longer stories with depth.

We’re suckers for the clickbait titles that offer glittering possibilities.

I like articles with depth, but slowing down to read them is hard for me.

My Seven Commitments

In short, I want to be the kind of reader I want others to be for my stories, and so I am committing to following these seven habits to the best of my ability:

Slowing down
Absorb ideas and details in stories
See the person behind the stories
Appreciate, clap, highlight and respond
Be open to longer, well-written articles
Notice one beautiful thing in your story
Read your story like toast with avocado

I’m sure you’ve read this in many other articles, but the reader-writer relationship on Medium is a two-way street and if we want others to read our masterpieces (see mine) then we must have a reciprocal attitude to writers.

This doesn’t mean I may not swipe away from your story, but I will give your story a chance by slowing down and being more open to what you have to say.

After all, I selected your story from the headline, so you got me on the title.

Life lesson from a book

I read a book Adrift: Seventy-six Days at Sea by Steven Callahan where he finds himself adrift in the Atlanta Ocean in a sloop he designed and built. He was down to three cans of water, and he felt his mind and body shutting down.

He felt his death was in the near future.

He had lost one third of his body weight. His attempt to get attention with flares had failed, and he sensed he had no more fight left within himself.

The only thing that saved him was tossing some fish guts in the ocean. It attracted a flock of birds that caught the attention of some fisherman.

What I learned from Callahan’s story is summed up in one sentence:

“My plight has given me a strange kind of wealth, the most important kind. I value each moment that is not spent is pain, desperation, hunger, thirst, or loneliness.”

The new me

That’s the kind of attitude I plan to bring to reading your stories. I want to be the kind of reader I want you to be for me: Grateful for the stories you share that are filled with insights you’ve gleaned from experience and/or research.

And I hope you will be that kind of reader for me and for other writers too.

Hi, I’m Scot and thank you for reading my story to the end : )

You might also like my 10-minute masterpiece on two guys who traveled the country in a pink RV and published the first mobile magazine for 14 years.

It might make a good Sunday or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday kind of read.

It’s a fascinating story (I’m biased) if you (like me) can slow down to enjoy it.