Write headings before you write the section

Headings written after the fact describe what you already said. Headings written first define what you're about to say. The difference is structural.

Start with the heading

Open a blank document. Type the heading. Stop. Read it. If the heading doesn't tell you what belongs in that section, rewrite it until it does.

The heading is a contract with the reader and with yourself. It names a discrete idea. Everything under that heading should deliver on that idea. Nothing else.

This forces you to think in sections before you think in sentences. You're building content chunks that actually chunk instead of flowing prose that meanders.

What happens when you write the heading first

You know when to stop. The section ends when you've fulfilled the heading's promise. You don't trail off into adjacent topics because the boundary is already drawn.

You catch scope creep immediately. If you're three paragraphs in and still haven't addressed the heading, the heading is wrong or you're writing the wrong section.

You can rearrange sections before committing to the prose. Five headings in a list can be reordered in thirty seconds. Five written sections with transitions? Much harder.

This works for revision too

When you inherit someone else's draft or return to your own old work, read only the headings. If they don't form a logical outline on their own, the structure is broken underneath.

Delete a heading and see if the section still makes sense. If it does, the heading wasn't pulling its weight. If it doesn't, check whether the section delivers what the heading promised. Adjust one or the other.

Headings written as afterthoughts usually say things like "Overview" or "More information" or "Key points." They're labels, not commitments. Rewrite them into statements specific enough that only one section could live under them.

Write the map before you travel

People write bottom-up because it feels productive. Words on screen. Progress. But you're building without blueprints.

Headings first means you outline as you draft. The structure emerges before you invest in sentences. You see gaps in logic when they're cheap to fix.

This is not a creativity constraint. You can still revise headings as you write. But starting with a heading gives you a target. You're writing to something instead of discovering what you meant after you've said it.

Stop writing the section and then hunting for a heading to paste on top of it. Write the heading. Then write the section that earns it.