Dear wonderers,
What is your relationship with time these days?
I find myself in the ebb & flow, especially since I also had to travel at the end of March — do you also feel like time works differently while you’re in a new place?
Maybe it’s just the feel of change that makes it so.
But, since this edition has been in the making for a month and a half now, and I have many new ideas scattered across my notes, let’s create a moment together and fill a time bubble with shared thoughts:
On why we write
The latest essay on Draft Four hit very close to home precisely because it navigates so vulnerably between performance metrics and the selfish act of writing as a form of thinking, as a form of self-discovery, as a compulsion.
Of course, all who write want to be read. But how much is enough? And what are we willing to do to achieve that?
We mistakenly hope for a magic number we can hit that will make it worth it, and make you feel like you had an impact on the world (and this, in return, will make you feel loved). What is that number for you? Are you OK being read by 50 people? Does 500 mean being seen? Do you need 50.000 to feel you’re making a dent in the world? Do you believe work that doesn’t reach 500.000 people is worthless?
Well, we are a bit over 100 in here, and I have to admit that I’ve been quite selfish from the start, with no niche subject and no set frequency — but silently hoping from the first edition that you, my readers, will get something out of it as well.
If you, like me, have the compulsion to write to understand and be understood, please read the essay. And, please, complement it with this contrarian take on why you shouldn’t niche your creativity.
On why we should embrace limits for creative work
With a clickbaity title, but a very good and practical writing process, this essay explains how to create a piece of spreadable content.
A big part of it: sacred deadlines.
I know, I’m contradicting myself a little bit, but make no mistake, even for this freeform letter, I still use deadlines.
I didn’t set deadlines until last year, and it was by far my best and most prolific year as a writer. Once I committed to publishing weekly, everything improved. The numbers went up, sure, but more importantly I learned to control my creativity. I no longer need to wait for inspiration to strike, I just sit down and start working and I know eventually something good will come out.
Setting limits builds your creative muscle. Deadlines act as a form of pressure to get it done which triggers the brain to be creative. The more you use it, the easier it gets.
If you need more convincing, I recently discovered this brilliant substack on animation that does a beautiful deep-dive into the mathematical obsession that fuels Myiazaki’s creativity.
Once again, yes, creativity needs prompts, guardrails, limits. It’s the best way to get the most out of it.
On making mistakes
It is the capacity to make mistakes that pushes us forward and makes us live. Isn’t that a wonderful thought? I can tell you it helps me breathe better, comforting the perfectionist Alice.
What we need, then, for moving ahead, is a set of wrong alternatives much longer and more interesting than the short list of mistaken courses that any of us can think up right now… If it is a big enough mistake, we could find ourselves on a new level, stunned, out in the clear, ready to move again.
Leave it to poetic scientist Lewis Thomas to make mistakes sound so self-affirming. And he’s right, isn’t he? How else would humans evolve and make decisions without an implicit propensity for mistakes?
On prompting AI
It’s on everybody’s lips, and it’s professing the death of writers. So, of course, I had to include it.
This one is super fresh and quite inspirational: how to use Chat GPT as a product manager — with types of prompts people already use to make sense of large datasets, feature documentation, and more.
And a more philosophical stance on the matter, which I happen to agree with:
AI is taking over, and the revolution could go two ways:
The dark side: the GPT content creation boom will be like pumping fast fashion into the retail market - it will churn out tons of stuff quickly and cheaply, and cause a huge pollution problem in the meantime.
The bright side: More quality content will be created by more people more easily. There will be fewer barriers to entry and greater understanding of all that has come before, Ultimately, there will be less noise on the internet.
As with any technological revolution, the answer is built into how we’ll use the technology. So far, I’ve seen a lot of noise…
And, yes, I do believe in the power that AI, especially generative AI, can have in enhancing my creative skills. I’m just figuring out the process.
On async work and trust
This one will resonate with the remote workers here.
It’s a generous and honest radiography of what it means to build a fully asynchronous culture/company:
The three pillars he emphasizes for an async company includes: no micromanagement, documenting everything, and treating hiring as a segmentation exercise.
I would sum it up as documentation, transparency, and trust.
With trust being the key element in making this work.
Because if you don’t truly trust people in making their own decisions and being the masters of their crafts, why did you hire them in the first place?
In brief
My latest musical obsession with a quirky sound and a quirky video.
If you want to plan your life as an odyssey.
Why it’s so hard to change our minds.
Do you want to be a brand or do you want to be your messy self?
Tiny Thought
“A belief is not dangerous until it turns absolute.” Dee Hock
Thank you for reading until the end. Please let me know what resonated with you and what should I read next.