Notebook

Welcome to my intellectual lab.

My notebook is where I develop my ideas in public. If my essays are finished paintings, these are my intellectual sketches. They’re a low-stakes place where I share ideas that are longer than a tweet, but too immature for a full-on essay.

My notebook is like a personal Wikipedia. There are two ways to navigate it. You can either surf between the recommendations at the bottom of each note or follow the infinite scroll below.

Latest note

The Paradoxes of Modern Life

The Paradox of Reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you’ll forget the vast majority of what you read.

What Networks Whisper

Every city changes you. San Francisco tells you to be powerful, LA tells you to be famous, Boston tells you to be smarter, and New York tells you to be richer.

The Jerry Seinfeld Guide to Writing

Writing and editing should be separate activities.

The Paradox of Abundance

Information abundance, like all markets of abundance, is bad for the average person but great for a small number of people.

Beer Mode and Coffee Mode

Creatives have two ways of working: beer mode and coffee mode.

The Perks of Niche Fame

There are two kinds of fame: Celebrity-Fame and Niche-Fame.

Punctuation is Music

If you want to improve your writing, match your punctuation to the mood.

Be a Personal Monopoly Investor

Building a Personal Monopoly is like buying real estate.

Build a Personal Monopoly

Jerry Garcia once said: “You want to be the only person who does what you do.”

Lateral Thinking With Withered Ideas

Nintendo uses a product-development philosophy called “Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology.”

The Three Deadly Sins

Eliminate weak, wasted, and redundant words.

Don’t Find a Niche. Create One.

The most successful creators tend to define their own subculture instead of molding themselves into existing ones.

Write CLEAR Sentences

In my last round of edits, right before I publish an article, I have one focus: writing CLEAR sentences.