A new chapter of personal growth in my life through writing, inspired by Paul Graham’s essays and Maggie Appleton’s digital garden.

This marks the beginning of a new chapter for me. Until recently, I have primarily written for myself, jotting down quick notes to aid memory or process thoughts. However, these notes often get lost over time, and I rarely revisit them. Now, I aim to create content that can be valuable to others.

This leads me to several questions: What should I write about? Which topics would people be interested in hearing from me? What unique insights can I offer?

Sources of Inspiration

Paul Graham’s Essays are a major source of inspiration as I embark on this new journey. Paul’s essays consistently provide me with fresh ideas and thought-provoking questions. They draw from his real-world experience and unique perspective rather than academic research. One particularly insightful article is How to Write Usefully. Paul Graham's 'How to Write Usefully' emphasizes that useful writing should be novel, correct, important, and strong. He argues that the combination of these factors creates writing that genuinely adds value to the reader's understanding.

Graham emphasizes that essays should be useful, not merely correct:

“If you know nothing at all about an issue, you can’t go wrong by saying that the issue is a complex one, that there are many factors to be considered, that it’s a mistake to take too simplistic a view of it, and so on. Though no doubt correct, such statements tell the reader nothing. Useful writing makes claims that are as strong as they can be made without becoming false.” — Paul Graham

My writing targets two audiences: you and me. Ideally, it will benefit both of us. I’ll start by focusing on what could be useful for you, ensuring it’s both correct and informative.

I’ve also drawn inspiration from Maggie Appleton, who has created a beautiful digital garden with well-written pieces on topics ranging from AI and design to core concepts of knowledge building. Digital gardens, like Maggie Appleton's, represent a shift from traditional blogging to a more interconnected and evolving form of personal knowledge management and sharing.

Notes and Maps

I’ll structure my writing and this site around two main concepts: Notes and Maps of Content (“Maps”). Notes will primarily be conclusion pieces, aiming to be useful, though they may not always achieve this goal.

Additionally, I’ve begun developing Maps, which will be continually updated and ideally evergreen. While Notes may become outdated, the Maps should remain relevant. Over time, I plan to expand these with new insights, following techniques taught by Nick Milo. Nick Milo's 'Linking Your Thinking' methodology emphasizes the importance of creating connections between ideas to enhance understanding and creativity in personal knowledge management.

I intend to build Maps around concepts that are important or fascinating to me. My initial list includes (in no particular order):

  1. Thinking, or How to Think
  2. Career
  3. Goals
  4. Health
  5. Ideation
  6. AI
  7. Trends and Patterns
  8. Money

While this note may not fully achieve the goal of being useful to you, I hope it provides insight into what’s to come and helps you decide whether to return for future content.