In this newsletter:
why I’m writing a newsletter (“find the others”, starting dialogues)
why now (sustainability, a legible value-add)
what you can expect as a reader
Why I’m starting a newsletter
At least two reasons:
1: to find the others
I have tons of thoughts, ideas, etc, and I’ve noticed that some of my deepest, most satisfying connections with others comes from us bonding over an extremely esoteric idea.
I want to create more surface area for that to happen.
2: to start dialogues
You never know what the people around you are thinking about. You might be on the same page and never know it.
Ostensibly, the solution is: just ask something to the effect of “What are you thinking about?”
There are two problems:
a) psychological safety, and
b) difficulty of recall
If you’re thinking about something really nerdy.. or something that’s half-baked, something you don’t have a lot of conviction in.. it takes a lot to put it out there. Especially if you’re “unjustifiably interested” in it.
All the stars have to line up. You have to have to identify it as something interesting, remember to bring it up, and find someone you’re comfortable running it by. It’s a lot easier to just talk about something else instead.
I want to single myself out as someone to have half-baked, wacky conversations with. And what better way to do that than to start said conversations?
Why start a newsletter now?
The truth is I “started” a newsletter a few years ago. I’ve actually started a few at this point. But I didn’t keep up with them.
So what’s different now?
Two things: sustainability and a legible value-add.
sustainability
The first few times I started a newsletter, I had too high of standards for what I would publish.
There’s nothing wrong with high standards - as long as you don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
I was, unwittingly, prioritizing high standards over actually delivering the newsletter. If it wasn’t good enough, I didn’t ship it.
That made establishing a habit impossible, which made me drop off.
Now, I view things a little differently.
I ship anyway. Not because I’m okay with shipping low-quality writing. But because when I make improvements, I want to be improving my process, as opposed to a specific draft.
“I have to get this right” becomes “I’ll do better next time.”
The habit is everything.
a legible value-add
A lot of the reason I had such high standards for any particular draft is because I wanted to make sure what I shipped was valuable.
Here’s the problem: I was using my own thoughts as the predominant proxy for determining value.
Which is fine… to a certain extent.
But it got to the point where I’d reject myself before I let others reject me.
I would just not publish something because I didn’t think it was good enough.
It wasn’t legible to me that it added value to people reading it.
Now, I view things a little differently.
I ship it by default. If it turns out it sucks, I improve. If it doesn’t resonate, I improve. But I always find out.
What you can expect as a reader
Honestly.. I’m not sure *at all* where this will end up going.
But I do have a rough idea of a format I’d like to follow.
There seems to be this dichotomy of approaches to an artist and his or her patrons.
There’s the “listen to your customers” bottom-up ideology, where you listen for what the market wants and give it to them.
And there’s the “faster horses” / “selfish artist” top-down ideology, where you decide what you think you should put out there, put it out there, and then look for a corresponding audience.
I can do the “listen to your customers” approach in contexts that don’t involve creativity (e.g. just follow the formula). But when my creativity is demanded… I have to be selfish.
In order to be creative in the long term, in order for it to be sustainable, I have to follow my curiosity and instincts. Historically, directing my attention and creativity has been an extremely up-hill battle.
On the other hand, I don’t want to be a solution looking for a problem. I want to find the intersection between “What I want to give” and “What the market wants to receive”.
So, I’ll meet you halfway.
I’m going to go down the rabbit holes, come back up for air, and organize everything into sections and themes to make it readable.
In exchange, I’m hoping that you can give me feedback and tell me what’s valuable and what isn’t. And help me market it. How would you sell this newsletter to other people?
Here are some of the sections I’m entertaining:
1) random things I’m thinking about
2) “rhymes with” (two seemingly unrelated things that I see a connection between)
3) things that resonated with me (e.g. tweets, songs, blog posts) and why
4) things I found insightful
5) things I found funny
6) updates about my life
7) a small story from my life
8) things I’ve published that I’m proud of (YouTube videos, blog posts, tweets, etc)
I’m kind of taking a “Tim Ferriss / Tools Of Titans” approach. For context, he said something like, “I know that 10% of the book will be valuable to you, but for every person, it’s a different 10%!”
That’s what I’m hoping will happen here. Maybe most of it you’ll find boring, but that 8th section will make the entire email worth it.
Anyhow… that’s it! See you next week!