systems

How do you make frameworks? (what is the meta-process behind Essay Architecture?) I think it starts with the patience to sift through a lot of complex noise. You need an everything-relates-to-everything openness to shift through possible groupings of things. Once you find something, you then shift to reductionist thinking, and see how well all the

All systems fail. All visions fail.

Instead of using Notion to track my budding essay ideas, I’m going to do it analog. Essay are ideas are fleeting, scarce, and expire so easily. Databases become burdens. These things are usually bloat that don’t even help you write or publish more. Once a month I archive my written list of leads and start over. It’s write or die.

It takes time to write out “calendar views” in an analog bullet journal, but it’s still quicker than a digital system. The overall overhead of an analog system is a probably a lot less than a system of Notion databases (which can be endlessly tinkered). Plus, analog has the secondary benefit of using a pen.

“Productivity” is knocking out 50 unimportant things at 2x speed. What’s a word for doing the thing that matters that you’re scared of?

There’s something tragic about taking a system that ONCE might’ve caused a breakthrough, but then grew stale. Though the act of sharing it and meme-ing, it can go viral, but through going viral, it lodges itself in everyone’s heads and can’t be updated. It’s stunted and holds no future utility, for the creator or the users. It’s almost like a basta

Don’t get too excited about new systems you build for yourself (here’s a transcription of an audio note from Plexus):

You have an early excitement for the fact that you've designed something, that you've taken initiative, that you are, you know, making a move to better yourself and close the gap between where you are and your vision. That's all ver