Deliberate Controversy Fuels True Impact, Not Watered-Down Appeasement
If you are a people pleaser, you will give more total pleasure if you deliberately upset some portion of people. If your work is watered down it will never reach the tastemakers. Those people who hate it today won't have a chance to love it tomorrow.
New Kindle Updates Regress: Auto Language Detection Removed
While others are complaining about dropped support for older Kindles, I’m finding dropped features from new Kindles. Latin dictionaries end up assigned to “English” language, which is bad enough. But it used to automatically detect the language. Now you have to manually...
Claude Falls Short: Poor Voice, Weak Answers
Been trying Claude and what are all you talking about? Voice entry terrible. (Only conversation mode on desktop.) Answers not great. Okay, so a little shorter responses, less bullet-point salad, and antithesis, but it’s not even 10% better than ChatGPT (if at all)
Tournament Site Sets New Standard for Media Savvy
This is some impressive media savvy. Not surprising today this tournament's website puts all others' to shame.
Invented Patent‑Pending Cover for Persistent Screen
I made a cover for that annoying ass screen that won’t stay off. Filing a patent for this. https://t.co/VRgM4jDtqj
Refurbished iPhone 13 Minis: The Inflation‑Proof Investment
If you want an inflation-proof investment, fill a room with refurbished iPhone 13 minis. Apple will never make a reasonably-sized phone again, but the demand will always be there.
Scheduled My Book Release for Afterlife, Hope I Remember
In case I die or something before I publish my book, I’ve scheduled a blog post sharing it with the public. Hopefully I won’t forget to unschedule it 🤣 https://t.co/1uj1mWlV0m
Labeling ADHD as Identity Limits Accountability
An unsettling trend is that people say "I *am* ADHD." Sounds very fixed-mindset and unaccountable. You ARE your condition? What's next? I AM diphtheria?
Live a Week in Black‑White, Rediscover Reality
All screens black and white. Try this one week and you will be shocked how much more interesting the real world becomes. https://t.co/Tf1GMACffo
AI Camera That Shoots Squirrels Could Be Gold
Whoever turns this into a consumer product is going to make a fortune. AI-powered camera: 🎥 squirrel at birdfeeder? spray with water 💦🐿️ https://t.co/1zMguczpN6
Break the “Elvis Effect” By Being Truly Exceptional
There's a weird feature of being a creator I call the Elvis effect. Which is that if you are a 28-year-old white guy named David, your followers will be 28-year-old white guys named David. To beat the Elvis effect, you...
Instagram Bots Inflate Likes, Kill Real Sales
I’m fairly confident Instagram is using bot traffic to compete for creators. How could a Soundcloud link get 77 like and lead to zero sales of a $7 book? https://t.co/OyE7ILI5XZ
Finish First, Stop Buying More Gear
Repeat after me: I will not buy more gear, courses, or books before I finish this project. I have all I need to do this now.
Can't Wait to Read This Incredibly Awesome Book
This book is going to be so fucking awesome. I can't wait to read it. https://t.co/oP5XsNa7F9
Colorful Screens Hijack Dopamine, Grayscale Restores Balance
After one week with ALL my screens in black and white, I'm never going back. It's striking how much brighter screen colors are than the actual world. You can feel the rush of dopamine. Nice to be getting my brain back.
Puncture Reality: Focused Action Creates New Worlds
Bringing a project into the world requires entering a new version of reality before it even exists. If you merely press on the boundary with your finger, it will barely yield. You must focus your efforts into a needle that...
Daylight Saving Boosts Farm Output, Hurts Knowledge Work
The irony of daylight savings is it was started to increase productivity in an agricultural world, but it now kills productivity in the knowledge world. So many mental calculations, missed meetings, sleep adjustments.
ChatGPT Turns Simple Metaphor Into Pedantic Lecture
Ever have ChatGPT get annoyingly pedantic with you? I just asked if taking a bun from a large mound of dough was an okay metaphor and it was like, "No, because when you BAKE something, yadda yadda..."
Finishing a Decade-Long Trilogy Brings Unbelievable Relief
Just wrote THE END on a trilogy a decade in the making. Oh what an unbelievable sense of release and relief.
Upgrade Your Zoom Webcam—Don’t Settle for Poor Quality
Just a reminder the webcam you're using for Zoom calls sucks (and you don't have to put up with it)
Fewer Reply‑guy Bots Could Boost Organic Reach
Now that reply-guying may be dead, will the algorithm become more generous with post exposure?
Finishing Projects Is a Deliberate, Unnatural Choice
Finishing creative projects is something you choose despite your instincts. Like exercise, sobriety, non-violence, and monogamy it’s unnatural, inconvenient, and entirely up to you.
Exploring a Year Without Screens—And Other Media
A year without screens is a very cool experiment. I would like to try something similar but not sure screens would be it. A year without images? A year without video? A year without color?
Mystery: 50k‑selling Book Abruptly Stalls in Jan 2025
As long as I live I don't think I'll ever know what the hell happened in January 2025 to cause a book that had sold 50,000 copies to suddenly flatline. https://t.co/tyGrHKvNVa
Finishing Creative Work Defies the Universe’s Constant Flux
There’s something unnatural about finishing a creative project. Creativity involves being open to new ideas, and finishing requires closing yourself off from them. The universe is constantly in flux, so to finish something, you need to hold a bunch of...
You Wouldn't Trade Places with Anyone
The cure for envying any individual is asking yourself, Would I trade places with one randomly selected person of the 8 billion alive? (The answer is no, you wouldn’t.)
Finishing Art Demands a Steel Heart, Delacroix Warns
Painter Eugène Delacroix: "To finish requires a heart of steel.... I think it will kill me." https://t.co/NVkzUw2pz5
Desire Pulls, Fear Pushes: The Project Finish Line Paradox
The finish line of a big project is like a histrionic, manipulative ex-girlfriend. The desire to express attracts. ↔️ The fear of judgement repels. The desire to be done reels you in. ↔️ The fear of the unknown resists. The desire for accomplishment...
Project Ends, You
At the end of a project you’re in the odd position of feeling you’ve done your life’s work, yet wanting to live to see it.
Houston‑Austin Bus: Expect Endless Delays, Plan Ahead
How awful would a bus from Houston to Austin be? Scheming after annoying close-call delays in my last trip.
Near Completion Amplifies Fear of Losing Your Masterpiece
I was having dinner with a friend almost done writing a book. He told me, "If I was in an accident tonight, as I was dying in the ER, I would feel very distraught." It sounds crazy that's what he'd be...
ChatGPT Adds Teaser Prompts to Boost Engagement
A subtle change I’ve noticed with ChatGPT is it is teasing juicer promises at the end of responses to try to motivate follow-up chats…starting to optimize for time engaged, to sell ads? https://t.co/nIT2COuzRc
Embrace Boredom to Reset and Observe Freshly
After an intense three-month sprint my mission as I get on a plane to Austin will be to sit with the boredom. To allow my mind to once again be open to new stimuli, yet to observe from afar rather...
Lingua Latina Immerses You in Latin Instantly
Lingua Latina is a great Latin-learning resource and maybe the best language-learning tool I’ve ever seen. Just open it up and boom, first page you’re reading and understanding Latin, soon thinking in Latin. https://t.co/wo1hEFkyBp
Improvised Bricks Become a Masterpiece of Architecture
You like to think you're stacking bricks, but more often you're collecting bricks. You expect to have a plan of where the next brick goes, but just make the brick then figure out where it goes. It will actually make...
Project Work Demands Energy, Focus, and Sacrifices
Life when you're working on a project looks different from life when you're finishing it. It takes more energy, more focus, more space – important things have to be pushed aside. https://t.co/aJu6egbB44
New Ideas Must Prove Two Benefits or Stay Ignored
When you put a project on hold for a new idea, ask yourself, How would this make my original course of action easier or more effective? If you can't immediately think of two convincing ways, it's probably a distraction.
Procrastination Can Be Rational Amid Unclear Goals
Procrastination is often a perfectly rational reaction to a situation with unclear direction and uncertain payoff.
Small Steps Build Foundations for Grand Achievements
You have to collect bricks before you can build a cottage. You have to build a cottage before you can build a fortress. Tiny actions -> Big plans 🧱 -> 🏠 -> 🏰 https://t.co/Uy2b9Xh7rV
Turn Shiny Objects Into Strategic Multipliers, Not Distractions
Shiny Object Syndrome: New ideas waste effort Shiny Object Strategy: New ideas multiply effort https://t.co/ih5duOIBiU