Embrace the Blank Canvas

Cultivate your creative flow and unleash your ideas.

Embarking on the journey

Following the initial surge of excitement, I had to confront the blank canvas. Feeling overwhelmed and unsure of how to progress, I dug into my collection of notes, clippings, and bookmarks amassed over the years. Several thought-provoking topics emerged, yet none firmly established itself as the clear choice for the first article of this newsletter. To overcome this impasse, I began crafting outlines and initial drafts for each topic, hoping that the creative process would provide greater clarity. However, the challenge of the blank canvas persisted, resurfacing each time I ventured into exploring a new topic.

At that moment I realized that I should write an article on how to overcome the challenge of staring down the blank canvas as a creator — paving the way for all subsequent ideas to come to life.

Non-coincidentally, my default approach to date is to write something that addresses an intriguing yet difficult problem, often for an audience of one—which is typically myself, a family member, or a close friend.

This approach redirected my creative energy from struggling to find an interesting topic to creating content that is as relevant, insightful, and actionable as possible. It also has several secondary benefits, including:

• A greater willingness to delve deeper and uncover additional insights on the topic.

• Adopt the appropriate mental frame to deliver the message in a light and conversational tone.

• Ensuring impact on at least one person, with the added benefit of often reaching and influencing a broader audience.

Reasons for creating and publishing content

Let’s take a brief detour before examining the creative process itself. For many years, the benefits of writing and content creation were not immediately apparent to me. However, the value was evident once I adopted it as a daily practice. While the following list is not exhaustive, I’ve highlighted the reasons that I resonated with the most.

Refine ideas, clarify thinking, and accelerate learning.

My perspective on writing completely changed when working with a writing coach early in my life. She taught me the significance of focusing on clarity of thought, knowing that the act of translating those thoughts into written words would come effortlessly afterward.

The refinement and clarification process is roughly a variation of the following steps:

1. The idea sounds good in my mind.

2. Collect and structure my thoughts before saying them out loud.

3. Clarify and refine the idea some more before committing pen to paper.

4. Raise my standards and rigorously fine-tune the content before publishing.

5. Incorporate feedback and navigate tough questions from your audience, revealing new ways to improve my mastery of the subject.

Before committing to creating and publishing content, my process ended at step 2. However, to optimize learning and create maximum value for both myself and others, it is crucial to progress through steps 1-5 while iteratively cycling through the steps. Inadvertently, we short-circuit the feedback loop when we don’t create, publish and seek feedback.

Mastery is attained through 10,000 iterations rather than 10,000 hours.

Establish a public body of work.

Although this has become increasingly important in many professions, knowledge workers are still primarily evaluated based on “false proxies” such as years of experience, titles, prior company prestige, school pedigree, and certifications. Nonetheless, those who established a public body of work have the potential to alter this paradigm while gaining a competitive edge.

The optimal approach to evaluating talent is to witness and assess their capacity to solve real-world challenges encountered on the job.

When direct observation is not feasible, the next best option is to evaluate their prior work and the impact it has had on others and the industry as a whole. Creating and publishing content serves as the bridge to enable this.

To illustrate this idea at a more tactical level, here are several concrete examples of how content creation can build up your career capital, outside of the direct benefits derived from “creator economy” (which is a topic for another time).

• Thought leadership and content creation are increasingly valued by employers and the wider community. Many successful go-to-market strategies are centered around content, and major tech companies, such as Uber, Netflix, Google, Spotify, and Airbnb have made substantial investments in their blogs and technical publications.

• Instead of solely relying on a CV and a one-hour interview to showcase your written and verbal communication skills, you can present a rich portfolio of articles from your blog spanning months or even years that’s supplemented by reference presentations delivered at conferences, conversations held on podcasts, and video content created.

• Cultivating influence across a sizeable audience serves as a strong indicator of your ability to build relationships and thereby attract, nurture, and retain talent. Content creation stands out as one of the most effective methods to scale your impact and influence across many communities within the industry. This is especially important when being considered for leadership positions.

Harness luck and serendipity.

By providing additional avenues for others to discover your ideas, you significantly increase your "luck surface area.” We can probably recall at least a couple of conversations and/or interactions with key people that altered the course of our careers and, perhaps, our lives.

While we cannot directly control when these serendipitous moments occur, we can better our odds and lower variance by consistently sharing content.

One of my key metrics for progress is the number of new connections and conversations that arise as a result of others discovering my content. Although I have only just begun this journey, I have observed a noticeable increase in these metrics compared to previous periods when I was actively reaching out to others but was not publishing any content. Notably, some of the most interesting conversations have been with other content creators and the subsequent connections and conversations that happened as a result of the initial interaction. Additionally, the content serves as a means to reengage people in my existing network, which is particularly valuable if I have not interacted with them for some time.

Produce and share valuable content, and good things will start to happen!

Scale impact and pay it forward.

Up until this point, teaching, coaching, and mentoring have been my primary methods of paying it forward. Engaging in these endeavors not only opened doors for career advancement but also instilled a profound sense of purpose. It started with helping tutor other students during high school and continued throughout my professional life in the form of career coaching, mentorship, and serving as an instructor for a Data & ML bootcamp. It’s deeply rewarding to see others progress, make a greater impact and move closer to their definitions of success. By incorporating content creation into the mix, there is an opportunity to extend reach and impact to an even larger audience.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of meeting many brilliant individuals whose ideas deeply influenced me. However, I noticed that many of them have yet to share their work and ideas in a form that is easily accessible to others. Therefore, the final and probably the most important reason for creating and sharing content is to lead by example and pave the way so others can do the same.

Armed with a strong sense of purpose and meaning, let’s turn our attention to how to navigate the creative process effectively.

A closer look at the creative process

After extensive research and experimentation, I curated a set of guiding principles for consistently delivering high-quality content over the long term. Although I struggle to consistently implement all of them, I found that internalizing and fully adopting 1-2 principles is often enough to overcome most creative challenges.

The next few sections are lengthy and go into a fair bit of detail.

Here’s the TLDR version.

1. Be intrinsically driven and inquisitive. The more effort you invest, the more rewards you'll receive. If I had to choose one principle, it would be to embrace this mindset.

2. Show your process, not just the end result. Most people are interested in how to reproduce your success by understanding your process. Don't rush to the end, as everyone enjoys a good story.

3. Be part of a creative lineage. Exceptional ideas do not materialize in isolation; they are inspired by a long, creative lineage. Study the works of others and the sources that sparked their ingenuity. Explore and study the various branches of this creative lineage, starting from its roots and branching out to its leaves. As you engage in this exploration, you will forge your own branch.

4. Compartmentalize each stage of the creation process. Meaningful accomplishments take time. Breaking down the creation process into stages makes it more manageable. Each stage demands different amounts of time, energy, and, most importantly, a different mindset. Allow yourself the flexibility to work on different stages within the same topic or completely different topics.

5. Build habits and systems. Don’t rely on motivation and willpower. Building habits and systems reduce the occurrence of unproductive days or weeks. Establish fallback options to maintain productivity. Prioritize essential, but challenging tasks and don’t neglect self-care (e.g. proper sleep, diet, and exercise). Set meaningful goals and establish appropriate metrics to track meaningful progress.

1) Be intrinsically driven and inquisitive.

In essence, double down on anything that increases your energy levels and fuels your thirst for learning. Solve problems that you deeply care about and share your discoveries along the way. As a result, this creates a flywheel effect allowing you to produce high-quality output on a long-term basis. Let’s expand on how this works.

• Doesn’t feel like “work”: the primary objective here is to consistently keep your energy levels high. You can only “work” so long before burnout, resentment, or fatigue kicks in. However, when you possess a genuine interest in a subject and derive intrinsic satisfaction from the process itself, it becomes energizing rather than burdensome. Driven by your inherent desire to explore and uncover insights, you will turn over stones and dig into corner cases that others overlook or are not willing to spend time investigating. Your focus will be channeled toward refining the process while remaining undeterred by outcomes outside of your control.

• Compounding expertise and network: having ample energy and a willingness to delve deeper naturally leads to the accumulation of expertise and the discovery of like-minded individuals who share your passion and values. When compounded over time, you’ll improve your intuition and judgment, enabling you to discern where to look, whom to seek guidance from, and what opportunities to pursue. With this expanded perspective, hidden opportunities come into view, presenting you with an ever-growing collection of metaphorical “rocks” to turn over. Just rinse and repeat.

2) Show your process, not just the end product.

Most people are not that interested in the outcome itself, but rather in the process they can adopt to reproduce that outcome. To truly captivate their interest, present your journey as a narrative in which they can envision themselves as the protagonist. Become their guide by offering insights that they can apply to their unique circumstances for progressing towards their goals. Be cognizant that what they need may not fully align with what worked for you specifically.

From the creator's perspective, by shifting your focus from inventing new ideas to documenting your journey, you relieve yourself of the constant pressure to generate something “worthy” of sharing with others. Especially when tackling complex subjects, your aim should be to provide enough guidance for others to incrementally move way forward rather than attempting to provide all the answers at once.

Be a guide, not a guru. Recognize that knowledge and circumstances evolve rapidly, and no single person possesses all the answers. Your role is to contribute a small part, paving the way for others to build upon and continue the journey of discovery.

I have always had a genuine interest in understanding the inner workings of things and gravitate more toward creators who openly share their journeys. Here’s my perspective on why:

• Making all aspects of the creative process transparent makes the creator more approachable and relatable as a person. Don’t undersell yourself by only showcasing the highlight reel. The challenges, failures, and lessons learned hold greater interest and constitute the majority of our lives, whether we acknowledge it or not. There is a good chance that valuable insights are buried within the pieces left on the cutting room floor. Providing context not only amplifies the content but also shapes a valuable part of the content itself.

• Demystify the notion of an "overnight success." While we should make every effort to empower others with the blueprints and tools to progress more efficiently, it is crucial to set expectations that are grounded in reality. It is encouraged to seek ways to optimize your process and strive for improvement, but searching for a "silver bullet" will likely attract those who sell you “snake oil”.

• Open a natural avenue for others to start a conversation. Initiating a dialogue with someone who presents only a trophy or achievement can be challenging, as it usually starts and ends with a “congrats, I’m happy for you”. Conversely, opening up your creative process provides more opportunities and prompts others to ask thoughtful questions. Oftentimes, I end up learning more from these conversations than what others learned from the content initially published.

3) Be part of a creative lineage.

At times I would spend hours, even days, struggling to come up with a "good idea.” We’ve witnessed this phenomenon arise in various situations such as deliberating what to write a book about or what business to start. Treating the creative process as a solitary and isolated endeavor is bound to fail. Instead, we must engage, consume, and reflect upon the things we encounter in our daily lives, which forms the basis for our creative genius. The book you eventually write will be the one you wished someone else had written. The business you build will be driven by a genuine passion for finding a better solution to a problem you have personally encountered and deeply care about.

The moment I shifted my mindset from “creating and generating” to “curating, enriching, and attributing” the content inspired by others — everything flowed effortlessly. However, approach this with caution, as there is a delicate balance between executing this idea successfully and turning it into a mere transport vessel or a bad imitator. To navigate this process effectively, keep the following guidelines in mind.

• Curating: exercise good judgment and be selective. The sources and influences we surround ourselves with will shape our perspectives and beliefs. Maintain a strong filter and uphold a high bar in terms of the quality and relevance of the content you choose to curate. The input forms the foundation for the eventual output.

• Enriching: Once you have curated content, the magic happens when you apply your views and build on the ideas of others. Leave things in a better state than you found them while making it easy for others to pick up where you left off.

• Attribution: A common trap is to reject or circumvent all ideas that were “not made here”. Instead, honor and give credit to your sources of inspiration while making it easier for others to discover them as well. Incorporate the attribution as part of your narrative. Others are interested in how you discovered it, why you found it interesting, and how it impacted you.

Tactical tip: Identify and ride on the coattail of others who have access to a vast network and excel at curating information. Notable examples include Lex Friedman and Tim Ferriss’ podcasts. In the research and academic domain, a valuable technique is to thoroughly examine the references and footnotes sections of relevant sources, as this can lead you to even more valuable content as you swim upstream.

One closing thought: building up on the idea of finding and contributing to a “creative lineage”, depending on what perspective, this article was created over 5 years / 5 weeks / 5 days.

• 5 years (possibly more): a long discovery process to find the creative lineage that resonated with me and time for drawing inspiration from various sources.

• 5 weeks: Most of the curation and enrichment happened during this time.

• 5 days: Distill the ideas into salient points and deliver the key messages.

4) Compartmentalize each stage of the creation process.

In the early stages of my content creation journey, I found myself overwhelmed by the task at hand. As I began tracking my progress over multiple work sessions, I observed significant variations in my output. In hindsight, it became evident that effectively addressing each stage of the creative process required a different approach. This realization came about after breaking down and compartmentalizing the overall creation process. Before examining how I approach each stage of the creation process, it’s important to acknowledge the fundamental principle that any form of “deep work” cannot be achieved at any random moment or time. Unlike tasks that can be completed on autopilot, deep work requires specific conditions to yield optimal results.

• Time for ideation and internalization: Allow a significant amount of time for ideas to develop and mature before they can be effectively articulated and transformed into publishable content. The internalization process takes time for the ideas to solidify and become coherent.

• Uninterrupted time and varying energy levels: Different stages of the creation process require dedicated focus and energy. For instance, generating initial ideas may require a relaxed and open mindset, while editing and refining demand precision and attention to detail. Compare what’s required to formulate a “shower thought” vs. converting 10 pages of raw ideas into coherent sentences. Given it takes about 10-15 minutes to fully context switch, not much progress can be made unless there are more than 30 minutes of uninterrupted time.

• Rigorous iterative editing: Self-editing can be challenging as it is difficult to spot flaws or identify areas for improvement in your work, especially when the prior draft was recently written. Hence, engaging in peer reviews at critical junctures can provide valuable insights. Additionally, taking a break and returning with fresh eyes after a few days can help as well. These iterations cannot happen overnight, so I find it best to start early and allow the time required to iterate.

There’s considerable value in setting up a “Second Brain”, especially if you intend to write on a medium to long-term basis. One insight I wish I knew earlier is to organize information based on its actionability rather than its source or consumption date. Fortunately, publishing content naturally lends itself to one form of actionability. Another effective method is to start by posing the questions you want to be answered and categorizing information accordingly.

Making the initial investment to identify actionable projects or questions to answer yields several potential benefits:

• Easily log interesting ideas as they occur, avoiding the need to sort through a jumble of thoughts later on (or the risk of losing ideas in the clutter).

• Provides the flexibility to switch between topics when feeling stuck or ride the momentum when feeling inspired to work on a particular topic.

• Encourages a behavioral shift over time, where you consciously or subconsciously seek answers to your questions in your daily life through reading, having conversations, and deciding what to learn.

Now that we’re done setting the stage, onwards to examining each stage of the creation process! Feel free to skip ahead to the sections that are most interesting and relevant to you.

Ideation: I allow my natural curiosity to be the guide at this stage. Aim to be a curator and collector, always on the lookout for anything remotely interesting. After starting my content creation journey, I have become more aware of my surroundings and intentionally put myself in situations where interesting things may unfold. This may involve building new relationships, nurturing existing connections, altering my daily routine, and exploring new ideas and concepts. I believe that overcomplicating this stage is unnecessary, but two aspects are worth highlighting:

• Filter and curate based solely on what genuinely piques your interest. Disregard considerations that will stifle your creativity such as its potential to become publishable content, solve a current or future problem, or worst of all, whether it can be monetized.

• Establish a minimalist and user-friendly method of capturing ideas and notes. Most ideas will fade away unless documented in an easily accessible location. I find Apple Notes to be sufficient, but any application that meets the following criteria works well:

  • Works offline, as great ideas often arise in remote locations with limited internet access. While physical notebooks are an option, they require an additional step to digitize the content. Choose a method that suits your preferences.

  • A few core features embedded in minimalist design and user-friendly interface. For me, it’s not much more than something to capture text and create bullet point lists.

  • Supports voice-to-text functionality. I lost many good ideas because my hands were full and promised myself I’d note them down later.

Outline: When I notice a convergence of ideas around a particular topic, I dedicate the first 15 minutes of a session to structuring and organizing them into an outline. Initially, I had a bad habit of accumulating a mountain of ideas without promptly transferring them into an outline. This led to many ideas remaining untapped or becoming mentally taxing to sift through when I eventually decided to use them for content. The outline serves as a gut check to assess whether the topic has the potential to develop into longer-form content and if it's worth further investigation. If the topic isn't yet suitable for long-form content, I may consider funneling it into a LinkedIn post or setting it aside for future exploration.

Before moving forward, here are a couple of tactical tips:

• Seek peer review when you have an outline. It provides an additional checkpoint to ensure the core idea and flow make sense before investing a significant amount of research hours into it.

• Use the outline to define the scope for large and complex topics, such as "Engineering Management." Determine a logical stopping point that delivers valuable insights while leaving room for future expansion in part 2 and beyond.

• Don't worry about being overly precise in your wording at this stage. Express your ideas clearly, and refine the language later on.

Research: Among all the stages in the creative process, I find this stage is the most fun and engaging. Once a topic progresses beyond the outline stage, my intrinsic motivation to delve deeper and expand my knowledge on the subject is incredibly high. I begin to establish a creative lineage of thought leaders and rarely encounter any difficulties. However, it is essential to set time constraints to avoid getting absorbed in endless research at the expense of meeting publishing deadlines. Having a well-defined outline and adhering to set deadlines are crucial in this regard. Here are a couple of noteworthy considerations:

• As a general guideline, time spent clarifying and refining your thinking during the research phase is a good investment. However, expanding the initial scope established during the outline stage stemming from the discovery of new ideas should be avoided in most cases. Instead, record these ideas in the ideation backlog for the future.

• As emphasized in the "creative lineage" principle, leverage the expertise of proficient curators to expedite your progress.

• It is often more productive to make a second and perhaps third pass to thoroughly analyze a great resource compared to time spent searching for additional resources.

Draft and Review: One of the most significant mental hurdles to overcome in the creative process is embracing the expectation of producing several subpar drafts before achieving a reasonable level of quality. Unlike the research stage, I find it crucial to allocate a substantial block of time when my energy levels are relatively high to make substantial progress during this stage. I remind myself that I'm not alone in facing this challenge, as even professional writers often procrastinate in any way possible to avoid this stage. Here's my playbook to combat what Steven Pressfield refers to as Resistance:

• Refrain from writing and editing simultaneously. The break in concentration and the required context switch from writing to editing is mentally taxing. Instead, strive for a free-flowing state when initially forming sentences and focus on articulation during the subsequent editing phase—remember to "say it straight, then say it great."

• Stop overthinking and start writing. Utilize tools (e.g. something Simple or Extreme) to build the momentum needed.

• Detach yourself from your work. Instead of adding content, aim to improve the content by minimizing clutter.

• Offload various aspects of proofreading to Grammarly or something similar. ChatGPT can be valuable in exploring alternative sentence structures, checking for spelling, grammar, and redundancies, and adjusting the tone without altering the core content.

• Share your drafts with others, but be discerning and thoughtful about whom you approach for feedback on specific sections. Requesting a review of extensive content often leads to diluted feedback or a lack of response. I have found it beneficial to share drafts with individuals who have a specific interest in the content or are currently facing a problem related to its subject matter.

Publish & Introspection: The initial act of hitting "send" can be the most intimidating, but with each publication, it becomes easier. While it's important to be thoughtful about what you share, I tend to have a bias for overthinking. Once it's out in the world, reach out to those within your network who have shown interest in the topic or have been involved in the peer review process during the outline and/or draft & review stages. Express your gratitude for their contributions and support in making it happen.

In the early stages, the focus should primarily be on the content itself rather than optimizing marketing and distribution. While it's useful to gain a general understanding of how your content performs, I refrain from going down a rabbit hole in terms of trying to align with the algorithm for optimizing reach.

Before moving on to create your next piece of content, it's valuable to pause, engage with your audience, and reflect on the process. Identify 1-3 aspects that were executed well and 1-3 areas that could be improved in the creation process for this particular round. This not only maximizes your learning from the experience but also opens the door to serendipitous moments. I've been pleasantly surprised by the number of individuals who have reached out after publishing content and the serendipitous connections and conversations that followed. As a final thought, engaging with your audience at this stage provides an ideal opportunity to gauge what type of content they would like to see in the future.

5) Build habits and systems. Don't rely on motivation and willpower.

Consistency is key in any endeavor, and building habits and systems can help ensure steady progress.

As Archilochus wisely said, "We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training."

While the previous principles discussed focused on maximizing creative output under normal circumstances, it's crucial to address the inevitable occurrence of "bad days" and establish reliable support systems.

Prioritize and schedule the most important and challenging work first. A couple of examples that come to mind are creative writing, code-related tasks (e.g. debugging, reviewing code, writing code, learning new programming concepts), or comprehending complex concepts (e.g. any foreign STEM topic or philosophy on the literature side). Identify the activities that require high energy levels, uninterrupted time, and intense focus, and allocate dedicated time blocks accordingly.

To ensure consistent progress, even on bad days, I employ the following techniques:

• Take two minutes to sit quietly and do nothing. This mini-meditation helps create a sense of urgency and motivation to get started.

• Use tools that encourage writing, even if it initially produces subpar results (e.g. something Simple or Extreme). The primary goal is to establish the required momentum to push through resistance.

• If none of the above methods work and a significant portion of the session has passed, step away and return later. With a well-organized "Second Brain" and other projects or content ideas on hand, there's always another project to work on.

Set minimum thresholds for sleep, diet, and exercise: Maintaining proper sleep, diet, and exercise are essential for our physical and mental well-being. Neglecting these areas incurs a health tax that affects our overall productivity and creativity. While the solutions may seem straightforward, they are difficult to do consistently unless they become habits.

• Sleep: Block out ~8 hours in your schedule and treat it like a mandatory meeting. Avoid the trap of sacrificing sleep to catch up on work due to procrastination or unexpected demands.

• Diet: Differentiate between meals for utility and meals for enjoyment. For utility, consider meal-prepping simple and nutritious options that don't require much thought or variety. In the past, I’ve had great success with the "slow carb diet".

• Exercise: Developing a consistent exercise routine can be challenging. Plan your exercise sessions based on various time intervals (e.g., 2 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins, 30 mins, and 60 mins) to accommodate varying levels of “free time”. Going outside more frequently naturally leads to more exercise. Doing some exercise before or after long working sessions is also a good idea.

Conduct an energy audit on your relationships: Assess the change in your energy levels after each interaction you have with others. Reflect on if you leave as a better or worse version of yourself. Bear in mind that a “better version” doesn’t always mean “feeling good”, but rather a sense of personal growth and improvement. Apply the 80/20 rule to focus on nurturing positive relationships while minimizing interactions with those that drain your energy.

Set the right goals and measures: I’d like to set the stage here with two quotes that resonated with me.

Quote 1: "We often overestimate what can be accomplished in one day but underestimate what can be accomplished in one year."

Quote 2: Courage is defined as “Not running into the fire without thinking twice, but rather thinking twice and telling everyone they’re focusing on the wrong fire”.

Taking these quotes as inspiration, here are my takeaways:

• Prioritize consistency and long-term progress. Set achievable daily goals that you can exceed 90% of the time, ensuring steady and sustainable advancement over extended periods. Focus on meaningful goals that compound into significant advantages.

• Emphasize effectiveness over efficiency. It's more important to work on the right things using the right approach than to maximize throughput and efficiency on a specific task. Aim to achieve the same results by doing less rather than simply doing more.

Measure your progress based on what you can control. While external feedback is valuable, it should primarily serve as a starting point for self-reflection and identifying areas within your control that can be improved. The time horizon for measuring progress is crucial in making critical decisions, as it often determines the best course of action.

A preview of my content roadmap

Thank you for reaching this point! I would like to share my plans for this newsletter along with what I have in mind for content creation in general. The following section is organized into three parts: purpose, content, and format — deliberately ordered based on what’s likely to remain consistent over time compared to what will be subject to experimentation.

Purpose:

Before delving into the content, I would like to establish the overarching purpose, which serves as inspiration for this newsletter and my overall content creation journey. The core intent and inspiration behind the name of this newsletter "Expanded Horizons," can be summarized as follows:

Create the required conditions to ‘succeed’ in a way that’s meaningful to you by broadening your perspectives and elevating your ability to navigate through complexity.

The content itself serves as a vessel to establish the context required to deliver the overall intent. Similar to how this first article lays out a blueprint for content creation, the general direction for my longer-form content will follow suit. As a result, expect the following topics to emerge as more articles are released.

• Reasoning from first principles and employing systems thinking to navigate complexity and uncover fundamental truths.

• Meta-learning (i.e., acquiring the skill of learning) to attain versatility and gain access to desired experiences and outcomes.

• Employing critical thinking to construct and refine mental models in response to evolving circumstances.

The priority is to cover timeless principles. However, some consideration will be given to analyzing transient events and trends with those principles in mind.

Content:

While the content roadmap is expected to evolve, here is a condensed version of what is included beyond the topics mentioned in the "Purpose" section:

Core: Aside from content creation, my coaching and teaching endeavors will cover the following topics, as I strive to strike a balance between articulating my past experiences and sharing my new findings.

• Navigating Pivotal Points in Your Career

• Tech Leadership & Engineering Management

• Data Engineering & ML Ops

Experimental: I plan to dedicate some spare time to staying connected with the latest innovations. While I won't prioritize extensive coverage of these topics, I will actively pursue them when they align with my core content or when they address challenges relevant to myself and/or my audience.

• AI: I expect some spillover from ML Ops and in terms of Generative AI, most of it will be centered around prompt engineering.

• Blockchain: Despite the majority of the market’s attention being diverted to Generative AI, I believe there’s a mountain of untapped potential behind leveraging blockchain technologies. Any time I do spend will likely align with crypto or DeFi use cases due to my roots in finance and economics.

• Startups: I’ve always been interested in the EdTech ecosystem and have a strong sense that it may eventually become my primary pursuit. I believe the existing models to deliver education are ripe for disruption.

Formats:

This newsletter will serve as the primary platform for the majority of my written content. I aim to explore and test the formats listed below:

• Long-form articles: These in-depth pieces will delve into topics I have been working on extensively. I’ll usually invest 5-10x more effort compared to short-form content with the goal of achieving a 10-100x reach and impact.

• Multi-part series: Each topic in my core and experimental content has significant scope and needs to be decomposed into manageable parts. With this format, I can accomplish this while maintaining some continuity.

• Short-form commentary: I plan to introduce a series called "Examine the Nuances.” where I share my thoughts and critique content made by others that I find interesting and expanded my horizons.

• Reading list/book reviews: I will maintain a log of my reading materials, providing varying levels of detail depending on whether it is a one-time read or something that I revisit periodically.

• Guest posts: for collaborations with other creators and giving the spotlight to various people in my network.

Currently, I am actively engaged on the following platforms:

• LinkedIn: This platform serves as my primary channel for sharing concise snippets of daily content, making announcements, and interacting with my professional network.

• Taro: I am an active contributor within the Taro community, offering guidance to tech professionals in navigating challenging situations and identifying avenues for career growth.

During the initial phases, my primary focus is to improve the quality of my content and adhere to a consistent publishing schedule. The goal is to gain a fundamental understanding of how each platform works while steering clear of “overoptimizing” unless the platform is the actual bottleneck to growth, which is usually not the case.

• Medium: I have heard positive feedback about this platform as an alternative distribution channel for my newsletter. It is at the top of my list once I’ve published a few articles on Substack.

• Twitter: while it is a low effort to cross-post condensed versions of my LinkedIn content here, my investment in Twitter has been minimal so far. I primarily use Twitter to direct message people who use that as their primary platform.

• Personal Website: My website will eventually serve as the central hub for all my content sources. While it is important in the longer term, my primary focus at the moment is to first generate a critical mass of content.

• Podcast (multi-platform): At present, I am making guest appearances on other people's podcasts. However, my long-term goal is to host thought-provoking conversations with individuals in my network, capturing the types of discussions I would typically have offline.

• YouTube: I have plans to explore the video format in the future. I am interested in learning how to produce video-based content in addition to the text-based content I currently create.

• Instagram & TikTok: I have not yet considered these platforms, but I am open to broad experimentation during the early stages. YouTube will take priority and these will likely be clips taken from longer video content.

• Community (e.g. Slack & Discord Channels): Although I am moderately active on a couple of these platforms, I anticipate increasing my involvement as I reach milestones on my other projects. Building my own community is an aspirational project for the future.

My Creative Lineage & Sources of Inspiration:

• Austin Kleon: Show Your Work, Steal Like An Artist essential reading when beginning any creative endeavor.

• Steven Pressfield: War of Art many techniques inspired by his take on fighting back against Resistance.

• William Zinsser: On Writing Well my first book on writing, which got me into non-fiction in my teens.

• Tim Ferriss: The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss podcast his content is foundational to building an operating manual for living life in general and an avenue to discovering interesting people.

• Naval Ravikant: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, Naval’s podcast shaped the majority of my ability to think critically and reason from first principles.

• Cal Newport: Deep Work & Cal Newport’s Podcast big fan of this idea around “slow productivity” and finding large blocks of time to accomplish great things.

• Kevin Kelly: 1,000 True Fans reminds me to focus on helping a small community first, but do it incredibly well. Pushes back against on myth that it has to scale to be feasible.

• Plenty of others: an integral part of my creative lineage and subconscious that I cannot immediately recall.