Writing Is Thinking

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  • Motivation for Taking Notes Comes from the Output

    What you intend to do with your notes is the thing that motivates you to take notes in the first place. The act of taking notes can be enough when getting started, there needs to be something more to keep going year after year.

  • Thinking Better Thoughts

    I remember when I first started working at Stripe I felt like the dumbest person in the room. I was amazed at how smart everyone seemed and the writing…gosh, the writing! If I wanted to be like that too, something needed to change.

  • Why All My Business Writing Is in Latex

    In my day-to-day business dealings, people are surprised when they receive LaTeX-generated documents for business proposals, memos, etc. from me.

  • Using Tools for Thought as a Founder

    This is a reflection on using org-roam as a founder in the early stages of starting a company. It’s mostly a draft that I may or may not come back to.

  • Principles for Living a Rich Digital Life

    I’ve been thinking more about how to live a rich digital life and what that means in a world of abundance. The following is a work-in-progress list of principles that are starting to form. (Epistemic status: low).

  • Notes Clarify Understanding

    The act of writing notes of self contained ideas and facts leads to deeper understanding. The feeling of not understand something you write is unpleasant and motivates taking a closer look. If writing is thinking, then note taking is encoding.

  • How to Start and Run a Remote-First Startup

    This guide is for founders starting a fully remote company in the United States.

  • How to Write a Note

    Here’s how to write permanent notes based on How to Take Smart Notes.

  • Typing Fast Is Thinking With Your Hands

    Knowledge work is often limited by time spent thinking versus doing, but typing fast helps you think faster. Ideas don’t usually come out clearly when they go from our brain to paper—they require some iteration and correction. That means some amount of exploration is required and the act of typing can help you think with your hands.

  • Writing Makes You Live Curiously

    Questions naturally arise when writing. Since writing is thinking, when we turn over an idea in our head, we can’t help spotting things we don’t understand or finding a topic we want to learn more about.

  • SCQA

    SCQA stands for the *s*ituation, *c*omplication, *q*uestion, and *a*nswer. It’s a way of writing an introduction in a way that clearly communicates the key question a piece of writing will answer.

  • Temporary Intellectual Home

    Writing an essay is like living in a temporary intellectual home for awhile. It means you are spending time with the subject, getting to know it’s details, nuance, and depth. It’s the opposite of being an intellectual tourist with a passing understanding.