The joy of not knowing

When I sit down to write, I usually don’t know what I’ll write about.

But the act of sitting in the studio, opening Apple Notes, staring at the river and asking my mind for topical lessons to share with subscribers, is where the writing comes from.

The discipline of showing up: Same chair, same keyboard, same ambient music. Creating the habits that facilitate new ideas is more important than the ideas themselves. With the discipline, more ideas are always available to you, even if you don’t yet know what they are.

The structure to scope thought: Constraints help creativity, so knowing what sort of things I’ll cover helps a lot. What I’m working on… How to use art/tech/code/media to improve the world… Philosophical takes on business and life… Making learning fun… having topics to work with helps focus the creation of ideas, even if you don’t yet know what they are.

The commitment to do it again tomorrow: Letting it be known to myself and to others that we’ll be doing this again tomorrow, is a superpower for improving the two previous steps. To yourself, because you’ll anticipate it and prepare for it subconsciously. To others, because you’re the kind of person who keeps promises.

The first step to most things is commitment. Not clarity, not funding, not connections, not skills.

Commitment.