Ok, let me be frank for a second
I don’t even know what I’m doing in this blog? Newsletter? “Conceptual Chronicles”
I should be focusing on my career. I’m an Electronic Engineer with an MBA who’s worked for top strategy consultancies and some amazing companies. Getting back on the horse, finding a good Strategy / Transformation / Project Director job, preferably in Retail or Financial Services. Or maybe in Private Equity or Venture Capital, helping the turnaround / scale-up of some interesting business. Or maybe even getting back to consulting, either full-time or freelancing. Plenty of opportunities.
So, in that sense, I should be building my personal / professional brand. You know, proving what a kick-ass expert I am in so many subjects by writing interesting articles. Choosing the subjects that I’m most experienced and would give me the best exposure, and focusing on them.
(Actually, I tried to do that for a while. You can check some results on my LinkedIn profile and/or my personal website.)
Another thing I could be doing is stretching out on my revenue stack. Trying to build a side hustle. A six-figure one, preferably, because why not? And if I wanted to do that through writing, well, I’ve read the article on Substack vs. Medium. Becoming a generalist writer would be better on Medium. I’ve written some articles. Just rinse and repeat until it works, until I become a better writer, until I find my own voice and go viral1, right?
And then, if I want to focus on some particular subject, that’s when I could / should launch my own Substack. With a subscription newsletter, write everyday about some interesting topic and get paid for it. That’s the dream, right?
Instead here I am on my Substack newsletter - “Conceptual Chronicles” - and not on LinkedIn, or my website, or Medium, writing for exactly one subscriber: me. Why?
What is the dream? Well, let me list some people who I read all the time, who’ve definitely “made it”. Or not necessarily “made it”, but certainly writers I follow and admire. A list of influences and potential role models, maybe.
There are the great writers who, on their personal blogs, talk about anything they want. I love reading Charles Stross and John Scalzi2. Even when I don’t agree with their viewpoints, they are always enriching.
Then there are the successful blogger / writers who pack a punch in their articles. People like Mark Manson, James Clear, Shane Parrish and Ryan Holiday. They’ve found their niches, they write amazingly well, definitely worth reading.
Recently I started subscribing to Medium and following some great writers too. Tim Denning and Thomas Oppong have great voices and articles that energize my self-improvement journey. And Douglas Rushkoff and Scott Galloway are professional writers whose short posts always make me think.
And finally there are the “bayesian rationalists”. Complex, challenging and rich. I don’t necessarily agree with everything there3 - and if I did, they would likely tell me I was wrong to do so. People like Eliezer Yudkowsky, Robin Hanson and Scott Alexander. In fact, Scott seems to be a ‘big deal’ here on Substack!
But that’s not the goal, or the why. I mean, I wouldn’t complain or feel bad if I got the chance to write on their level, with their type and volume of followers - I’d enjoy the heck out of it. But that’s not the ‘dream’, that’s not why I’m writing this, right now.
So what is the “Conceptual Chronicles” about? I mean, “pursuing plural perspectives on a plethora of problems”? What the heck, right? What’s the focus, and if there isn’t, why should anyone subscribe and follow this?
And English is not even my native language. So why?
…
I recently read a very good book by Steven Pressfield. I highly recommend it. It’s called “Do the Work”.
It’s a short book, you should read it. And here’s the thing:
If you’re reading this book, it’s because you sense inside you a second self, an unlived you.
I sense it. And I sense I can bring it out through writing. But there’s an enemy.
The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications, and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do.
So I will keep writing because I have to. Because I must not stop. And I must write about the things that rattle in my brain. Business. Strategy. Pricing. Religion. Science. Philosophy. Rationalism. Decisions. Innovation. Yeah, it’s a mixed bag. It’s a plethora of problems - heh. But that’s what I have to bring out, to think through by writing, so that’s what I’ll try to do.
If it is only for me, that’s fine. If my parents read it - hey, mom and dad! - that’s great! And I’d love my wife to read it and not think it’s a waste of time so, well, maybe I’ll wait to tell her when I think she won’t think it’s a waste of time.
If somehow I start getting readers and subscribers, hey, thank you. Really. From the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy the journey! Right now, on a mid-February in the middle of a pandemic, I don’t know for how long I’ll write. I can just begin.
And, at the very least, I hope someday the ones who read this are the most important readers I’ll ever have. My son and my daughter. If you ever read this, when you read this articles, and you hear my voice resonating in your heads, do know it is all for you. And that, at the very end, is the dream.
Cheers, and let us begin!
Although going viral just seems in poor taste, nowadays
A side note - when he brought his daughter to write with him in his blog, I confess initially I had mixed feelings. But then I realized, first, it’s his blog and he can do whatever he wants (heh, whatever, I get it); second, if I was in his position and had the opportunity to promote my daughter, I would do exactly the same; and third, she’s actually a pretty good writer and brings a very different voice, quite distinct from this almost 40-year-old white male brazilian POV and which only makes their blog a better read
Even if, for a day or so, I got quite scared of Roko’s Basilisk. Which has become so much of a joke there are RPG supplements which use it as an end-of-the world villain