Why am I writing this newsletter?

A friend of mine is passionate about cars. He likes to stay updated on new launches and tries to understand the different technologies that work under the hood of an automobile.

He genuinely cares about how refined the engine sounds, how smoothly the gears shift, how high the ground clearance is, the amount of boot space we get and whether the cabin has enough cupholders.

Now here’s the problem — it seems to him that everyone shares the same interest. That’s why when we talk, I find it hard to stay engaged in the conversation.

It’s even harder on his end. Keeping deep knowledge on a subject and not able to share it with anyone else leads to something that David Perell calls “Intellectual Loneliness”.

I think, at some level, we all suffer from intellectual loneliness. I find it hard to find someone who’d be interested in talking about personal technology or travel or self-care or nutrition or education or music production. Most people are either uninterested or lack knowledge.

Writing online solves this. When you write online, you attract like-minded people. You build an audience that would be as interested in the topic as you are. You find your tribe.

But that only happens when you publish consistently over a period of time. That’s a long-term goal.

Before that, writing serves an important purpose — it helps you think clearly.

Writing forces you to dive deep into your mind. You seek answers. You ask the questions that weren’t previously asked. Finally, you gather your findings and lay it on the page.

The page embodies what you’ve been thinking for days, months or decades. You hit publish and now it’s there on the internet, stored for the generations to come.

For the first time, you understand your thoughts. For the first time, you feel understood.

Every author on the internet writes for the same reason.

Brett Hall wants to understand David Deutsch’s work, so he tweets and runs a podcast to talk about the same.

David Deutsch is obsessed with Karl Popper and extensively incorporates Popper’s philosophy in his books.

Sheehan wanted to understand why we wear a necktie, so he wrote a thread about it.

Every technical article I’ve written has made me a better developer.

My goal with this newsletter is make sense of my thoughts. The goal is to capture the random ideas and weave them together to create something meaningful.

As I write this issue away from home, I feel confident. I think I would be able to continue writing irrespective of circumstances. Let’s hope it stays this way.

Catch you next week!
Aachman