0875 – flourishings
it’s almost 1am and i should go to bed but i’d also like to fire off a wordvomit first if i can so let’s go
0874 – being useful to myself
it’s tricky to know what exactly is the most useful thing i could be doing with my time at any given moment. part of tha
0873 – preamble to ‘on critics’
[Every day is a puzzle.] Now that I’m basically a full-time parent of a 1yo, I can’t quite work the way I used to.
0872 – re-spec your character when necessary
sometimes i have several experiences within a narrow-ish timeframe that give me an interesting gestalt. i’m thinking now
0871 – bottleneck2: notesprawl
i haven’t finished goldratt’s book yet but i’m still thinking about bottlenecks and writing. lets recap. i w
0870 – what is my writing bottleneck?
i’m currently reading goldratt’s The Goal– it’s been on my list for a long time, but i bumped it up after
0869 – simcity
I had the following realization recently about a pattern i’ve been living. basically, after i put my 10mo son to bed, i
0868 – jul2024 status update pt1
i was a salaried employee from 2013 to mid-2018. i learned a lot, and generally had a great time. then i left my job and iR
0867 – parenting
if you’re curious about people, and you can manage it, i feel like you should have at least 2 kids. of course there are
0866 – retvrn to fundamentals
i want to write something before i go to sleep. i’m thinking, as i often do, about behavior patterns, behavior change, d
0865 – vividness
Zindagi quote about restlessness in the heart means you’re alive
0864 – iOS notes cleanup
i’ve been spending the past few days going through my notes in my iOS Notes app- it once had over 1000 notes, and i̵
0862 – may2024 status update
its may2024 wow. next it’ll be june and i’ll turn 34. which doesn’t seem like a big deal, i kinda feel like
0860 + 0861 – talk to your friends about your work
i’ve been watching a few marvel movies with the director’s commentary– if you have disney+ it’s in the
0859 – review to cultivate taste and feeling
I realize I’ve been in a funny-tragic pattern lately, behavior-wise. basically every night i go to bed after showering,
0857 – against notesprawl
just showered and got in bed, i could go to sleep– i didn’t get much sleep last night– but my mind is alive rn so i
0852 + 0853 — reinvigorate, and retvrn to beauty
i feel like i’m due for some reinvention, some rework, some sort of shakeup one dimension in which this is obviously nec
0847 – gonna be a dad
It’s october 1 2023. my wife and I are having our first child this month, which is going to be a huge change to our live
0845 – identifying as a professional author
met old friend DC today as part of our ongoing unplanned ritual of passing back some military equipment back and forth between
0844 – new macbook
I did something kind of surprising and indulgent today: I bought a new macbook air. it’s not the first time i’ve t
0843 – take care
It’s 1am and I am tired and also feeling somewhat unfulfilled by how I’ve spent my day. Scrolling around, shufflin
0838, 0839, 0840 – twitter and other cursed artifacts
right so I’m going to do a fucken rant about twitter. i cant do a thread about it, i get self conscious worrying about h
0837 – broken telephone
I’ve been tweeting a bunch lately about status and misunderstandings and thresholds. This seems to be something that I c
0836 – explore vs exploit
I had a feeling earlier that if I just wrote a lot then all my problems will be solved. And I mean that in a particularly prec
0834 + 0835 – symptoms, diseases and creative funks
Two possible trains, one about forgetting, another about defining problems. I’ve already forgotten the forgetting train.
0833 – jul2023 status update
Hey Visa, how are things? Pretty good overall as usual, though maybe a bit more scattered than usual. Scattered how? Too many
0832 – devastating losses for an infovore
When I was about 11 years old, I used to blog on a now-defunct service called Diary-X.com. It was something like Blogger or Li
0831 – escritoire
This was originally a substack draft from 03may2023. I keep searching for an angle from which I can write something that I per
0829 + 0830 – snippets and drafts
I had 9 different unfinished drafts in my wordvomits, and I was thinking I’d just copypaste them into my notes and ignor
0826 + 0827 – creative finesse
They say that the healthy man wants a million things, the unhealthy man wants only one. The thing I want most in the world rig
0825 – inventory management
I want to say, “every day I sit down and try to do some good writing”. Though that’s not entirely true, I do
0824 – less gnashing / now what
(originally a substack draft, abandoned) Alan Watts had a riff that went, “What would you like to do if money was no object?
0823 – resentments pt1
It’s occurred to me a few times recently that… by stepping into the Friendly Ambitious Nerd King persona, I’
0822 – restart the engine
I tweet every day, very easily, without having to think or worry about it. It just happens. Earlier today I made a 15 minute y
0821 – some self-help + triangulation
I think it’s time that I seriously consider the possibility that my existing frames aren’t very helpful to me and
0819 + 820 – make yourself comfortable / dream of elegance
It occurred to me that I haven’t felt truly relaxed in what feels like a really long time. I felt a bit of it while I to
0818 – touch all notes
Every day I sit in front of twitter for hours. A part of me is slightly embarrassed by this. Another part wants to say, there&
0817 – journalling again
I haven’t journalled in a while, and I find myself thinking, if I’m talking so much all the time about how good, i
0816 – figuring out next steps, oct 2022
I find myself kinda grouchy about how little time and space i seem to have to do all the things i want. I want to research anc
0814 – getting better at being me
1202am and i don’t feel like going to bed. i bingewatched all of cyberpunk edge runner on netflix today, i thought it wa
0813 – aug22 status update
I used to be able to write thousands of words just like this, tapping fingers on glass, typically on the train on the way to w
0810 – turning 32
Long time no write: Scanning through my wordvomits, it looks like I didn’t publish posts for turning 30 and 31. This is
0809 – may 2022 status update
It’s 4am, just got home from dinner with the in-laws and have been lounging around on the computer for a while. Just lea
0808 – untangle competing interests (pt 1?)
I’ve been feeling some disappointment and frustration lately. The thing to watch out for is when I notice that I’m
0807 – don’t expect too much from babbling fools
(Wrote this initially on twitter after waking up from a rather psychedelic dream after sleeping for just 3 hours) I think the
0806: confront the minotaur pt2
So in pt1 I talked about how I tried to bully myself as a child, how ineffective that was, how miserable, how we are each inte
0805: confront the minotaur pt1
So Act IV of INTROSPECT is about confronting the minotaur, and it’s kind of apt how it’s the Act that I’ve s
0804 – introspect: overview
The above image is a screenshot of my latest (and final, I think) conceptualisation or overview of INTROSPECT. It’s been
0803 – introspect: what does your heart want?
The following is an unedited messy transcript of bits of my parts of a conversation I had with a friend, Ms. G. I spent a long
0802 – introspect: content page notes
I woke up, showered, got in my chair, it’s 1034am. In the shower I was thinking to myself, what’s the thing I want
0801 – introspect: deliver on the promises
I’ve been feeling a strange tension lately – I’m working on my book, INTROSPECT, and I’ve been feeling stu
0800 – cultivate courage
This is my 800th wordvomit! I am now 80% done with this project that I started way back in 2012. For starters I’m curiou
0799 – be honest
I used to lie a lot as a kid. I’m not proud of it and I don’t want to defend or justify it. It just seemed so easy
0798 – be kind
What is kindness? It seems like a simple enough question but the answer doesn’t jump out at me. The word’s origin
0797 – be playful
When I look through the draft of my book INTROSPECT (it’s not out yet), I find that there are several recurring motifs i
0796 – writing is what I do
I’ve missed typing. Specifically, I’ve missed typing on a blank page. I type a lot on Twitter every day – someth
0795 – my relationship with twitter
When I signed up for Twitter in October 2008 (I was 18 then) I had no idea that it was going to be such an important part of m
0794 – “my book is killing me”
I’ve been spending most of my time on Twitter lately. And it’s probably not great for me. It’s time for me t
0793 – checking in with the inner newsfeed
I went to bed at about 5am last night – a fairly common thing for me at this point – but what was slightly less common was
0792 – starting pomodoros again
At some point during this project I printed out a few calendars for each year to try and get a sense of how often I was writin
0791 – renegotiating my relationship with rest
I had a re-realization a couple of nights ago at almost 6am when I was lying in bed struggling to sleep. I was thinking about
0790 – enjoy your life without bullshitting yourself
It’s 2021jun02-1716, and I’m working on my second ebook, INTROSPECT. I’ve been working on this for a long ti
0789 – the invitation: stop fussing
There are few things I dislike more than people telling me what to do. So this is not a directive. This is an invitation. You
0788 – vacation from twitter
It’s 519am. I should go to bed like a couple of hours ago but I feel like writing a word vomit. It looks like I haven
0787 – leadership and responsibility
I didn’t grow up wanting to be a leader. I grew up wanting to have fun. And leadership often seemed like the opposite of fun
0786 – put on your old gi and get back in the arena
I found myself unexpectedly in tears while watching Cobra Kai S1E5 earlier while having lunch eating chicken rice. I’m o
0785 – don’t linger too long in your comfort zone
I’m sure I’ve said before – maybe several times – that if I go too long without writing a wordvomit, I start t
0784 – embody the chaos school of art
I’ve been teaching myself to draw again. Drawing is something I’ve wanted to get into several times in my life. I
0783 – cultivate a sense of occasion
It’s 539pm, June 5th 2020. I just had a cold Subway sandwich from the fridge for lunch. I’m listening to In The Cr
0782 – the difference between video and text
It’s 12 noon on tuesday the 7th of April 2020. It’s been about 3 months since my last word vomit. I’ve been
0781 – making 100 youtube videos
So it’s 2020, and I’ve started on my quest for the year: to make 100 youtube videos. My youtube channel is pretty
0780 – troubleshooting nightmares + revisiting my relationship with authority
I want to think out loud for a bit about some recurring dreams I’ve been having for a long time. When I look at the scat
0779 – revisit your purpose (why are we doing this?)
Haven’t written one of these in a while. It’s 129am, Saturday 2nd November. Why haven’t I written one of the
0778 – share your work
It’s 427am and I should get to bed, but I suddenly feel this compulsion to do an “old school word vomit” –
0777 – journaling for myself again
I started writing in a paper journal again. It’s been a while. I’m not sure exactly how long, though I could proba
0773 – transform into who you are (let go of who you used to be)
(Preamble: I initially wanted to use this vomit to write about a conversation that I had with my boss recently. I’m stil
0772 – let your paint dance freely, and revisit any point as required
117am. I spent some time earlier rewatching a few Rick and Morty episodes. And I find it fascinating how “fresh” i
0771 – cleanup is never done if you don’t know what the cleanup is for
Just spent a couple of hours replaying Horizon Zero Dawn on the PS4. It’s a stunningly beautiful game. The combat is a l
0770 – the surfer must be one with the ocean
Yesterday I wrote and published a word vomit in about 10 minutes, just before 2am. I then told myself, hey, I’ll do this
0769 – I’m not here for accolades; I’m here to write
Some of my earliest word vomits were written without any sort of planning or prompt whatsoever. I just got into a text editor
0768 – nightmares as a bottleneck
I’ve been trying to become more effective and efficient as a person. This isn’t always my top priority at any give
0767 – neediness
A friend asked via DM something like “I noticed that you’ve mentioned ‘neediness’ a few times, what do
0766 – turning 29
It’s my 29th birthday! I feel good. I think I feel better than I’ve ever felt on any birthday prior. I feel powerf
0765 – what do I want? pt 1
It’s a simple question. What do I want? Boy, where do I start? I want to live a good life. I want to grow old fit and he
0764 – identify the valuable squares on your life’s chessboard
I’m feeling a little blocked at the moment, writing-wise. I’ve been tweeting a lot, but I’ve been getting a
0763 – memoir planning
One of the things that’s been on my todo list for some time is to write a memoir. I’ve been wanting to do it for o
0762 – going to San Francisco
I’ve booked the flight tickets already – I’m flying Singapore Airlines at 830am on Wednesday, the 24th of April
0761 – perhaps allow the Tao to describe itself
I joked on Twitter a while ago that “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao… which is annoying, because I rea
0760 – life can be easy, but getting there takes a lot of work
Peter Thiel had a question that went something like, “what important truth do very few people agree with you on?”
0759 – make friends (pt 1)
I did a thing a while ago where, for fun, I decided to map out my “memex” – ie the things that I talk about a lo
0758 – tap the bricks to find the secret passageway
I did a post on Patreon on V-Day asking my patrons, “what are you looking for”? It’s interesting that there
0757 – each day a project, each day a game
So it’s January 1st 2019. And I find myself thinking all of the thoughts that most people probably have on January 1st e
0756 – 2018dec31 status update
So it’s the end of another year. 737pm as I start writing this. I’m writing this because I find that I always kind
0755 – learning music, learning everything (pt 1)
I was noodling around on my guitar earlier and I found myself thinking about my personal learning journey as a musician. I don
adulthood threadpost
0093 – transitioning to adulthood, maladjustment I was doing some reading (blog.asmartbear.com today) But then a swarm of sc
addiction threadpost
Putting together this threadpost, I find myself thinking that my thoughts about addiction circle around video games, social me
sleep threadpost
0008 – waking up early gives you more options I slept early last night, and it was a great decision to have made. Well, earl
‘review your stuff’ threadpost
Okay so this is going to be a new kind of vomit, inspired by my twitter threads. I’m basically going to pick a tag, and
0754 – how ask good questions? (pt 1)
(the following vomit is likely going to be extremely sketchy and incoherent) How do you ask good questions? I think the fun ge
0753 – beware the tyranny of coherence
It’s 253am on November 22nd 2018. I was having trouble sleeping and so I got out of bed. Usually when I get out of bed becau
0751 + 0752 – introspect: navigating authentic wants vs manufactured wants
(this is an unedited rant, written as raw material to be subsequently edited into the book. The book will not be this rambly)
0750 – accelerating the final quarter [75% complete!]
It’s 323am on Friday, 9th November 2018 and I’m writing word vomit number 0750. When I’m done with this, I w
0748 + 0749 – pursue interestingness
prompt: “How people maintain thought, like holding it in their head, writing it down, tweeting, storytelling. How to opt
0747 – how I make new friends on the internet
prompt: “what’s one thing / field / etc you know irrationally too much about? how did you come to that field? what
0746 – explore the spaces in between
prompt: how to explore without doing what everyone else is (the original prompt was about “overtourism”, but IR
0745 – encourage weirdos, discourage assholes
OK for starters, I’ve put together a thread of tweets that I’ve tweeted about weirdness, and I think they provide
0744 – we stress to communicate that we’re serious
prompt: why do people stress so much I love this question! I remember I once watched this video on SikhNet by this guy called
0743 – seeing through the mundane
Prompt: “the mundane” The word “mundane” has French and Latin origins – “mondain”, meaning “of this earth
0742 – navigating unhappiness
Prompt: “unhappiness” I’ve long been interested in the relationships between the words we have for feelings,
0741 – “living intentionally vs living in the stream of continuous reactions to outside inputs”
Here’s an interesting and personal prompt: “Would love your thoughts on living intentionally vs living in the stre
0740 – framing one’s life as a set of projects
I did some tweets about project management and I got a request to say more words about it. It’s interesting for me to co
0739 – how to live in a manufactured reality
Prompt: “Whether or not the fact that everything we do might be within a manufactured reality changes how we should live
0738 – playfulness as a discipline/practice
I’ve started asking people for prompts for these vomits. The first one I got that I liked was “write about playful
0737 – start interfacing with others
It’s November the 1st, 2018. I’ve been in a feral free agent state for four months now. What do I have to show for
0736 – reconsidering the trauma narrative
I’ve been thinking about something Aella said about the trauma narrative. Actually she said a lot of thoughtful, interes
0735 – tulpas and roles
The following is for Aaron, who bought me a coffee and gave me an interesting prompt: “explore the similarities/differen
0734 – face your tasks and schedules, with love
It’s 123am. I should go to bed soon, because I have an appointment at 11am tomorrow. So the last thing I can do tonight
0733 – use your taste + insight to shape your concepts of your public-facing projects
Took a micro-leap today and started @introspectVV, a twitter account for an ebook I’ve been meaning to research and writ
0732 – tweeting in search of kinship
Wanna take a moment now to do a sort of recap/review of my experience on twitter this past year or so. I’ve been tweetin
0731 – hating on NPCs is a shitty way to make friends
The NPC meme is pretty hilarious to me. I don’t really want to tweet on main about it because I think there it takes on
0730 – the world is burning, invest in your relationships
I spent some time earlier on twitter somehow getting involved in some discussions about american politics. Do I even care abou
0729 – the $50 bet
A couple of years ago, when I was finding myself in a bit of a productivity rut at work, I did something that struck me as a l
0727 + 0728 – answering some Oprah FAQs
[Note to self: I originally wrote this for the Jibabom.sg site, and I got sleepy after crossing 2k words so I haven’t ex
0726 – in pursuit of social capital (and considering status as a currency)
I tweeted something about social status – that I have lots of data in my mind about how to increase one’s perceived so
0725 – living as a blasphemy
“Hello. My Name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” The murder of a parent or parents is a of
0724 – introspect: work backwards from what you don’t want
WORK BACKWARDS FROM WHAT YOU DON’T WANT According to people who work with the dying, there are 5 common deathbed regrets
0723 – introspect: is it bad to want things?
IS IT BAD TO WANT THINGS? In a separate post I talked about how people who have achieved their goals and dreams have sometimes
0722 – introspect: you can’t get everything you want
Been spending some time updating my blog’s CSS, which feels really good – the text is bigger now, which makes for a be
0721 – write book proposals
This will be a status update-y sort of word vomit. And then I think after that I’m going to start trawling through old v
0719 + 0720 – reconceptualizing my audience
When I started this word vomit project, I didn’t have any particular audience in mind. A part of me told myself that I w
0718 – start a spreadsheet and fill it out (4 hours a day)
I have to admit, I’m a little worried, and I think it’s making me have trouble sleeping. It’s 519am on the 2
0717 – do short sprints that optimize for excitement
It’s day 74 of me being a free agent. I loosely, naively thought that it would take me 30 days to “fully recover&#
0716 – make sense of your tags
Yesterday’s prompt: “Tomorrow, I think it would be cool to have a word vomit that looks back on older vomits.̶
0715 – experiment with using volume over intensity
I’m feeling quite inspired by that Joe Rogan “how to workout smarter” interview with Firas Zahabi. Firas bel
0714 – consider the speedrunners
Fun fact: when I first started blogging on my own domain, around 2010 or so, I felt a compulsion to do a series of blogposts a
0713 – gear up (august2018 status update)
So, it’s August 1st 2018. I slept around midnight last night, and woke up at about 645am this morning. I walked slowly to Ch
0712 – review everything with love, and be decisive about what you’re trying to do
I’ve been spending most of today figuring out a list of all of the movies I’ve watched, and all of the games IR
0711 – evaluate your freedom accurately and expand it by acting upon it
Why is it so hard for me to just sleep early? I keep thinking that night time is for… something. What is night time for?
0710 – meet good people and have conversations that inspire you to act
I just had lunch with someone (RH) – she was an acquaintance I knew through work, and we’ve exchanged emails before in the
0709 – execute the jailbreak
Jailbreak. What are the things that I haven’t done, that I want to do? What are the things that I couldn’t do before, that
0708 – a walk through the life
Okay, so let’s take a walk through my life. The goal here is to try and get a sense of how I’ve been framing things, and h
0707 – revisit your life story to figure out a new frame
One of my todo list items is “write a blogpost about framing”. I think I wanted to write some sort of “teach people how
0706 – Clarify your goals, expect effort-shock, take concrete steps every day
I went to bed at about 230am last night. I was somewhat disappointed in myself – I hadn’t gotten any word vomits written (
0705 – expand your imagination as a free agent
Today is the first day in 5 years and 4 months that I don’t have an employer. I’ve been thinking about a Nassim Taleb quot
0704 – honor your sadness
Sad I had a few things in mind about what I was going to write my first “I’m a free agent now” word vomit about. I was t
0703 – keep producing output, the followers will come
I just sent out my 4th tinyletter. I’m pretty happy about that. Just as I want to reach 1,000 word vomits, I’d lik
0702 – find out where you come from
I’ve been interested in history a little more than usual lately. I’m not sure where exactly it started. It might&#
0701 – what i’ve learned being away from here
I started writing these word vomits in December of 2012. In the 60+ months since then, I’ve almost never gone more than
0699 – consider your childhood fearscape
I woke up and it was 0709am. I got out of bed. Peed. Wandered around the house a little bit. Did 10 pushups. Now it’s 7:25am
0698 – get back in the game, reorient, keep moving
I haven’t published a new word vomit since September 25 2017. I don’t feel terrible about it, but I do think it’s defini
0697 – become a man of your word
I want to become a better person. I feel like I am ready and qualified to do this. I think it’s one of those things that
0696 – have some changes planned
I’m sitting in my hotel room in Krabi feeling a little guilty, a little anxious. I had this vague idea in my mind that I was
0695 – facebook strippers and filter bubbles
Had an interesting exchange on Facebook earlier. I shared a post from Jacq The Stripper, where a stripper asked her followers
0694 – don’t argue with idiots; pick your battles and contexts
“Nerds do NOT understand #skininthegame. “Life is not about winning an argument [with a nerd like you] but about winning.
0693 – avoid burnout by scheduling your breaks, uncompromisingly
I saw something interesting on Facebook earlier about burnout – something about how people who are internally motivated and
0691 – contemplate your personality traits
These started out as notes when I happened to end up at a table with a friend’s girlfriend’s friend – someone I was unli
0690 – john 2
I plan to write a novel. I think I’ve gotten started on outlining it. But that’s kind of vague and weird to say. A novel i
0689 – do reviews to measure your progress against the ceaseless sands of time
I wrote two word vomits yesterday before getting interrupted by the Internet and running out of battery on my Macbook. I wonde
0688 – contemplate ‘endless’ nature of life and carefree school days
Hot off the heels on the last one, let’s keep going. I was thinking earlier about something my wife said. She was doing the
0687 – write to gratify yourself
It’s 11pm on a Thursday night. I don’t have work tomorrow because it’s a public holiday, Hari Raya Haji. I’d like to s
0686 – to figure out your categories, clarify your intent
I have a sort of ‘procedural’ blogpost to be written about tags and categories. I remember when I started blogging
0685 – optimize for an interesting, emotional life
Sometimes it’s just time to sit down and write a word vomit without thinking too much about it. That’s how the pro
0684 – Dear Visa
(I wrote this in June 2017, while I was on reservist) Dear Visa, How are you? It’s me, your oldest friend, who’s always be
0683 – if writing is important to you, write.
I had a thought recently that’s been sticking with me. Which is – if writing is as important to me as I say it is, why don
0682 – manage interruptions like you’re cooking
I dropped my smartphone yesterday. The battery fell out, and when I put it back together, the screen wouldn’t light up.
0681 – John The Rockstar
I want to write fiction. I want to write short stories and novels. But I haven’t quite been able to get started. My atte
0680 – write what you feel like writing about
I want to try and write a word vomit before I leave to go meet some friends for dinner. It’s so important to make time f
0679 – be mindful of the effect that people have on you
I tweeted something a few days ago that struck a nerve: I think my saddest realization in life, which I resist (and shd stop r
0678 – take responsibility for getting unstuck
(Update: 2023 threadpost on getting unstuck) I haven’t published a word vomit in 11 days, and I can tell that it’s
0677 – start over again, repeatedly
I happened to drop by a “classic” blog of a friend of a friend, and I was just floored. It has an archive that goe
0676 – exploit the witching hours (?!)
I was never very good at chess, though I geeked out about it for a little bit when I was a pre-teen. I used to borrow books fr
0675 – being smart vs being kind
When I was a child, I was told that I was smart. I wasn’t great at socializing, but I was alright. I was the class clown
0674 – commit to good sleep and good weekends
So it’s the first weekend since I’ve turned 27. I spent Friday evening having chicken wings and beers with my coll
0673 – if the Earth weren’t a safe space we’d all be dead
Sunday Morning Thoughts cum Tedious Facebook Essay: If The Earth Wasn’t A Safe Space We’d All Be Dead – # TL;DR:
0672 – turning 27
It would be so easy for me to just continue living every day as though it were every other day. After all… it is. But at
0671 – honor your taste
A friend said something to me today that’s stuck with me. He was telling me about his job search, and how he’s ab
0670 – train your inner ear
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve made any progress in life. If I’ve grown as a person, if I’m any better than I wa
0669 – consider the nature of deliberate practice
I had an interesting experience today trying to make a video. It’s a video about race relations in Singapore. I don̵
0668 – consider: tempo and time-scales of writing
So I’ve been thinking about this for some time and it’s starting to come together for me now. I enjoy writing in m
0667 – revisit, review and re-reference your work [Final Third!]
I have been hesitant to begin on the final third of my word vomit project. There’s a simple reason for this – I wasn
0666 – consider the economics of pricelessness pt 1
I want to spend a vomit thinking about the economics of pricelessness. – Why am I thinking about this? I think it’s be
0665 – keep going, do reviews and improve yourself
In 2000 words, I would have completed 2/3rds of this project. Strangely, I don’t have a lot of feelings about this. I se
0664 – tidy up after yourself
I was feeling pretty weird and shitty for a few weeks – not an all-encompassing shitty, just a sort of background shitty. A
0663 – start over again (and pay attention)
I’ve only published 1 other word vomit in the month of April. This is surely correlated with the amount of uneasiness I
0662 – safe spaces are for nurturing, not coddling
I have an essay swirling around in my mind about ‘safe spaces’ and I need to get it out of my system, but I can’t seem t
0661 – make books a part of your life again
And now we’re on to the third and final vomit of the day. It’s 1210am on a Sunday morning. And I have to admit this feels
0660 – acknowledge the monkey-mind
This will be word vomit 0660 and I’m getting started on it on a Sunday morning at 1150am. Now this is starting to feel good.
0659 – make commitments to yourself and keep them
So I’m trying something new today. I slept later than I intended last night, so it’s now 1130am. I remember that the last
0657 + 0658 – identify your principles by examining your behavior patterns
What are my principles? A bunch of my colleagues were chatting about our company values and it was an interesting discussion
0656 – define concrete next steps on your radar
The time is now 10:05pm on a saturday night, March 25th 2017. It’s been quite a casual, lazy day. I watched some Extra Credi
0655 – cross one threshold at a time
Do I have time for another? I established earlier that if I wrote 2 vomits a day, I could be done in September. If I do 3 vomi
0654 – do reviews regularly so you can have more fun
I have a sprawling to-do list that’s just full of things that I haven’t gotten around to. This is an interesting challenge
0653 – get back in the game and reorient yourself
It’s 238am, Saturday, May 25th. My last published word vomit was on May 8th. It’s been 17 days. This is definitely too lon
0652 – write on your commutes
Commute vomit! I haven’t done one of these in a while. I find myself feeling like I don’t have enough time. Time i
0651 – in search of lost time
(Started last week, finishing this now.) The title is a title of a book by Marcel Proust. I believe I first heard of it while
0650 – if you’re not beating a fear, you’re hiding from it
(I started this a few days ago, I’m going to finish it now.) I was watching a video by Ramit Sethi over dinner earlier.
0649 – beware scope creep
I was writing a blogpost for work earlier today – and during my research phase I found myself effectively plotting the outli
0648 – work through the discomfort
Would be nice to be able to complete a word vomit right now before I got to bed. Let’s run through a quick status update
0647 – empty your cup and be free
I was working late yesterday when I found out about NASA’s discovery – that there are 7 exoplanets orbiting a dwarf st
0646 – excite yourself and spill paint everywhere, bitch
I was talking with a friend a while ago about the idea that we all have within us a consciousness that is ‘deeper’
0645 – manage your psychology
Some of the best and most interesting conversations I’ve ever had have been with my boss, who has more experience and pe
0644 – be mindful of time and the little things
Time passes incredibly fast. I was at work earlier, and it was maybe 530pm. Next thing I knew, it was 7pm, then 730. And I lef
0643 – greet death at the door
A friend’s father passed away earlier today. I talked about him getting cancer in word vomit 0010. This is word vomit 06
0642 – callie’s world
So what do I know so far. We have Calliope, Talia. A peer of Callie who’s very different from her. And some sort of Tony
0640 + 0641 – Calliope
Fiction. Preamble: I’ve known for a more-than-reasonable amount of time now that I want to be a writer. Writing is something
0639 – beware articulate misdiagnoses and the illusion of knowledge
I want to reflect on an exchange of comments that I had on Hacker News. Here’s the context: Snap is about to IPO, and th
0638 – seek a vision greater than your imagination can hold
I was going through my todo list and I saw an item that said “a vision for my life greater than my imagination can hold&
0637 – YOLO
For DC: “how can one best fulfill the saying live as if you might die tomorrow?” I’m a very naughty fellow, so whenever
0636 – the human game, pt 1
Essay WIP. I find myself thinking about an Alan Watts lecture, that you can find on YouTube titled The Human Game. And he talk
0635 – consider your contribution as a writer
I want to spend this vomit thinking about the contributions I want to make. I’m approaching the two-thirds mark (666 wor
0634 – strive to be sensitive, smart and strong
I wrote a tweetstorm a while ago (two years ago, wow) saying that “a man should be sensitive (to inputs from reality), s
0633 – slow down when responding to people (ugh fields)
There’s something a little strange about me that is a sort of bug that I want to correct. It’s kind of like “
0632 – most people want quiet, not justice for others
The world is large, and complicated, and there are all sorts of people in it. This seems to be surprisingly hard for some peop
0631 – optimize for years, not days; improve skills by learning specific new things
I missed a vomit yesterday because I was so tired and sleepy – which means that I gotta do two today. But if I just do one,
0630 – step into your ugh fields bit by bit
Let’s pick up where we left off. // Who did you have to be? I had to be compliant enough to do as I was told, to follow
0629 – remember to go upstream
I just re-watched Tony Robbins: I am not your guru. I’m not sure if I wrote my thoughts the first time around, but here they
0628 – review your stuff hyper-regularly and do a little bit every day
Today was an interesting day in terms of productivity. I woke up later than I’d have liked, and spent a bit of time just
0626 – be mindful of history and time
I spent an evening out with friends today, and it was a rather pleasant evening. I didn’t exactly learn anything amazing or
0625 – consolidate your thoughts
I feel a slight increase in mental clarity after finalising my thoughts on a project that I want to work on. I know it seems c
0624 – create spaces to nurture others
Teenage spaces – stairwells, liminal spaces. Places to hang out, be themselves. Kids are not allowed to make too much noise
0623 – “asshole grandpa”
In the previous vomit I talked about the fragmentation of all things, particularly social fragmentation. It was triggered by m
0622 – everything is incredibly fragmented and broken
It’s interesting to contemplate the effect that families have on individuals. I’m born to a Hindu tamil family in Singapor
0621 – hello 2017
And so we begin another trip around the sun, as collectively agreed upon. It’s a new day of a new year in social reality. So
0620 – consider Aleppo
I’ve avoided reading too much about Aleppo because I know it would be depressing and frustrating as hell, and I’m probably
0619 – focus on troubleshooting yourself
So here’s a bug in my mind that I’ve noticed. Very often when I’m bored or stuck or lost, I end up trawling the internet
0618 – examples of magic adulting powers
What are the magic adulthood powers? # Monotasking This means doing the thing that you’re supposed to do, and tuning out eve
0617 – systematically, deliberately improve your golf swing
I’m taking a week off from work next week (today’s Saturday). I want to spend that time really getting to know myself bett
0616 – micromanage your time
I’m on the train now, I’m on the way to work. I’m still a littitle bit mindblown at how long it took me to w
0615 – measure your time
I woke up at 9, rolled around in bed for a while, talked to my wife for a bit, and now I’m out of bed at 10:26 with my lapto
0614 – consider Kissinger Before Sunrise
I was reading an interview with Henry Kissinger, and he talked about how him and Enlai from China used to meet secretly in 197
0613 – make 2017 the best year yet
The year is coming to an end, and whenever that happens I get into a rather wistful and contemplative mood. There’s a sense
0612 – consider how the world works
“what is something i believe about how the world works, which i haven’t actually tested yet?” The older I get, t
0611 – face your fears
I’m going to list out things that I’m afraid of. I’m going to try and avoid virtue-signalling and be useful
0610 – disregard current affairs, focus on priorities
So Donald Trump is going to be the next President of the United States. Social media is blowing up about it, even in Singapore
0609 – political consciousness pt 1
I was born in Singapore in 1990. George HW Bush was President of the USA. The Berlin Wall fell, East and West Germany were reu
0608 – commit to reviewing your calendar
One of the things I want to get better at doing is reviewing each calendar year. 1. I’ve always been bad at doing any sort o
0607 – be sensitive to context
Roughly between ages 13 and 23 I was thoroughly convinced that one of the most powerful things you can do is to be really good
0606 – schedule and prioritize me-time (then everything else)
How much me-time do you get a day or week? I created a task that said, “I need to schedule my “inner child” time ear
0605 – watch good documentaries and think
I’ve watched a couple of documentaries lately and I want to reflect on them for a bit. The first was Masters of Doubt, which
0604 – what are you afraid of?
On a day-to-day level I’m afraid of getting caught and scolded for doing bad things, or for not doing the things that I
0603 – the trouble is you think you have time
I had a long, difficult and illuminating conversation with the wife today when we went for a walk and talked about our future
0602 – let go of your stress
I was chatting with my wife when she asked, “So what do you get stressed about?” It’s a great question and it’s so
0601 – consider the writer’s end-game
So we’re now 60% through with this word vomits project. A lot has changed. All I knew in the beginning was that I wanted
0599 + 0600 – learn to be violent
Violence is a fundamental part of nature, red in tooth and claw. Earlier today I saw a cute little housecat that was probably
0597 + 0598 – religion
Thought I’d write about my thoughts about religion, and how my perspective on it has changed from my childhood to the presen
0596 – cherish your friends
As at 26 year old, it’s interesting to look back on my relationships with other people when I was younger, and to think abou
0595 – tentative thoughts about gender
I’ve been thinking a lot about manhood and masculinity over the past year or so. I haven’t been obsessive about it; it’s
0594 – seek out the difficult conversations
I have an old friend that I’ve been talking to for almost a decade now, and I enjoy reflecting on the history of our convers
0593 – learn from your experience
I have a todo item titled “what experience teaches you”. I was reading somewhere about how as you get older, your enthusia
0592 – value your own time
I created a todo list task for myself titled “value my own time”. It stemmed from a conversation I had with an older colle
0591 – dream a little bigger, darling
I think my life can be a little seasonal sometimes. Lots of people around me often talk about productivity as though it’s so
0590 – continuing to grapple with adulthood
Commute starts. I ran after the bus and caught it, am so thankful for thoughtful, observant drivers. And sometimes passengers
0589 – keep on writing
I read something yesterday that reminded me of what I want to be doing with my life. It was an article about how sometimes pro
0588 – the domestication of humans
(Commute begins.) Let me start by thinking about yesterday’s post. There’s an image I saw recently- an artistic image of a
0587 – begin the day with a review, not social media
Sometimes when my wife’s phone is out of battery, she’d borrow mine and scroll through my Facebook feed. (I do tak
0586 – Onwards to SG100
Singapore’s survival is not guaranteed. If you’ve followed Game of Thrones, or Mass Effect, or the Ender’s Game prequels
0585 – birthday reflections 2016
Started on 07 Jun 2016, revisited and finished on 1st Aug 2016 Had a quiet and uneventful birthday; spent it alone at home wi
0584 – Get more out of your hours
Started in 30th may, finished aug 1 The biggest tragedy of my life- and I know that I’m tremendously lucky to have such a fi
0583 – be clear and honest about desired end-states
In the previous vomit I began to start thinking out loud about what my greater vision for my writing was. I began to frame it
0582 – think strategicially about writing projects
While I haven’t been writing, I’ve definitely been doing a lot of thinking – at least subconsciously, or semi-co
0581 – July 2016
I haven’t written a word vomit in almost a month. I don’t really like writing “I haven’t been writing&
0580 – skip the potholes
I was looking through some old notes about my goals, and one of them was “help younger versions of me skip the potholes that
0579 – have something to live for
More than a couple of friends have asked me if I’m depressed, or if I’m experiencing some sort of existential cris
0578 – develop confidence
D asks, what is confidence to you and what is the most charismatic thing about a person? Those are actually two different ques
0577 – make stuff you like
I was reading some Melting Asphalt and Kevin quoted something from Scott Adams. I think Scott said something like, “I en
0576 – consider time wasted
I was really tired last night and figured that I must’ve been sleep deprived. So I went to bed at something like 830 pm
0575 – reduce large, ambiguous problems into small, simple ones
I keep thinking vaguely about a large and ambiguous problem: how can I challenge and inspire the world, make it a better place
0574 – turning 26
So, today is my 26th birthday. My 26th trip around the sun. It means that I’m close to 30 than 20 now. I’m approac
0573 – what would your younger self think of you?
I’m thinking about who I used to be and who I am now, and what’s changed. I was reading Nassim Taleb’s commencement spee
0572 – how social media affects people’s engagement
J asks: Has the emergence of social media – text, images, and video, made the internet more like passive entertainment o
0571 – why I ask for questions
A friend asked, why do you ask people to ask you questions, why not just write about stuff which you cared about? My immediate
0570 – a sketchy outline of childhood
A friend asked, “tell me a vivid childhood memory”. I have a bunch of memories, I think (duh, doesn’t everyo
0569 – if I ever got a tattoo
A friend asked, if you ever got a tattoo, what would it be? I’m still not 100% sure about my own relationship with the i
0568 – tripping through time on the information superhighway
I wanted to write about “tripping through time”. I was telling another friend about this essay that I’ve bee
0567 – Till the ground for the Demon-God
I sometimes have this dream where I’m possessed by some sort of Demon-God. “Possessed” is a bit of a loaded
0566 – one must imagine Sisyphus LOL-ing
Life, particularly in modern civilization, is an absurd circus. We’re all clowns living in boxes trying to amuse ourselves i
0565 – ignore the ego’s whining, the point is to act
Originally posted direct to Medium. When I was a kid, I was stuck in a very silly cycle. I’d get home from school every
0564 – modern civilization pt 3
I’m losing a bit of steam here but I got to keep going while I can. A quick summary– I’ve been thinking about th
0563 – modern civilization, pt 2
Let’s try to quickly summarise what the previous post was saying. Pre-settled human life was brutish and short, but it was a
0562 – modern civilization, pt 1
To be born into modern human civilization is both a great privilege (for the safety and opportunities it provides) and a rathe
0561 – Just Ship It
A: So I haven’t written for myself in a while. B: Why is that? A: I guess I’ve been busy. Or distracted. Or tired of the s
0560 – figure out what you care about
I want a lot of different things and care about a lot of different things, both to varying degrees at different times, in diff
0559 – hire a competent CEO for Me, Inc
So (again) i was thinking to myself, about myself, and i had to conclude that i am not in control of myself. at least not as
0558 – change your story change your frame
Change your story change your frame A new title a new name A new set a new piece Different hair different teeth A list of sens
0557 – heal yourself by helping others
So I wrote that last post in under an hour early this afternoon, and posted it on /r/singapore in the hope that it would be h
0554 + 0555 + 0556 – ‘My Education Journey’
An older friend told me that a parent wanted to talk to ‘learn about my educational journey’ and ‘understand
0553 – self-regulate pt 1
It’s interesting and scary to contemplate the mind sometimes. And how it’s compelled to do certain things in certain ways,
0552 – shed your past selves
Every morning I wake up and it feels like I must’ve smoked a cigarette the night before. It’s felt like this ever since I
0551 – any issues?
A: I was asked if I have any issues. B: Well, do you? A: I don’t know. Doesn’t everybody? What is an issue? B: Wel
0550 – a life of quiet desperation
(fiction) There’s a guy who’s stuck in a dead-end office job. Every day gets out of the box box he calls home and gets int
0549 – write true sentences
What does it take to write a piece of fiction? You have to start with something. You could start with a person, or perhaps a p
0548 – go running every week for mental clarity
I just got home from a run. I found myself thinking, as I often do after my infrequent, irregular runs, that my mind was feeli
0547 – “if everyone were zombies”
It’s interesting to me that so many teenagers develop the idea that nobody understands them, that they’re uniquely self-aw
0546 – the future of my words
Some writing comes more easily than others. Some writing requires cross-referencing with other work, and that’s always a
0545 – find humor in your dark times
There’s an enticing idea in the game of Zen and spirituality and philosophy and whatnot, which goes something like this:
0544 – a man lives in a box
A man lives in a box. He has lived for 9,409 days, and has been living in the box for 1,155 days. It’s a pretty nice box
0543 – writing as joyful self-correspondence
I suspect that I might have already written a word vomit about this but another one won’t hurt, since I’ve found m
0542 – more good than bad, please
The time is 330am. I got in bed at midnight. I’m not sure if I fell asleep at any point, but it was 2am when I found mys
0541 – forgotten gods
Questions: there’s a relationship between the ‘power’ of a god and how/why people believe in it (consider how greek myth
0540 – strive to break out of your box
This weekend wasn’t as productive as I was hoping it was going to be. That’s interesting– Why do I say hoping? W
0539 – end 2015
(started 24 dec 2015) So I’ve made it through another year. Not bad. It’s probably been legitimately the best year
0538 – evaluate (and do not tolerate) your problems
(started 4 oct 2015) In an earlier vomit, I mentioned that I already pretty much know what all my problems are and I know what
0537 – what is going on?
What are we, what is going on, what should we do? We’re all bags of cells. A hundred trillion nanobots working together,
0536 – Lemmy (This is not a practice life)
(29 Dec 2015) I woke up today and learned that Lemmy from Motorhead is dead. I wasn’t particularly a big fan of the band
0535 – 2015 in review [DUPLICATE OF 0513]
(started 2015-12-21) The year is coming to a close, and with it there’s a general atmosphere of slowing down, breathing
0534 – becoming a man means accepting responsibility
(started 25 sept 2015) When does a boy become a man? In some societies- tribal cultures in particular- there are very explicit
0532 – guilt as a signalling mechanism
(started 3rd nov 2015) Let’s start with a bit of skepticism. I’ve written about feeling guilty several times befor
0531 – do things for placebo purposes
(Started in Oct 2015) I just downloaded an app called Byword and I’m using it to write right now. It cost me $15. Part o
0530 – first monthly review
So the first month of 2016 is over. I’ve done a few good things. I’ve met some friends- I remember 4 specific meet
0529 – gently calibrate your expectations
I’m in an uber on the way home from meeting my friends. My battery died but I just remembered that I have a fully charge
0528 – break things down
Sometimes it feels like there are gaps in my reasoning or gaps in my understanding of my own behavior. Why am I not writing ev
0527 – next steps for main blog
I’ve been starting to post things on my main blog again. It’s interesting for me to try to be mindful about what I
0526 – revise and refine your personal algorithms (they’ll set you free)
I’m thinking about Facebook and video games again, and personal growth and scaling difficulty. When you play a game such
0525 – strive to transition from ordeal to adventure
There are many metaphors for thinking about life. One of the most common is probably “life as journey”. Birth is t
0524 – acknowledge the silly “big-minded man” game
I think I’ve been approaching fiction the wrong way. I start with big ideas. But what’s the point? People don̵
0523 – prioritize developing your work ethic
What is work ethic? Wikipedia says it’s a value based on hard work and diligence, and frames it in the context of Marxis
0522 – strive to do more than ‘get by’
It’s interesting to think about how many teenagers come to the conclusion that the world is full of mindless zombies, th
0520 – know what you want and go get it
I woke up pretty early yesterday, I think. It was probably around 7 or 8 am. I left for work at 9-something, got to office at
0519 – obliterate your subconscious taskmasters
Day 4 of the new year. Didn’t publish a word vomit yesterday. It’s interesting to think about the psychology and p
0518 – refactoring my personal library
So it’s the second day of the new year, and it’s a weekend, and so far so good. I hit the gym, did some squats. Di
0517 – writing for a richer experience of reality
I wrote two vomits earlier– first about my goals for 2016 (get physically stronger + write daily + review daily + do more de
0516 – hello 2016: mindset (zero to one + pursue responsibility)
In the previous vomit I thought about my goals– I’ve learned that it’s important to have concrete, measurable go
0515 – hello 2016: goals
So we’re halfway through the first day of 2016. A year is an arbitrary signifier of the passage of time, but it’s
0514 – don’t build taj mahals
I’m re-reading Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World. [1] I’m at the bit where he’s talking about Z
0513 – reviewing 2015
The year is coming to a close, and with it there’s a general atmosphere of slowing down, breathing out. I find myself wa
0512 – be a player, not a spectator
Let me try and summarize what I’ve been rambling about in the past few vomits. A quote I’ve been ruminating on is
0511 – prioritize strength
The more time I spend online, the more I read news articles and forums and reddit, the more I look at what’s going on on
0510 – eliminate information feeds that don’t serve you
(This wasn’t a very good vomit. Circling around too many things without drilling into any one thing deep enough. So be i
0509 – putting my gains first
Been a few days since I published a vomit, but it’s something I don’t feel bad about anymore. Once this happens a
0508 – writing publicly again
I published my last word vomit on Nov 21, and it was something a little different– dialogue practice. I haven’t publis
0507 – what does love mean to you?
“Can I be totally honest with you?” “Sure.” “Huh. It’s funny– I didn’t actually re
0506 – More Power: What can I do to raise my voltage?
I’ve got a few minutes so I thought I’d run through the blog manifesto I’ve been putting together. I’v
0505 – troubleshooting stories, pt 2
A: Where were we? B: We were troubleshooting your first story. It’s about growing up, and how that requires losing your
0504 – the pebble in the shoe is worse than a rocky road
Woke up pretty late today after a long night shooting video game villains with my friends. Had a nice afternoon coffee with my
0503 – troubleshooting my first story
A: I’ve been thinking. B: That’s usually a good idea. A: I’m pretty happy that I’ve done over 500 word
0502 – set aside time for scheduled personal software debugging
Just left a marketing event and I’m on the way home. What’s on my mind? There are a bunch of things that I could a
0501 – regularly revise your personal narrative and self-concept
There’s a lot of sciencing that I can still do to improve the quality of my life. One of the slightly frustrating things
0500 – I’m proud of you
It’s 1:31am and I really, really need to pee. And this is the thing that I will remember about the 500th word vomit that
0499 – what would Visa like to read?
A friend posted a status update asking people to tell him what they’d like him to write about. I thought about it for a
0498 – commit to perpetually upgrading your software (Push The Big Red Button)
Many vomits ago I wrote about the concept of a “The Big Red Button”. It’s a fun thought experiment– if you
0497 – adjust the resolution of your map to suit your quest
I’m tired and a little drunk but I feel like I should get a word vomit out pronto because I haven’t done one in a
0496 – identify personal baggage that needs addressing, and address it
When I was reviewing my first 50 word vomits, I came up with a bunch of questions that I wanted to answer. I’m looking a
0495 – 5 away from 0500 while revisiting 1 to 0050s
495, that’s the number of the address of my childhood home. It’s always interesting to me how things grow and wane
0494 – get into the arena and play to win
I was just reading an article where someone quotes what Murakami had to say about writing. At some point Murakami talked about
0493 – suspend judgement of low-res work, increase resolution through practice
I’m writing this one while I’m on the train, taking the Green line (east-west) from my workplace to my parent̵
0492 – nothing lived ever goes to waste if you’re mindful and kind
I went to bed earlier than usual (which is probably the time I should actually be going to bed regularly, at around 10pm), and
0491 – everything changes so stop holding so tight
Have had a few recurring conversations recently– first with my wife then with a couple of my colleagues, and I suppose I wro
0490 – mindfully avoid muscle memory
The brain is an interesting thing. If complexity were a measure of interestingness, it would be the most interesting thing in
0489 – take memories of yourself that you like, and make them more vivid
It’s been a good weekend. Yesterday I woke up really early with my mind swimming with thoughts, and I wrote a full 8 vom
0488 – getting shit done is a lot of work
So this is interesting. It’s 12 noon now. I was able to chug from 5am till about 730am, then I got tired and started rea
0487 – progress is cringeborne
One of the best signs of progress is when you find yourself cringing at your own work. The more recent the work you cringe at,
0486 – boredom is a symptom of a cluttered mind
I think I wrote about this as a Facebook status before, because I was so excited about it, but it’ll be good to revisit
0485 – the athlete must play hurt
Took a short break, drank some water and I’m back for round 5. The title of this post is from a line from Steven Pressfi
0484 – use good tools (but don’t obssess endlessly about them)
Back for number 4 at 0633hrs. There’s something very calming about writing in this Byword screen, which is all minimalis
0483 – stop fussing about Poor Little Me
I distracted myself for a few minutes, and it’s now 5:58am as I begin my third vomit. I think I’m okay with that.
0482 – gooey people and prickly people
The first vomit of the day is done, and it’s now 5:34. If I can keep this pace up (of course I can’t, but just for
0481 – consider glorious possibilities of new ideascapes
It’s 5:15am. I woke up a while ago. What time did I go to bed? I think around midnight. This is an unusual occurrence, a
0480 – “Why do you read?”
Before words were written, they were spoken. They probably started out as grunts and yelps and growls. Somehow, over time, the
0479 – revisit the Resistance
I started re-reading Steven Pressfield’s War Of Art on a whim, after cycling through a bunch of other reads– Guns Germ
0478 – moving forward means letting go
It’s funny to me that I spent some time writing half-vomits that I didn’t publish, and then suddenly I wrote a tri
0475 + 0476 + 0477 – How did I get here?
It’s always fun to pay attention to all the different kinds of stimuli I encounter, which then trigger a series of paral
0474 – “Do you have any writing advice?”
This post was written direct to Medium. For you? Of course! 🙂 Before anything else, you have to know what you want to say.
0473 – strive to breathe easier
Haven’t written a full vomit in a while. Sometimes I get started but then I don’t finish. Had two or three starts
0472 – experiment with pretending you don’t have problems
A: Hey, you free for a chat? B: Always. What’s up? A: I was hoping to catch you in a more relaxed, unprofessional sort o
0471 – strive for mastery in the artful application of force
My mind has been triangulating onto upon a simple idea over time: A lot of life is about the artful, appropriate application o
0470 – to be or not to be (in one’s self-interest)
It’s 437am and I’m having trouble sleeping. I have a meeting at 11, so I’ll have to be out of the house befo
0469 – make the decision to grow
In both Mean Girls and in The Office and I think in many other stories that we find compelling, the hero goes through a diffic
0468 – boredom is a bug of the mind
(The following vomit gets a bit messy because I jump back and forth and repeat myself) I want to think and write about about b
0467 – past-induced glitchy limbo
I hold on to a lot of stuff from my past. I don’t think this is good for me. Examples? I don’t particularly hold o
0466 – beware fuckarounditis
In September 2011, a guy named Martin Berkhan wrote a blogpost titled “Fuckarounditis”. He was using it to talk ab
0465 – the world doesn’t need another personal development blog
I’ve been trying out this new voice-to-text app on my phone, and it’s pretty fun. It’s not 100% perfect, and
0464 – experiment with different mediums
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting into the “Writing For Medium” game. I know it’s a little late, but it st
0463 – when does a boy become a man?
When does a boy become a man? In some societies- tribal cultures in particular- there are very explicit initiation rituals and
0462 – beware grandiose proclamations
I have a few more minutes, I might as well try to hammer another one out. Let’s check my Trello / Evernote / Workflowy f
0461 – we are all miseducated – accept it and deal with it
Gonna dash out a quick vomit before I go to bed. It’s a little late, but it’s just one of those days. Bought some
0459 – just a little tired
Here’s something that’s really quite funny. I wrote 4 word vomits last night with a sense of vigor and energy and
0458 – oceanic moments of being
I’ve been spending quite a bit of time exploring this more wet, dark, feminine, touchy-feely spiritual side of myself. I
0457 – the joy of working with constraints, pt 3
Let’s quickly try and summarize what’s been happening the past couple of vomits. In the first, I got into a bit ab
0456 – the joy of working with constraints, pt 2
I got the more big picture life-long perspective stuff out of the way in the last post, with death and life and all of that st
0455 – the joy of working with constraints
I’ll start by refuting the very premise that I want to meditate on. Constraints can be cruel, arbitrary, stupid, unfair,
0454 – the echochamber is the siren
Almost two weeks ago, I voted for the first time, in Singapore’s general elections 2015. It was a pleasant and quick pro
0453 – contemplate presence and impermanence
Impermanence is a hard idea to properly grasp. (It’s amusing how “grasping” implies some form of control, some ability t
0452 – strive to resolve recurring guilty dreams via meditation
I have some recurring dreams from time to time, all with the same fundamental themes of guilt, shame and failure. My brainR
0451 – the moral failure fixation is a red herring
I’ve been thinking and talking and writing for some time about how I’ve needed to experience some sort of rebirth
0450 – practice taking pauses
I’ve been taking a break from writing for a while but now I’m back. I initially hoped to have August be my “
0449 – How to think about categorizing blogposts
I wasn’t super happy with the last word vomit. The reason for that is fairly simple– I wrote it in a fit of strong emo
0448 – parents, peers and other benevolent plagues
I’ve been reflecting on how people get into drinking and smoking and drugs. And by extension, how my life has come along
0447 – Cameron
When he was a little boy, Cameron was devoted to exploring the world with his entire being. He would spin in circles until h
0446 – switching to stories
Well, this is hilarious. I started on this vomit, and then I sort of got distracted and wandered off, and I ended up taking 2
0445 – onward
So yesterday I had a really epiphanic, euphoric sort of vibe. The peak state has worn off, but I still remember the critical b
0444 – Hello, World.
I am. Billions have conspired to create me, to bring me here, right here at this moment. I am. I feel like I have awakened fro
0443 – GTD, prioritization, dealing with interruptions and distractions
Work [1], daily reviews, exercise. These are the things that I really want to adopt as part of my daily routine, beyond my dai
0442 – insist on prioritizing
A few vomits ago I realized that sometimes I have to state things that seem incredibly obvious in order for me to grapple with
0441 – peopling, and silly
It’s 2:16am. I was home around 1030pm, and so I was hoping to be asleep by 12noon, but look, it’s 2:16pm. I do thi
0440 – reading old vomits (and thoughts for new ones)
Second set of things on my mind– thoughts while re-reading old word vomits. The first and most pressing thought is that I
0439 – perpetual wistfulness
I have a couple of things on my mind. The first is a sort of persisting wistfulness, the second is a collection of thoughts I
0438 – break in case of utter desolation: a script
I realize that I’ve written many vomits that circle around the ideas of what I ought to be doing, but it’s never q
0437 – stop walking over the same old ground
I’ve been reading and summarizing old vomits over the past few days. I think the important realization is that I’v
0436 – people will always misinterpret you, so focus on earning your own self-respect
I’ve been observing with interest as the people around me have been writing long ass essays on Facebook, and getting int
0435 – earn some self-respect
I feel a little funny writing this, because it’s probably something that I should write for myself, personally, rather t
0434 – go somewhere new
I’m getting tired of writing about the thoughts on my mind the way I’ve been doing for the past 400 vomits or so.
0432 – let go of your fixations
I’m not sure when or how exactly I was triggered to write about this, but it’s been obviously something that’
0431 – your priorities are what you do, not what you say you’ll do
My subconscious doesn’t seem to grasp the idea that I’ve done over 400 vomits. I write “242” instead
0430 – needed changes and a perfect month
I’m writing this vomit by picking something from my to-do list. Somewhere– maybe a few vomits ago– I thought to myse
0428 – define integrity and embody it
integrity (n.) c. 1400, “innocence, blamelessness; chastity, purity,” from Old French integrité or directly from
0426 + 0427 – significance requires responsibility
Trouble sleeping, mind is refusing to power down. Thinking about the last vomit, and how I didn’t adequately answer the
0425 – replace hyperbole with precision
I’m learning that I have a habit of using hyperbole in my communication. I sometimes describe things as the “best
0424 – the yin-yang nature of our inner child and parent
Amusingly, I have repeatedly messed up the numbers of the past few word vomits. I keep writing 0241, 0242, 0243 instead of 042
0423 – muddled time
A couple of things happened today that made me think about the passage of time. An ex-colleague visited the office, and the de
0422 – reconfiguring things to become a better writer
I have a recurring thought that’s hard to shake, and yet hard to do very much about. I don’t think it should be shaken. In
0421 – beware false victory, and validation
I had an interesting thought this morning when I woke up. I published 4 word vomits yesterday, which is 4 times more than I’
0420 – intelligently power through plateaus and don’t give up
“What is the present state of the saboteur?” The saboteur is always present, always scheming, and always full of s
0419 – identify and overcome your intrinsic weaknesses
“What intrinsic weaknesses do I have, and how do I overcome them?” Aw, man. One of those questions I don’t r
0418 – do periodic reviews at multiple timescales, experience the joy of reviewing
“How do I design checks and balances into my routines?” I’ve been writing word vomits pretty regularly becau
0417 – idea-resistance, one journey, saying no, falling off wagons
“9. The best ideas get implemented without resistance, why?” Well– these might not necessarily be the _best_ ide
0416 – be precise about execution and work hard
“Are we limiting ourselves when we think local?” I was thinking about this in the context of writing. Should I wri
0415 – how to have meaningful interactions + game mechanics in life
I want to take a couple of vomits to answer a bunch of questions I’ve collected over time, mostly the earlier vomits. &#
0414 – i want to host dinner parties
I was having a text conversation with a friend that I sometimes talk to from time to time– one of those people that I don
0413 – stop trying to save the world
Having written one vomit about a status update, I figured I might as well write another. This time it’s about saving the
0412 – on conversations again
Yesterday I said that I’d write a word vomit about having good conversations. It’s a good idea to do what I say I&
0411 – writing aspirationally
I’m currently reading ‘The News, A User’s Manual’ by Alain de Botton, the guy who gave a TED talk abou
0410 – shelves of books and nothing to read
I was amused by a minor struggle I had this morning when choosing a toilet read. I’ve gone through quite a few books in
0409 – emotion in writing
I’m tired and sleepy, but I need to get a vomit done. I don’t feel like I can freeball it completely, so I’m
0408 – (resist the) tendency to talk in explanations
TLDR: I get neurotic when I try to explain everything, including how and why I try to explain everything. Relax. – IR
0407 – description of an average day
I’ve been trying to write about my habits in a sort of bullet list, in some sort of orderly fashion. Progress on that ha
0406 – nobody summits a mountain by going on a random walk
I decided to take 5 minutes to ‘meditate’ and calm my mind before writing this. I was going to start without knowi
0405 – dealing with slipping and with foggy black boxes
Had a couple of interesting conversations at work today that I want to explore a little more fully. The first is about what it
0404 – some things change, some things stay the same
I took a bit of time to read some of my older writing– some from back in 2006, some from back in 2010 or so, and some from 2
0403 – missed a vomit
I failed to publish a word vomit yesterday. I’ve been trying to keep a streak going. I had a 9 day streak when I first d
0402 – a yearning for deep companionship
It’s late at night, and I was hoping to have gone to bed by now. But at the same time I’ve been having really good
0401 – consider absurdity of tapping on glass
I feel like taking a vomit to think through my thoughts about games that I play. This time I’m talking about literal vid
0400 – liberate truths from their boxes
Previous title: stop hoarding truth in boxes As I woke up this morning and lounged in bed for a while, before going to the toi
0399 – good conversations do not write novels
I was thinking about my last vomit about how my writing style has changed, and how grateful I am to have induced and witnessed
0398 – beware of digression
Digression is fun Achieving your goals is more fun Do not digress at the expense of achieving your goals Alright, I’ve b
0397 – stop living life stressfully (the elephant can break free)
TLDR Collect desired end-states We are all elephants tied to posts Don’t waste time talking to other tied elephants; fre
0396 – publish crap
I’m approaching 400 word vomits now, which is a nice milestone but it isn’t even half of everything that I’m
0395 – procrastination as Parent vs Child breakdown
I felt like that last post was a lot of beating around the bush and exploring the area around what I wanted to talk about with
0394 – the problem with the motivation game
I’ve always been fascinated by discussions about motivation and procrastination. I guess it’s because I’ve h
0393 – earn your own trust
Assuming you’ve got something that you’re working towards, and you’re working on it… you could probabl
0392 – life is precious
Life is precious. It’s the best thing we’ve got, as far as we know, and yet it’s unpredictable, volatile. We
0391 – examples of wrong feelings
I feel like I should quickly expand on the previous vomit, which I started without an end in mind, and summarized as “my
0390 – my feelings are often wrong and unreliable
Recovering from my illness. I feel my mind returning. I have thoughts and questions to explore. I find myself thinking about t
0389 – get your ass up and walk that tightrope, son
I find myself thinking about the balancing act that’s required in order to move from one level of functioning to the nex
0388 – I will write
There’s always something shitty about word vomits when I try to complete incomplete ones. There’s this looming sen
0387 – knocked down but bouncing back
I fell sick again. I fell pretty hard, too. It coincided with me pretty much overtraining for my fitness tests, and my arms we
0386 – soooo sleepy
Note to future self: I’m only writing this because I’m trying to keep a streak going. Will not even bother fixing
0385 – schedule revisions for learning through repetition
It’s my third day waking up early. I got more sleep last night than I did the previous two nights, so I’m more awa
0384 – express your values through planned actions
TLDR: Wake up early every day (so sleep early too) Review work daily (with accountability partner) So what’s my plan? I
0383 – review your principles regularly
TLDR: I want to minimize unnecessary fear, uncertainty and doubt I want to never feel sorry for myself I want the freedom to b
0382 – wake up earlier for a different life
Yesterday when me and my wife were at the airport sending my parents off, I had a brain wave at some point– I can’t re
0381 – fuck fear
When did I first start becoming afraid? I thought I was a confident person, I thought I had it all. There are loads of people
0380 – what I’m leaving behind
I have a lot of things I’m going to leave behind. I’m going to leave behind the bullshit that I don’t know w
0379 – I can
I’m feeling rather impatient. I find myself thinking that I should be done with this word vomit project already. But I&#
0378 – stop describing problems without solving them
Over and over again I think it’s a good idea to revisit everything from first principles. Start from what you know is tr
0377 – social groups and answers within
I want to think about the strange thing that happens when I fixate on any particular group of people and allow them to become
0376 – meditate and reflect to unlearn childish incompetence
TLDR: I’m still childish. I’ve been an adult for a couple of years now and it’s sometimes funny and sometime
0375 – body-wisdom and metaphorical car accidents
There’s a lot of information and wisdom in the body. I’m not a scientist, and I haven’t read all the literat
0374 – consider what’s changed and prepare for future change
Hot on the heels of the last vomit– so this is the first time in a few days that I’m writing two instead of one. I wan
0373 – revisiting the origin (of the word vomit project) – I want to be a better version of myself
I have a lot of thoughts and a lot of questions. My first question is to do with these vomits. Why am I writing these? It̵
0372 – no escaping the rehearsals
I’m not sure how I should feel about the amount of time I spend inside my head thinking about my past. I don’t want to be
0371 – a table of my own
(original title was “a space that I deserve”) I got a little distracted by the latest Google neural network visual
0370 – Do the loyalty missions and embody hard truths
Reaching that age where “maybe they’re older and know something I don’t” is starting to be replaced by
0369 – skin in the game and growing up
I’ve read a lot about procrastination and akrasia over the years but one thing I’ve always resisted doing is using
0368 – ugh fields
It’s 3:25am and I should be asleep but I’m not. Me and my wife seem to be having this weird silly habit where we s
0367 – history of my writing journey
I’ve always loved words. [1] I grew up reading books. My parents tried to be kind and loving to me, and one of the ways
0366 – “I was stuck but not anymore”, again
Alright, it’s writing time. It’s been about 6 days since I last published a vomit. I’ve taken a bit of time
0365 – stuff I’d like done
I was thinking to myself (as I’ve been doing all day), and it occurred to me that one thing that I really want is this:
0364 – tidy up your mental filing cabinets
I mentioned “mental filing cabinets” in a previous post, and I figure if I don’t write about them now, I pro
0363 – blood sugar 1
I haven’t done the reading yet, but I want to write about it first so that I can reflect on this after I’m better
0362 – latest cigarette thoughts
Thinking about cigarettes again. I went a long time without, around 6 months or so. Then I had a couple of circumstances where
0361 – strive to play the bigger games
I’m trying to make it a habit to start each day with a writing session, if possible. I’m sure I’ve said that
0360 – fuck feeling guilty about not appreciating life
In the previous post I tried to think about reconciling my multiple sets of thoughts and perspectives and approaches to differ
0359 – one coherent picture
In the previous post I tried to think about how brutal and indifferent nature is, and how it generates its own suffering in to
0358 – red in tooth and claw
A couple of days ago I found myself looking at some pretty graphic, grotseque images of nature in action. There was a baboon e
0357 – actually 25
Well, so I actually turn 25 today. Today is my 25th trip around the sun. I’ve been around for about 9100 days now, meani
0355 – punch the goddamn tires
Woke up, first at 7 and then again at 9, and been in bed since then. I’m going to write this vomit and then leave for wo
0354 – a day at home
Today has been delightfully irresponsible. I decided not to go to work today, I decided to take a “mental health dayR
0353 – discharge your strength, productively
I make a lot of strange decisions. Right now I’m deciding to write a word vomit in the middle of the day. Is this a bad
0352 – if drunk
I wonder what I would write if I were piss drunk and didn’t give a fuck about what I was writing about. Let me sort of t
0351 – quarter of a decade
A couple of vomits ago I wrote about “Be Dangerous”, a post that I read on Dave Trott’s blog. I tried to thi
0350 – 3 years from now
I wrote a vomit trigger titled “3 years from now…?” It was a question one of my colleagues asked me when we
0349 – ‘be dangerous’
I just looked up Dave Trott’s blog– he wrote a book called Predatory Thinking, which I enjoyed (at the bookstore) and
0348 – clearly define your done-criteria
A huge part of my procrastination comes from bad project management. I notice it’s easier to commit to a run when there&
0347 – writing games
I’ve decided to go through my workflowy (which is a sort of grabbag of thoughts and reminders and todos that I have) and
0346 – finish (or decisively abandon) what you start
It’s 9.45pm. I slept later yesterday than I would’ve liked, and woke up later than I would’ve liked. I did s
0345 – my journey to becoming precise
Let’s wipe the slate clean again. So okay, I want to be a man of my word. I want to be a strong, responsible person. I w
0344 – wipe the slate clean and face your problems now
Let’s wipe the slate clean and start over. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with this over the years, over the l
0343 – a pretty good week
TLDR: sleep earlier / do the dishes / avoid internet drama / prioritize the best people / don’t self-flagellate –
0342 – tired, re-reading old vomits
Wow I’m tired. I should learn to listen to my body better, take more naps, sleep more. I feel like I’ve been a lit
0341 – avoid “I’ll do it later”
I went to bed around 1120pm or so. I set two alarms- 600 and 710am. Didn’t hear the first one, woke up on the second one
0340 – decide in advance + do it immediately
It’s 948am and I’m leaving the house in a few minutes. Thought I’d get started on this vomit while waiting for my wife t
0339 – real confidence requires practice and awareness
So it seems like I might be developing this rhythm where I’m writing a post every morning and another one every night. M
0338 – identify your implicit beliefs
It’s 943 and I’m out of the house, I’m on the way to work. I went to bed at midnight yesterday, and set an a
0337 – no really do it now
Today started out a little imperfectly– I didn’t jump out of bed the way I wanted to. (I wrote about that this morning
0336 – wake up do it now
So I went to bed later than I would’ve liked yesterday, but I thought I’d still get a good night’s sleep- wh
0335 – strive for no zero days
Today has been a pleasant, lackadaisical day. I did a whole bunch of word vomits yesterday. Today I woke up kinda late despite
0334 – procrastination pt 2
http://www.mindofwinner.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating/ 1- Find out why you procrastinate. Is the task: Unpleasant? Boring? (
0333 – procrastination pt1
Here’s something funny– I’m a procrastinator, and a pretty bad one. And something I’ve always wanted to do
0332 – primitive map of behaviors pt 2
Getting glazed over at work: Often after lunch, I have a post-lunch ‘crash’ where I’m all lethargic. This is
0331 – primitive map of behaviors pt1
Waking: When I wake up in the morning, I tend to lay in bed for a rather long time. I tend to pick up my phone and start going
0330 – beware overthinking (make decisions quicker)
I am an overthinker. I do it probably because it’s familiar and easy, because it’s the hammer in my hands that mak
0329 – creative destruction is necessary for progress
Creative Destruction is an idea that’s floating to the front of my mind. The notion that you have to break eggs to make
0328 – the village idiot goes to the forest
A mental picture I’ve been amused with and enjoying for a while. I like to think and talk about the Hero’s Journey
0327 – put the gun down
(original title: beware self-flagellation, move forward instead) I am a self-flagellator. It’s a weird thing to realize,
0326 – back on the wagon
12:07pm on a Saturday, 23rd May. It’s been 11 days since I last published a word vomit. I’m not sure if I should c
0325 – sick + facebook again
It’s the 12th of May, 2015. It’s 2:48am. I’m recovering from a pretty nasty cold or flu, and I find myself r
0324 – draw bright lines and stick to them
For some reason I haven’t been able to stick to a daily habit. At 26 years of age, once in a while I leave the house forgett
0323 – beware supernormal stimuli
There are lots of things that bother me, and sometimes I’m bothered by the things that bother me– i.e., I wish I weren’t
0322 – an imperfect manifesto
At some point I’ve told myself that I ought to write a manifesto. I’m not sure why I did that. I must have read so
0321 – move fast and break things
I remember reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done a few different times, and I’ve come to realize that for some
0320 – reading is good
Moving on. I’ve been reading books again. In relatively quick succession this year, I’ve read William Gibson’
0319 – tawk is cheap
In Zen In The Art Of Writing, Ray Bradbury describes how he feels weird if he doesn’t write for a couple of days. I can&
0318 – Romance of Late Nights
I’ve been sleeping earlier and earlier the past few days. I went to bed at midnight yesterday, before 1am the day before
0317 – somewhat existential
Somewhat existential. Been feeling a bit of a cloudy sort of mood for a while. Not exactly the “Oh woe is me, I’m
0316 – thinking and talking about anger
C: Okay, okay. I think I need help. Can you help me? B: I can try. What do you need help with? C: I think most people are real
0315 – what do I want to be doing?
Every so often it helps to start from scratch. What do I really want to be doing? What am I really all about? What should I be
0314 – writing when tired, little rubbish piles
I wrote that last post– 0313– right after lunch, while in a food coma of sorts. I would’ve typically much rather hav
0313 – tenative thoughts about content labor and process management
There’s an idea that’s been swirling in my mind for quite some time. The adjacent ideas are “writer’s
0312 – B and C
C: So… is that what you guys do all the time? Sit around and talk about life? B: You could say that. What do you usually
0311 – Introducing C
A: You know, we’ve been chatting for some time now and I’ve been having a pretty good time. You challenge me in a way that
0310 – stop kicking up sand
I would experience a certain exalted satisfaction if I finish another vomit tonight, because then I’d gone from 305 on m
0309 – draw an arbitrary line in the sand
B: So what would you do if you could do absolutely anything you wanted, if money were no object? A: Right now really there are
0308 – Draw, Play, Explore
A: I just need to draw, play, explore. B: Are you saying that you aren’t doing that already? A: I suppose if I’m d
0307 – dealing with plateaus
A: Lately I’ve been thinking about exit decisions, about the potential or opportunity of throwing away everything to sta
0306 – Terrangima, The Hero and the Call To Adventure
There’s a beautiful game called Terranigma, which is a pretty interesting spin on the classic Hero’s Journey. Not
0305 – 2nd workout, reflecting on overthinking
I have a thought in my head, which is “I regret the amount of time I spent on Tumblr/Facebook.” It’s an inte
0304 – meta-confession
A: I have a meta-confession. B: What the fuck is a meta-confession? A: I want to confess that I seem to enjoy confessions a li
0303 – building up the meatbag
A: I have a theory. B: Let’s hear it. A: I think I’ve been suffering from a mild testosterone deficiency of sorts.
0302 – breaking out of patterns
A: I need some help. B: That’s what I’m here for. A: I’m having some sort of cold feet situation, experienci
0301 – gym, and how I usually get stuck
A: So. B: So? A: I went to the gym and I feel fucking incredible. I did a few big compound exercises until I started to feel m
0300 – break free from your stale, suffocating patterns
B: So the more interesting question to ask, I think, is why do you feel this way? Why do you constantly overestimate yourself?
0299 – let go of your guilt, shame and bad estimates
A: I feel like I’ve accumulated a lot of baggage that’s wearing me down and keeping me from living my life. B: Why
0298 – confront the fears that paralyze you
A: People are boring and predictable. B: Why, how boring and predictable of you. A: I KNOW. It bothers me. I don’t want
0297 – dialogue
A: I’ve decided to start doing my vomits in the form of dialogues. B: Why? A: Lately I’ve been feeling a little st
0296 – procrastination equation– expectancy and value
The procrastination equation has four parts: expectancy, which is how much you genuinely believe you’re likely to comple
0295 – forgive your inner criminal
TLDR: Love the sinner, hate the sin. Now I want to reflect on a rather liberating thought that I had awhile ago. I’m not
0294 – believe that you can become a responsible person
Right, so hot on the heels of the last post, the question to be answered is– what does it mean to achieve a happy medium? Wh
0293 – get better at estimating (start small)
I would like to do 9 more vomits before I go to bed tonight, though I recognize that that’s probably not very feasible.
0292 – the way to do it is piecemeal: learn one new song at a time
I have a Workflowy that is full of prompts and thoughts and suggestions that I’m trying to pare down. I do that by delet
0291 – my lacklustre relationship with poker
My blah relationship with Poker I first properly encountered Poker on Facebook. There was a Texas Hold-Em game that you could
0290 – what makes a good video game?
What makes a good video game? This is another one of those things that was on my list. I grew up absolutely in love with many
0289 – what to do if you’re stuck in the Singaporean education system and you hate it
This is something I wish I had read when I was 15, 16, 17, 18. It’s written for a very narrow audience, and does not app
0288 – a letter to JC retainees
This has been on my “to write” list for a very, very long time. I think I’ve been putting it off because I w
0287 – Change the lights
When I bought my home and got my keys and moved in, it was dusty and mildly derelict. The previous owners had vacated over two
0286 – don’t want to be frustrated
I woke up this morning feeling a little tired and frustrated. It might have had something to do with the fact that I spent a v
0285 – can I use a Hero’s Journey narrative like Conan’s or Iron Man’s to motivate myself?
I once played a video game at a friend’s house about Conan The Barbarian. It was similar to God Of War, where you’
0284 – the Internet and the Resistance
The Internet is a beautiful thing and I am incredibly thankful for it. Really, it’s a goddamn miracle that it exists, th
0283 – narratives, weirdness, imperfections
Playing with narratives. Narratives are powerful, heady stuff. The brain is supposedly wired to think in narratives rather tha
0282 – make your plans together with your inner child
This is vomit number 7 in today’s streak. When this is done we’d have written over 7,000 words in a single afterno
0281 – zoom out to see how you’re blocking yourself
Life is full of wonderful ironies that reveal hypocrisy in my thinking. But that’s good, because everytime I discover th
0280 – pleasant vs unpleasant, matter of perspective
So I’ve established in my last few vomits that one of my central problems is trying to think that I can figure out what
0279 – win yourself over
I think I mentioned this earlier but I’ll repeat it– I’ve been very curious about the problem of akrasia, where
0278 – parent yourself
So that was the big insight. As a young adult [1], my job is to parent myself. Now this is an interesting way of framing the p
0277 – adulthood is about learning to parent yourself
Well that last post was kind of messy and tried to say a whole bunch of things all at once, which I thought was a bit of a bac
0276 – listen to yourself
Let’s start with the immediate thought– a few weeks ago I did 10 word vomits in a single day. I had previously always
0275 – to GTD u have to know what u want
The problem with Getting Things Done (GTD) – for me, at least– is that you have to know what you want to do. You have
0274 – claw out of delusion
The only way out of a delusion is to test things against reality. So I have to test things against reality. So a natural outco
0273 – ask yourself questions about what’s holding you back, and answer them honestly
I have been trying for years now to solve a problem (or set of problems) that I have not been able to adequately define. There
0272 – let go of cheap validation, do hard things instead
It feels like I haven’t done a proper vomit in a few days. I did a version-one glossary of terms that I tend to use, and
0270 + 0271 – Glossary of Stuff I Talk About v1.0
One of my goals for this word vomit project is to develop a more elegant, structured sense of my own mind and my own thinking.
0269 – leave your comfort zone regularly (lectured to SMU students)
Yesterday evening I did something for the first time– I gave an hour-and-a-half lecture to a group of students at SMU about
0268 – see through the circus and focus on the fundamentals
Before I get to work I just wanted to write a quick reminder (heh, 1000 words as quickly as possible– starting time, 11:38am
0267 – be humble in the face of environments
It’s humbling to discover how easy it is for me to fall back into old patterns and old routines. I enjoyed 5 days of minimal
0266 – beware the dark playground
(some repetition) Let’s zoom back out– the point of this vomit was to think and talk about games that allow me to have
0265 – games that help with time and money
Games and projects that really give you a sense of life, in terms of $$ / time? (0093) Mass Effect. Dragon Age. (I suppose thi
0264 – cultivate different perspectives (by moving yourself)
I left a prompt for myself titled “cultivating a different perspective”. I suppose I wanted to remind myself that
0263 – search beyond the streetlights
previous title: stop searching under streetlights It’s a familiar joke and visual that I’ve thought about several
0262 – Megaman X and how we teach ourselves
There’s this video that I’ve watched several times on now on YouTube– it’s by this series called Sequeliti
0261 – Solve For Adoption (Consider Esperanto)
I just wanted to remind myself that getting something adopted– getting something implemented– is every bit as hard as comi
0260 – moments out of time
I had a moment earlier which I really wanted to capture, which also reminded me of several other moments. I’d like to ch
0259 – beware of insight porn
The allure of insight porn The first time I read the phrase “insight porn”, it really hit me hard. I realize that
0258 – entirely within my control
I’m in bed right now and I feel strangely compelled to start and complete a word vomit before I go to bed. I don’t
0257 – books, trains and people
I just reached work at lunch time, and everybody’s gone so I wonder if I can quickly dash off a vomit here right now. I
0256 – commit to personal daily sitdowns
According to my sleep tracker that I just started using– it’s not entirely accurate I’m sure– I was in bed for
0255 – fail forward
What is it that influences my volume of writing? How do I write more, faster? It makes me sad to think that I might take years
0254 – old friends, denying and embracing the now
Old friends I met an old friend for dinner and drinks a couple of days ago and I really liked it. It was pleasant. On hindsigh
0253 – repeat yourself as much as you have to; just keep moving
Blind hope is a dangerous thing. It makes me believe that tomorrow will be better without me doing anything about it. The most
0252 – mood music and limiting beliefs
[ Currently playing: Endeverafter – Road to Destruction ] Listening to music on a commute to work is an Interesting expe
0251 – practice meditation regularly
I can’t remember when I first started paying attention to the idea of meditation– it’s been quite a long time. I
0250 – two hundred and fifty thousand
Two hundred and fifty thousand I was “supposed” to be done with this yesterday, but I seem to have this strange ha
0249 – take slow walks
Slow walks. As I got out of the train today after a week of sickness, a day of work and a conversation with an old friend, I t
0248 – develop productive rituals
I woke up a short while ago, don’t yet know what I’m going to write. I’m still coughing up phlegm– I told
0247 – reminder to confront limiting beliefs
Integrity, reliability, responsibility. (Leadership, discipline…) All a bunch of buzzwords that I remember seeing on the
0246 – reminder to focus on fundamentals after the feels
So those were some strong feels in the last post, and strong feels are good to have- at least some of the time, from time to t
0245 – reminder that greatness is goddamn hard
I want to write about this idea… that doing good doesn’t always feel good. I think I first encountered this idea i
0244 – reminder that writing is therapy
I’m literally sick, with a cough and a flu of some sort. It’s kind of odd that after 20++ years I still completely
0243 – unwell
I’m feeling unwell right now and it’s interesting for me to pay attention to my headspace. It’s a kind of al
0242 – all conversations are plagued by silent evidence and underrepresentation
The single biggest thing that’s bothering me right now is the following realisation: 1- Every single conversation takes
0241 – Revisiting “on purpose”, from 2009
In 2009 I had a conversation with a friend about life that felt really powerful, and I went home and started writing. This was
0240 – destroy your limiting beliefs about food
Breakfast and limiting beliefs. Today has begun as a very beautiful day. I woke up at about 6:21am. I lay in bed and scanned t
0239 – keep working on your EQ
Currently going through a phase where I write about all the things I wrote in my “to write” list in my old noteboo
0238 – Strive to be resourceful
I’m currently going through my old notebooks and writing about the things I said I would one day write about. It seems o
0237 – Correct Misperceptions + Asymmetrical Warfare
For this vomit, and probably spilling over into the next couple of vomits, I’m going to go through my old notebooks and
0236 – Identify when you’re vague and be precise instead
I will definitely sleep better tonight if I crank out a word vomit before I go to bed, so I think I ought to write one. But I&
0235 – questions that arise pt 2
How do I succeed where my parents, teachers, etc failed? [0067] I’m still trying to figure out the answer here, but I th
0234 – answering questions that arise
A while ago, I took some time off to do a review of my early vomits– I believe I reviewed the first 100. Here are some of th
0233 – improving my environment
Several times in my writing I have told myself that I want to improve my environment. I wrote in an earlier vomit– before I
0232 – use stories as a thinking tool
I think I’m entering the zone of “what the fuck”, and this is whre it gets fun. This is where it gets intere
0231 – don’t be an eagle in a cage
Here’s a random thought– I remember once reading in Bass Player magazine about a bassist who played for a circus, and
0230 – clearly articulate your mistakes and successes to accelerate jailbreak
This was on my list of things to write about, and I think it’s something that’s always worth revisiting: What are
0229 – regular sync-ups, and the bleeding over of best practices
The single best improvement to my workday has been a daily sitdown that me and my marketing team (writers + designers) do ever
0228 – getting back into the groove of Heavy Reading
I’ve been asking myself this question a few times. I know that I want to read a lot. I have a lot of books. I have books
0227 – ethical self-focus, a declaration
Am rather dissatisfied with that last post– felt like I was spending a lot of time trying to provide context to what I wante
0226 – re-reading landsburg: consider the value of useful thought experiments
Yesterday (a couple of days ago) when my wife was in the shower I was overcome with the urge to do something– something that
0225 – auditing myself + what to read next
I would like to fling myself into the study of the ancients and classics. I’m curious about Odysseus / Ulysses. I’
0224 – win the person, not the argument
A couple of vomits ago I wrote about how upset and frustrated I was because somebody was mean to me on the Internet. I decided
0223 – identify your workflow processes
I woke up at 6am today, and I’m really tired and sleepy now at 1130pm. I guess that’s to be expected. I shouldR
0222 – Never be mean
This isn’t a new topic but it’s been fresh on my mind– why are we so mean on the Internet, and why don’t w
0221 – chip away at the boulder on your shoulder
I will definitely sleep better tonight if I crank out a word vomit before I go to bed, so I think I ought to write one. But I&
0220 – strive for the company of immortals
“Aim for the company of immortals” is a quote by David Ogilvy– I believe he was talking about the sort of atti
0219 – letter to a young smoker
Dear younger smoking self– Your father smoked all your life, and for most of the time you never really thought much of it. I
0218 – a break from being so goddamn public facing all the time
This would surprise my younger self, I think. I don’t know. Hey Visa, one day you’re going to get tired of being p
0217 – frustration and writing
I want to talk about the relationship between frustration and writing, although the real reason I sat down to write this was t
0216 – find a reason to be (smartly) mad
I think that Life should be lived passionately, with fire in your eyes and heart. It shouldn’t be boring, mundane, forge
0215 – why do I not sleep better?
This is the most important question in my life right now. If I sleep better, I have more clarity of mind. I make better decisi
0214 – destroy the boxes
I only have a couple of data points [1] but I’ve been enjoying watching videos by accomplished people giving long talks
0213 – freedom requires violence
There were other thoughts in parallel with the Bullshit one. What were they? Okay here’s one that I had written down but
0212 – Bullshit breaks down at the boundaries
I’m on the way to work, and for the first time in weeks, I’m not tired. Not exhausted. It was almost definitely th
0211 – reflecting on why
Feels like I’m going over old ground a lot. Let’s go somewhere new. Let’s just ask questions and answer them
0210 – after the unfriending
Since unfriending everybody, I’ve gotten quite a bit more headspace to think about other things. It’s been lonely,
0209 – repeatedly revisit what you know
Yesterday, I took a post-nap lunch at about 1pm, and I woke up at 4pm. Earlier today, I took a nap at around 145pm, and I woke
0208 – earn your keep
I deeply enjoyed reading The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield a while ago, and it’s a book I want to re-read and re-rea
0207 – a restful day + somewhere new now
Today was a good day, and one that I need to replicate a lot. It was simple and straightforward. I slept fully until I was rea
0206 – fuck it just do it
Happy 2015. I was hoping that I would have something amazing to write for my first post of the year. Something contemplative a
0205 – reflect on recurring dreams and pay attention to yourself
I just woke up from a shitty dream. I’m not sure how it started (dreams usually begin in the middle, right?) but involve
0204 – fixing anxiety, pausing and changing environments
I’ve been feeling so anxious and cramped up recently. I haven’t been able to trace it to a single precise point- i
0202 – smoking cessation and ten minute pomodoros
I had my last cigarette back in July 2014. I didn’t think that I would’ve stopped smoking so soon. I thought that I’d ha
0201 – breathe
I did not imagine that this is what I would begin the 200 series with. I knew that it was probably going to be something diffe
0200 – cold wistful rainy day
Writing this on the train. Such a cold wistful rainy day. Makes me nostalgic, contemplative, reflective. I think about how far
0199 – set precise goals to measure your progress towards self-mastery
What’s a reasonable age to expect to plan to develop self-mastery by? The elegant cop-out answer is that it takes a life
0198 – progressing recursively
Progress is really slow and frustrating. I don’t know if that’s the case for everybody but it’s the case for
0197 – 4 parts to procrastination
There are 4 parts to procrastination. Expectancy- What you believe the odds are that you’ll get it right. Do you expect
0196 – go go go
A conviction that’s difficult to openly admit- is that I think nobody has any fucking idea what they’re doing. I thin
0195 – strive to globally-maximize your enjoyment of life
I lost my last word vomit- it felt like it was some of the best work that I’ve ever done, and I lost all of it before I
0194 – mvp model of personal development
Ugh, I just wasted a bit of time before writing this by going on reddit. I got a couple of little links and stuff out of it, b
0193 – prioritize ruthlessly and follow through
It is now midnight, I wish I had gotten home by 11pm and I wish I had written this vomit 25 minutes earlier. All of that is an
0192 – “You’re only cheating yourself”
In an earlier word vomit- 0170 – questioning assumptions; what got you here won’t get you there, I talked about a quest
0191 – I Unfriended Everybody
I’ve been getting a lot of utility from meditating on Everything Is A Remix. It’s a simple yet incredibly powerful
0190 – awakening to inner richness
I wonder if I could write a thousand words before I go to bed when I’m in a rather tired, sleepy state. I think I can. L
0188 + 0189 – the kind of person who insists that shit gets done
I’ve been smoke free for over 15 to 16 weeks now. I’m not sure of the exact date anymore. I no longer get cravings
0187 – Reading Dostoyevsky and repeating myself
I bought 10 books at a book fair a while ago days ago, one of them was Notes From Underground by Fydor Dostoyevsky, the Russi
0186 – A list of “What I’ve Learnt”s, part 2
– creating \(n_n)/, or How To Build A Community I’m amused at how poor all the “how to create a community” blogpos
0185 – A list of “What I’ve Learnt”s
I had a list of old prompts lying around in my Evernote since forever. Finally, on a day where I felt full of writerly energy,
0184 – What moves me? I want to find and empower the others
I was about to write “I used to think that developing discipline would cramp my improvisational style”, but then I
0183 – Everything is a remix + checkpoints and milestones
I watched the video on youtube and it triggered some thoughts. 1: Somebody recorded and replayed his recording of his voice ov
0182 – I will probably work on procrastination and productivity problems
Started this post in July 2014. Just finished it. Founder-Market Fit Founder market fit is something that precedes product m
0181 – Writing Wet And Dry
The following is a post that I wrote on Aug 6 2014. It had only 750+ words, which wasn’t enough for my arbitrary standar
0180 – Hold me back, else I’ll… do something!
This post was written maybe a week ago, and I had stopped at around 900+ words. Hopefully once I cross 0200 I’ll stop pu
0179 – Why can we sometimes change our habits, and sometimes not?
Behavioral change: What separates successful attempts from unsuccessful attempts? The answer I most hate is “you have to
0178 – lean / mvp approach to developing a proper breakfast routine
Thursday 1120. Evernote on the way to work. Morning routines I need a morning routine. It used to be- wake up and go back to s
0177 – Why bother doing your work when the universe is going to be extinguished in the end?
Immediately hot on the heels of the last post. 10x more swearing that usual. Why bother doing your work when the universe is g
0176 – the state of my vomits represents my life quite well
End of the day, 0017hrs. Done with shower. Waiting for wife to shower. The vomits are a tragicomic manifestation of my life at
0175 – Behavioral change is about seeking new equilibrium states, and progress isn’t pretty
This is to be my 2nd vomit of the day. It’s been a while since I did two vomits in a day. If I can maintain 2/day,
0174 – I have limited amounts of conscious attention + assume I’m smarter than I am
I just woke up after what felt like a really good night’s sleep and I decided to start with a word vomit. I want to get
0173 – New Lens Become New Blinders
It looks like I began writing this in 2013. Blinders New ways of seeing can become new sets of blinders. MBTI was like this fo
0172 – few people seem to write good book reviews
Reminiscing about past. I was going to write about my secondary school and JC days but I guess I’ll get back to that ano
0171 – fundamentals, small changes, fixing laziness
Written in January 2014. How about completely unplanned vomit, huh? Technically no vomit is completely unplanned because the
0170 – question assumptions; what got you here won’t get you there
Fishes don’t know that they’re in water. And we don’t realize that we’re in unique cultures and enviro
0169 – Marketing, 7 Sins
January 2014. Another day passes. My 2nd day of not smoking. Feels good, feels fresh. Some unsettled stirrings- mouth ‘i
0168 – The Patient Saboteur + Questions for Singapore
These words were largely written on 6 January 2014. Just scanned a bunch of books via goodreads and deleted a bunch of drafts
0167 – Reading Under The Desk + Groups are scary
When I was in my second or third year in Junior College (I flunked my first year- was too busy smoking cigarettes, playing bas
0166 – Pullups at the playground
These posts were written on the 11th and 12th of July. Don’t really feel like writing but I’m going to do it anywa
0165 – read what you love and teach people to fish
This was written in June 2014. I am trying to rekindle the habit of doing vomits. I did one this morning on the way to work an
0164 – Recognizing Naivete, and #welcometothecircus
This was written towards the end of June 2014. Naivete I naively hoped that I would be doing 2 word vomits a day, finishing al
0163 – Turning 24, my problems have not changed
Turning 24- wrote this on my birthday in June Life has been interesting and challenging, despite the occasional mundanity. And
0162 – Identify your wants and utility functions
I wrote this in May 2014, publishing now. I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but each time I strip away some
0161 – Overstimulated
There’s a scene in one of the earlier episodes of The West Wing where the White House Chief Of Staff, Leo McGarry, descr
0160 – motivation is whatever gets you moving
This post was written in February 2014, but I’m only publishing it now. Motivation is an odd thing. What does it mean? L
0159 – morning run with the wife
TLDR: good things: waking early / eating breakfast / running / knowing your desired end-state (doesn’t need to be perfe
0158 – Why do anything? The Disneyland Analogy
Wrote this a few weeks ago, just finished it up. I think one of the simplest and deepest dilemmas that everybody needs to reso
0157 – Reboot (April)
This post was written in April but incomplete, unfinished and unpublished. I haven’t done a proper word vomit in over a
0156 – When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit + ADHD
When I was a young boy- I’m not sure if I was in primary school or secondary school, I read a book called When Hitler Stole
0155 – write to solve your own problems
A blog is a thinking tool. Anytime you write your thoughts anywhere, you’re forced to make your thoughts more precise. T
0154 – We Need To Talk About A
Improving yourself and your life, getting shit done, becoming a more optimal person, all of those things can be described in v
0153 – I highly recommend watching Boyhood, the Richard Linklater movie
I was crushed when I first heard about the existence of Before Sunrise, the movie. It was what I thought nobody had done prope
0152 – Letter To A Young Songwriter
When I was a teenager, I’d play bass in bands, sing horribly and toy with the idea of being a songwriter. This is a lett
0150 + 0151 – Restatement of Purpose
2024: in hindsight this was a precursor to Friendly Ambitious Nerd, but I was still fixated on my negatives I have often felt
0149 – Channel your fury constructively; become stronger because of it
Defining Fury I have been struggling for a word to describe a condition that sometimes comes over me. I sometimes want to call
0148 – becoming a better writer
This post was started in Jan 2014, and completed today. My blog started out as a random cache of brain farts and rants, and I
0147 – if it works, do you accelerate it?
This was started on Jan 2014, and completed today. If you know that something is changing, and it seems to be a good thing- i
0146 – a utilitarian approach to social media
I’ve been really frustrated with the state of discourse in most fields. Most people are, in my biased opinion, caught up
0145 – becoming less skinny will require small, unsexy changes over a long period of time
This was written around April 2014. I’ve always been underweight, my whole life. I suppose I’ve had a rather unhea
0144 – reading in the mornings and the joy of decluttering
Yesterday was a glorious day for my head. I published a whole bunch of vomits all at one go, that I had done from March to May
0143 – question your assumptions about how life should be lived
This post was written in May 2014. Lost Illusions I find myself questioning many of my assumptions about how life should be li
0142 – Arbitrary configurations of reality
Written in April 2014. Haven’t been writing. Why? Any good reason? Feels like a natural ebb and flow. Got kind of tired.
0141 – Pick the right narratives
This was written in April 2014 or so. I went for remedial training yesterday. I had to do it because I missed my IPPT, and now
0140 – ADHD pt 2
2021 update: I’m assembling everything I know + care about ADHD onto this blogpost: Constructive ADHD So it turns out th
0139 – ADHD
2021 update: I’m assembling everything I know + care about ADHD onto this blogpost: Constructive ADHD A couple of smart
0138 – Identify what makes YOU happy
For two weeks I managed to stick to a daily habit of writing down what I had done that day, watching a motivational video (why
0137 – make time for Life
This was written late March 2014. It’s already March and soon it will be April of 2014, but I’m still thinking abo
0136 – quality conversations, questions and thoughtfulness
This was written on March 25th, 2014. I like good conversations. I think good conversations are enriching, good for the mind a
0135 – strive to go from 20% to 25%
This was written on March 3rd, 2014. I think I’ve spent a lot of my life feeling like I’m only as 20% as productiv
0134 – address your anger and jealousy
This post was written a while ago. Not sure exactly how long ago. I’m feeling angry and jealous. Jealousy of course is
0133 – Which Singapore?
It’s a wonderfully cool morning for 1140am in Singapore, and I find myself thinking that Singapore would surely be more
0131 + 0132 – figure out what you feel most strongly about and lean into that (Tesla, LKY)
There are few things I’m more excited about than Tesla Motors. The company is committed to pulling the future forward to
0130 – two thirty am
(moar old stuff 2013) It’s 230am and I can’t seem to get to sleep so I figure that I might as well do a word vomit
0129 – consider the future of education
Here’s something that bothers and confuses me: a lot of the thinking and discussion about the future of education is, in
0128 – 2013 in summary
More old posts. This was at the end of 2013, 6th dec. The past year for me has been characterized by me ripping my identity to
0127 – not enjoying games
Still publishing old stuff. Nov 2013. Yesterday the wife went out, leaving me alone at home- which I thought would be a great
0126B – kill the saboteur
More from the series of “I’m publishing stuff I wrote but didn’t publish”. This was from November 2013
0126 – deactivate / large number illiteracy
The following is a composite of 3 different notes I wrote in my Evernote that I never published, all around November 2013. I f
0125 – consider the self as a state
According to Evernote, I wrote this in August 2013. Doesn’t look like I’ve ever uploaded it, so… I’ll
0124 – Stop living in the past
I was watching one of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s videos about mindfulness and meditation, and he talked about how we often spend o
0123 – laziness as work aversion
I want to talk about the word lazy, which I have come to hate with a passion. I’m biased, because I have often been desc
0122 – whenever i stop smoking
I wanted to talk about what happens when I stop smoking, and describe it in as much detail as possible. Why? I just felt like
0121 – a bird in the hand is worth a flock in the sky
120th. I’m amused by how long it took me to get here. It reveals how naive my projections have always been. I think I es
0120 – build self-control like building a company
An interesting thing that happens when you go to bed committed to doing something the next day- in my case, this word vomit
0119 – unclogged, future direction
I’m determined to finish writing a full vomit on my commute home and have it published. It’s been too long. Absenc
0118 – What I’ve learnt from writing over 120,000+ words.
In the past year I’ve done over 100 word vomits of at least 1000 words each, which adds up to over 120,000 words. It has
0117 – I want to experiment with sleeping earlier
I don’t really care for resolutions but I’m going to experiment with a month of sleeping early. (2014 edit: HAH.)
0116 – writer’s “block”
It’s been a full month since I last published something. When I started out I naively thought that I’d be able to
0115 – how to write for a living
I’m a pretty good writer by most general standards. Not the best in the world, but significantly better than average- en
0114 – life should be exciting, and we should see it
Say things that matter. Life should be exciting. It won’t be easy. Sometimes even waking up is hard to do. But life shou
0113 – If I can become a smoker, I can build other habits, too
Alright this is the first word vomit I’m doing in quite a while. How long has it been? Feels like 2 or 3 weeks. I can
0112 – I systematically overestimate what I can accomplish
I decided that I was going to summarize and “process” my first hundred vomits before moving forward. I found mysel
0111 – how does change happen? activation energy hypothesis
16th oct How do you quit smoking? How do you become a responsible person? How does change happen? I know books are written abo
0110 – life should be interesting + boring task mgmt stuff
I logged into Facebook on a whim- I try to keep off it these days. I saw that Nassim Taleb was in Singapore. What are the odds
0109 – Manufactured Context + commit to flow, and interestingness
TLDR: we don’t have much free will if any stop insisting you’re in control modify your context/environment pursue
0108 – future as escapism
12 sept Feel the urge to tidy up, to have a landing page. But life is messy! It’ll never be possible to tidy up years of
0107 – learning to focus is at the heart of learning anything else
3rd sept 2013 I’m convinced that good book summaries and quotes are important. It’s startling to go through a good
0106 – consider the pointlessness of argument
1st Sept 2013 Smoking: I had two cigarettes yesterday. I didn’t enjoy them and my mouth is icky even now. It’s not
0105 – be aware of your addictions and dependencies
(old post- 31st august 2013) Haven’t written because I feel like I’m repeating myself and I have zero authority. N
0104 – manage your information diet and lethargy
(this is an old post- should really be about 20 vomits ago or so. 26th of august.) “This mrt ppc curve is not maximised&
0103 – The sneaky procrastinator waits patiently for The Slip
A picture speaks a thousand words, so lets start with that. Do you see The Slips? If I didn’t use this external t
0102 – Mean Girls, a tentative/preliminary analysis
I watched Mean Girls for the first time today, a full 9 years after it came out. I absolutely loved it, for the same reason Ve
0101 – 14 days later (update from the light-fires-not-fill-buckets guy)
Boring Preamble About My Word Vomits This is my 101st word vomit of at least 1,000 words each. The early vomits were written u
0100B – protect your inner child from smoking and abusive relationships
This is titled 0100B because I repeated a number somewhere and decided to resolve it here. People in abusive relationships ret
0100 – quitting an addiction is like leaving an abusive relationship
Our vocabulary for addiction and personal change or development is so limited. It’s so simplistic and juvenile, and it&#
0099 – education and identity, school is obsolete rah rah
Tuesday morning. Okay I’m up and on the way to work, a little late. I got online after finishing my word vomit, and pred
0098 – everything we do is to feel good
Everything we do is to feel good about ourselves, even at the expense of real things like health. We’ll screw up our liv
0097 – use condensed terms to simplify your thinking
<!– dream interpretation It has been a long and strange night, yet not really. I slept late, at 1am. Yet I am wide an
0096 – identity creation and narratives
Monday morning, earlier than usual. (Deciding to add or two of context to every vomit so it’s easier for me to sort them
0095 – more on gamification, relationships
Okay- while my mind is clear and I have a bit of time, I want to re-approach the ideas of gamification and subjectivization (i
0094 – games aren’t just games
Spent half my train ride looking for a really good picture of FemShep to use as a motivational wallpaper. (Heroine of Masss Ef
0093 – transitioning to adulthood, maladjustment
Wasn’t actually planning to do a word vomit this morning- I was doing some reading (blog.asmartbear.com today) But then
0092 – what it’s like to get better at playing games (eg pacman)
Been using Beeminder for a couple of days. Yesterday I did an extra set of pushups and felt more compelled to publish my eveni
0091 – blog history and cultivation
On the way home. It occurred to me at the last minute that the latest blogpost in doing for work might actually be quite a hit
0090 – firelighting, aphorisms, unknowns, free-roam, shackle-free slavery
I slept at midnight last night- a little later than necessary but not too late. I didn’t set an alarm, and so I slept lo
0089 – starting beeminder
I don’t know if I’m just tired, but I just erased the past two starts I made at doing this vomit. This is of cours
0088 – break up with the saboteur-bum in your head
A new day. Yesterday I entered rage mode at work when a couple of ideas collided in my head (productivity + dating site prompt
0087 – productivity apps fill buckets when they should be lighting fires
2019 update: Wow, people are still reading this! I wrote this 6 years ago. I’m going to leave it unedited + add some new
0086 – memories of reading, procrastination, facebook, smoking
I have been feeling slightly blocked for a while- though perhaps it might be more accurate to say that I am slightly blocked m
0085 – Keep the psychologically-insulated parasite at bay
Random thoughts are hard to come by these days but I just found myself thinking about language and social hierarchy, thanks to
0084 – remember the anguish of being unproductive
Argh I’m so angry with myself. I was distracted and unproductive today, taking way too long to do the little work that I
0083 – avoid talking over people, ask questions and listen instead
I’m up and out a little earlier today, which is great. Still not as early as I’d like- I remember reading up when
0082 – pathfind your way to what you want
So what lenses should I build, what have I built, what is actually useful? (Let’s drop the lens analogy.) The answer is
0081 – evaluate and improve your publishing configuration(s)
Alright! This is starting to feel really natural now, I write in evernote on my way to and from office. I’m not sure why
0080 – be mindful of your age and the passage of time
1: relative ages 2: twitter impulse 3: waking earlier but lingering in bed 4: underestimating the seemingly trivial, daily blo
0079 – I used to be a tedious writer who digressed too much
On the way home now. I was going to start with “back!”, because it feels like I abruptly ended the last vomit with
0078 – become a happy healthy entrepreneur
It’s a new week. I had a silly minor epiphany yesterday: I ought to get really good at my job. I’m not sure why th
0077 – we can get better at talking about sex
All right, writing time. Decided to take the stairs down instead of the lift because what the heck, it’s only 6 floors.
0076 – most people are full of shit including me
Just read an article on ribbonfarm called On Freedomspotting and I loved it- it set things clear for me. I would’ve take
0075 – sleepy and unfocused
Have been a bit sleep deprived or something the past couple of days. Maybe dehydrated too. Wasn’t very productive at wor
0074 – stop sharpening the axe
Here’s an interesting phenomenon I wasn’t expecting to witness until say 200 or 300 posts into this 1000 post comm
0073 – strive to transcend local optimums
I’m feeling somewhat calm. My cat is asleep beside me. The wife is cleaning up the house- some of my cousins are visitin
0072 – don’t break the chain
I don’t actually know what I’m going to write about, I just know that I don’t want to break the chain I seem
0071 – manage your energy by focusing on small tasks
I wrote about things like “big problems” and “abstract problems” and things like that, but if I may be
0070 – social media and me (and games and addiction)
Was writing about excitement, how it’s important for Singaporeans to have something to be excited about, talked about mu
0068 – beyond Singapore
For the most part my blog is known as a “Singaporean blog”. 6 or 7 (or more) of my top-grossing blogposts are all
0067 – how to help my self-destructive younger self?
The last thought I ended with when I was writing on the way to work this morning was- how do you save a kid from himself when
0066 – starting over, reflections on procrastination
Life may not be meaningful but it can and should be exciting. That seems to be Elon’s conclusion following his existenti
0065 – marketing is the communication of value
Marketing is fundamentally the communication of value. Some people reduce it to sloganeering and jingles and advertising, but
0064 – making music/art sustainably in singapore
Alright I got a lot on my mind. (Overslept and am late for work argh). Two thoughts- how to make art sustainably and how to ha
0063 – good questions and referral marketing
Well I’m on the way home now. Had a decent day at work. Good start in the morning, and decent finish- I shipped a post t
0062 – Facebook fatigue
There’s severely diminishing returns to time spent on Facebook and other social media. I don’t entirely understand
0061 – structured routines can be good if you design them for yourself
Wow this morning’s post was over 1.5k words. Somewhat remarkable. I just left work because I got to head to remedial tra
0060 – what is a blog for? it’s an exocortex, a superstructure for the mind
Two questions on my mind, let’s start with the blog. It’s always been on my mind, sometimes at the forefront
0059 – Waking Early
Good morning. It’s 0650hrs. I went to bed at 0000 last night. I did my best to calm my mind, to be in a state of fitful
0058 – Monotasking
That’s the first thing on my mind today, the importance of monotasking. (I didn’t charge my phone last night and I
0057 – Stop feeding the trolls
Work today. Stuff I’m proud of: 1: I avoided feeding a troll today. I’m typically someone who’s fairly easy
0056 – rip you out of my skull
Today was an earlier morning than usual. Slept a little earlier than usual. It is clear that sleeping early- before 11pm, fr
0055 – define your habits and improve them
Just got on the train, damn it’s crowded. Wonder if I can complete a full word vomit before I get home. If I do, IR
0054 – the future of ecommerce is exciting
Written on the train from one-north to Yishun I feel like I’m reaching a stage with my work where I’m starting to
0053 – we rarely love people
The following are two combined half-vomits written on the train. Incoherent, etc. You shouldn’t bother reading this. I&#
0052 – should you motivate yourself by comparing yourself with others?
My feedly isn’t loading and social media has diminishing returns so I souls just start writing. My mind isn’t part
0051 – strive to appreciate and embody happiness
I saw my wife reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project and it was something I had stumbled upon on some book revie
0050 – pursue flow
My last blogpost got significantly more attention than any of my other word vomits. (I was going to say “a surprising am
0049 – “I didn’t do well because I didn’t study”
This is something I’ve said to many people over the years, in many situations. I say it to myself all the time and it
0048 – brain reality and starting from scratch (jailbreak!)
Here’s a simple idea worth exploring- what goes on inside your brain affects what happens in reality. What you do. How y
0047 – Consider businesses and corporations, schools and social life
Humans build businesses and corporations that exploit human frailties and weaknesses. They exploit the human need for chemical
0046 – being a fucking human being
Fiction is about what it’s like to be a fucking human being, said David Foster Wallace. The poor bastard was cursed with
0045 – pick the smallest problem and annihilate it
Hey let’s try doing a word vomit like this! I’m using an app (it’s not write or die, but it’s built in
0044 – just wing it
Well when I’m done with this I would have written 44,000 words. I was hoping to be moving at a much faster rate, but I k
0043 – Life is theatre, writing for self
Life is theatre. All the world’s a stage. Everything we do is a part of the show, where we like it or not. We are all an
0042 – define your dreams
Let’s talk lifelong dreams. I just saw a picture of a guy at harvard looking out at the campus, and he said, “When
0041- Consider procrastination, and your inability to focus
I picked up smoking when I was 16 and smoked regularly until I was 22.5. I’d smoke in the morning when I woke up, I̵
0040 – how can I best serve others? by writing
The main question that’s been on my mind for a few years really- apart from things like “how am I going to put foo
0039 – smartphone
I’ve turned into one of those people glued to their smartphones on the train. I just got my first smartphone a few days
0038 – back on track
I’ve turned into one of those people glued to their smartphones on the train. I just got my first smartphone a few days
0037 – changing circumstances (first day of work)
Wow, I haven’t done a word vomit in a really long time. It’s been almost two or three weeks. That’s a little
0036 – strive to be thoughtful and compassionate
Yes I know, I fell off the bandwagon for a while, and I got a little worked up trying to think about how I was going to fix it
0035 – HDB
He sits in an empty house with the woman of his dreams nestled in his lap like a kitten, only bigger, more beautiful and more
0034 – waking early
Somebody said to me yesterday, “You’ve got so much potential, isn’t it a waste if you don’t go to Univ
0033 – I’ve had the same frustrations for a very long time
It’s 1pm. Yesterday, I began to feel sleepy at about 940pm. I thought I’d be in bed at 10pm. Ended up talking to p
0032 – “Safety” + Modifying Behaviour + Desire Paths
Should I go for another one, right now, hot off the heels of having just finished one vomit right before? Can I do 2000 words
0031 – identify limiting thoughts + avoid excessive safety
I went up to shower and I was so overwhelmed with thoughts I’m not sure if I can capture all of them: limiting thought,
0030 – early morning + urban legends
Went to bed early last night and it may have been one of those little “best decisions ever”. I’m up at 420am
0029 – strive to maximize flow
Well this is a little sobering- it’s 3:36am- the time that I said I would be done with all 4 word vomits, and I’m
0028 – the 25%
Afraid isn’t who we are, failure isn’t who we are- fear is a feeling, failure is an event- fear and failure happen
0027 – missed a day
Well it’s day 5/6 of 2013. I didn’t do any word vomits for day 4 and day 5, and I feel quite shitty about that- te
0026 – meeting older friends + singapore/overview effect
Just spent 53 minutes watching a Dave Chappelle special that was “recommended for You” that I didn’t particu
0025 – dreams are strange, culture might be stranger
I just woke up. It’s 1:38pm. My back kinda hurts a little. My throat kinda hurts a little. But I bet I can fix these thi
0024 – Identify procrastination as pain-avoidance, and lean into the pain
Wow, I’m tired. I woke up at 4am this morning and I stayed up until the evening, when I slept for maybe 2-3 hours from 5
0023 – Quora + Naam Ras + Jamming
There are two things on my mind right now- Quora and Naam Ras. It’s 6:25am. Yesterday I told myself that I would get off
0022 – conscious constraints can help guard against meandering aimlessness
It’s 10:39pm and I just met a friend for kopi. It was pleasant and good. We met at about 9pm, and I decided to set an al
0021 – let go of your judgement of others
Well so today is the first day of a new year, and I promised myself that I was going to do two word vomits a day, so here̵
0020 – Remembering Amanat, learning from good logistics and speaking Tamil
It’s been a couple of days or so since I last did a word vomit and I can’t let this die out so here I am again. I&
0019 – expand your scale of influence
So I went to bed at midnight and I just woke up (at 3:45am) and I’m not sure why exactly that is, considering how sleepy
0018 – internet addiction and an early night
Going to do a wordvomit before I go to bed let’s go. I sat down at the computer at like what, 10:15pm, and now it’
0017 – when you’re sloppy, straighten up
Today I am feeling a little weak and naked and insecure. I have not yet showered, I have not yet brushed my teeth, my fingers
0016 – identify what you’re repressing and express that with art
Just got back from my run and am still in my sweaty shorts. Have a few things on my mind. The first is how so much frustr
0015 – sleep early and stop smoking
Word Vomit: 1000 words in 15 minutes unedited I was up at 640am due to natural causes. I had a rather strange dream involving
0014 – protect others from needless shame
1000 words 15 minutes unedited donch read I did something naughty last night, and I do regret it. I think. I was surfing EDMW
0013 – I want to make beautiful web experiences for others
word vomit 1000 words 15 minutes unedited Just woke up. I swear, I woke up at 8am, or 8:15 or so- I remember looking at the ti
0012 – talk is cheap, fear is inhibitive. acknowledge your fears, face them, GTD
Word Vomit 15 minutes 1000 words unedited Well let’s get one over and done with without thinking too much about it. I th
0011 – I want to travel
word vomit 1000 words in 15 minutes no editing Thing on my mind right now, oddly, is travelling. I’m walking around my h
0010 – remember that life is preparation for death
Word Vomit: 1000 words 15 minutes no editing don’t read lah Been a few days since I did my last word vomit and I actuall
0009 – add smart things to your environment to shape your behavior positively
Word Vomit is 1000 words in 15 minutes, unedited. One of the favourite things I’ve ever done was to put a jug of water i
0008 – waking up early gives you more options
Word vomit is 1000 words in 15 minutes, unedited. Wow, good morning! I was blind but now I can see, I feel good, man. (Both id
0007 – there’s a gap in the market for sincere, non-pretentious writing
Word Vomit- 1000 words in 15 minutes, unedited. Alright it’s 11:35pm and strangely my mind is starting to go to mush. I
0006 – Extract signals from the recurring ideas and experiences of your life
Word Vomit is 1000 words in 15 minutes, unedited. Today’s thoughts are about recurring insights, and about changing your
0005 – The SAF should use its inspiring people in its marketing campaigns
Word Vomit is when I write without editing. Don’t bother reading. I have an idea for a marketing campaign for the SAF. I
0004 – Pursue and embody mastery, like Wilbur Wright
Word Vomit is when I write without editing. Don’t bother reading. I have been falling in love with Mastery by Robert Gre
0003 – practice deliberate discipline to become a better writer
WORD VOMIT is when I write 1,000 words in 15 minutes. You have better things to do than to read this. It seems that the best w
0002 – I enjoy late night conversations and unedited writing
Word Vomit is when I write 1000 words in 15 minutes, without editing. I’m sure you have better uses of your time than to
0001 – learn to be productive by examining video game principles
1/ Life should be like an amazing book or video game. Compelling, rewarding, engaging. exciting. Procrastination is just bad g
minus-1 ramblings for progress
More rambling time. Let’s contemplate the evolution of social ideas for a bit- how cultural shifts happen. They’re