Walking Meditation, Making Videos, and A Book That I'm Rereading.. | #1
First issue of curated things I found interesting this week.
I've been thinking about simplifying my public writing outlets. Although I enjoy writing daily, it's mostly been in my private journal, and I want to change that.
Four months ago, I purchased a Twitter Blue subscription (yes, I still refuse to call it "X"). This allows me to write posts longer than 280 characters, making it easier to express my thoughts without breaking them into a series of short tweets or threads. It's simpler this way.
Writing shorter pieces is challenging because I have to condense each idea into 280 characters. Since then, my Twitter following has grown from 300 to more than 3,700 as of this writing.
Twitter is great for sharing short text-based content, but a lot of time, I prefer reading longer pieces as well. A high-quality essay can be life-changing. Some ideas are just too complex to be encapsulated in a tweet.
For instance, in 2018 I wrote an essay about Ibn Battuta and posted it on Hacker News twice, in 2018 and 2023. Both times, it made the front page and generated tens of thousands of visits to my site. I also received more business inquiries as a result.
A few weeks ago, I experimented by reposting the essay on twitter, just to see how it would go. Unsurprisingly, it didn't surpass quite many views. Let's face it, Twitter isn't the place for 5k-word essays.
Let this be a reminder: different places on the internet work best for different things.
One reason I still need an outlet for longer pieces is my personal preference for long-form writing. It's hard to produce, but it's a lot more rewarding.
That's one of the reasons I still maintain outlets for longer-form writing. Another reason is simply because I like long form writings too. To date, I maintain a blog at my site jurnalanas.com, and a Medium page.
This what’s on my mind: My website is for English content, especially technical pieces, while Medium is for writings in Bahasa Indonesia. The idea was to produce a variety of content, but I overlooked one thing: creating the content itself.
Managing multiple platforms due to language differences adds too much overhead and creates indecision before I even start writing. It's become more of a hindrance than a help.
So, I'm trying something new: all my articles, in both Bahasa Indonesia and English, will be posted on jurnalanas.com only. This newsletter will be (hopefully) a weekly update every Friday Saturday. It will have interesting stuff found throughout the week.
So, thanks for sticking with me on this journey. My mission is to get really good at making products, lead a deep life, and share what I learn along the way.
Ok, that's enough for announcements 😅.
This week, we're talking about walking to clear your mind, starting to make videos, and what I'm reading about being creative and coding. Enjoy!
On The Joy of Walking Slowly
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” — Søren Kierkegaard
I recently tweeted about the benefits of daily walks, which have been part of my routine for the last two years. Walking slowly (it's important not to rush) helps me solve problems in my head, generate insights, and make various connections between ideas.
I've noticed this especially when I find myself stopping to take notes during walks.
Walking also helps me relieve stress. While there are other options like meditation and working out, walking adds a unique benefit in my view. It feels good to see the sky and notice small things while walking.
Nassim Taleb takes it even further. In his book "The Black Swan," he argues that effortless walking is almost as important as sleep.
Interestingly, I recently stumbled upon an essay I wrote back in 2017-2018. This piece dives into the themes of solitude and the captivating practice of "walking meditation." Written in Bahasa Indonesia, I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all soon. For now, here's a small preview:
On Making Videos
Earlier this week, I tried something new: making videos. Although I've owned a YouTube channel, it's been mostly dormant. Sometimes I put up tech talks when I have them.
I wanted to see how Twitter's video feature compares to YouTube. Plus, I had some questions on NGL that I wanted to answer. So, I thought, why not create a video, post it on YouTube, and share the summary on Twitter? Maybe I'll enjoy doing it?
My first video talks about how to get ready for a tech career, especially through bootcamps. My second video gives tips for new graduates struggling to find jobs.
Making these videos was easier than I thought. I simply talked while displaying a note-taking app. I used OBS for recording and iMovie for basic editing. It didn't take much time because the format is simple, and the result was good enough for me as a starting point.
It's not only fun, but it also helps me practice my public speaking. I think, maybe I can publish a video every week. I've already planned some future content, including longer technical contents.
I'm not really concerned with analytics at this moment. But, if you're curious about the stats for a very new YouTube channel, here are the numbers for the latest video I published three days ago:
It looks like people don't really watch long videos on Twitter. They usually click the YouTube link if they want to see the whole video.
Book I’m revisiting…
I'm reading The War of Art again. It's by Steven Pressfield and talks about what stops us from doing creative stuff. He calls it "Resistance."
This book is really good and hits you hard every time you turn a page.
I'm in the process of building my first SaaS product. Since it's a side project, I need to stay disciplined. I must show up every day even just for 30 minutes, even when I don't feel like it.
The book helps because it's a good reminder to be aware of the most dangerous enemy that prevents you from doing the work and shipping it. And what to do about it.
If you're also starting a big project, you will like this book.
On Reading Code: Treat It as A Speciment
I stumbled upon an interesting article about the importance of reading code for software engineers. It's by Peter Siebel, author of Coders At Work.
He mentions that even though most people agree reading code is beneficial, few actually do it regularly. That's because code isn't as easy to read as a novel.
Code is not literature. We don’t read code, we decode it. We examine it. A piece of code is not literature; it is a specimen.
He suggests an interesting approach: treat code reading like how a naturalist studies a specimen.
So instead of trying to pick out a piece of code and reading it and then discussing it like a bunch of Comp Lit. grad students, I think a better model is for one of us to play the role of a 19th century naturalist returning from a trip to some exotic island to present to the local scientific society a discussion of the crazy beetles they found.
What was your favorite part above? Got any suggestions on what you'd like more or less of? Tweet me at @oianas_.
Have a wonderful weekend, all.