25. AUG. 2023

Brick by Brick, Idea by Idea

Discoveries, insights, and lessons worth sharing this month.

Hey guys,

It’s that time of the month, where I’ll share discoveries, lessons, and insights worth sharing.

What was the most challenging experience this month, and how did I overcome it?

It’s been a tough month for me due to my disease. There’ve been many ups and downs—just when I think it’s going away, it comes back. Imagine your immune system constantly fighting inside your body for no reason, working overtime.

On top of it all, I got sick, a few days ago, making everything worse. This is why I had to postpone the previous newsletter and even pause creating content online. To be honest, I was unsure if I’d be able to put out this week’s newsletter with eye irritation, plus light sensitivity. Which reduces my screen time, significantly. The fact I’m still able to produce anything is beyond me. My drive to create pushes me, even when it’s physically challenging.

Many of you are familiar with my condition by now, and it’s not something that I can overcome in a month. Thankfully, my eye doctor prescribed eye drops which relieved the symptoms in my eyes. But my hearing is still affected. I’ve had to up my medication for a while to tackle this, but my primary concern concern is having the side effects again. I hope they aren’t as intense as the last time I was on high doses.

To help in my recovery, I’ve returned to the Wim Hof Method—both breathing exercises and cold showers. I admit, I’ve been neglecting it lately—especially the breathing exercises. From May to July, I only managed to do 10 sessions—yes, just 10! Compared to my best month February with 33 sessions, followed by March with 20, and April with 14.

It only went downhill for me.

I’m determined to do better. Currently, I’ve logged 13 sessions in August and maintained consistency for 4 straight days. I intend to keep it up for the rest of the months. The method has been beneficial for me in the past—it not only makes me feel better but also gives me a sense of control over my body.
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What has been the most enlightening lesson or insight I've learned this month?

Lately, I’ve been immersing myself in LEGO, which takes me right back to childhood—such an awesome feeling! While I was playing with it yesterday (Wednesday), a thought struck me. Imagine LEGO pieces as individual ideas. When you connect each LEGO piece to each other, they become whole—it starts to make sense. It had meaning to it now that it’s complete. The same goes for ideas. If an idea stands alone, untapped, and lives in your imagination, it doesn’t get the chance to evolve or connect with other ideas.

Ideas not jotted down, sketched, or recorded can easily slip away, leading you to say, “Why didn’t I catch that?.” This is why whenever inspiration strikes—from something I see, hear, or read—I make a note of it. Then share these sparks on X (Twitter).

By consistently sharing, patterns in my posts begin to emerge, especially if I’m attentive to them. I use Trello to jot down these snippets of inspiration. But I’ve realized that I needed a more structured system to nurture and grow them.

I’ll dive into this in the next section.

Was there a resource (book, article, podcast, video, etc.) that significantly impacted me this month, and why?

I’ve been following a specific content creator on X for quite some time. Every time I see her post, I feel inspired. Her name is Evielyn (Ev) Chapman, a creative entrepreneur who shares insights on sharing ideas, attracting an audience, and launching digital products.

What I found amazing about her is her note-talking system and the frameworks she’s developed over the years. And she challenges the conventional ways we create content online. Most of us focus only on creating a bank of content, and not a bank of ideas—this post will give you a better idea of what I’m talking about.

Through her posts, I was introduced to Tana—a tool that can also be used for note-taking. I once shared my frustrations in a post about me trying to figure it out. Nonetheless, it was exactly the tool I was looking for—a platform where I could flesh out ideas in a structured way.

To give you an example, here’s how it looks on Trello:

Compare this to how it looks in my Tana workspace.

On my Trello board, it can become quite chaotic. The board works like my mind does. No structure. No cohesion. No connections. But that’s okay. I’ve Tana now to make it more structured by using supertags, which allow for linking related items together—it’s nice that way!

I still have a lot to learn, but I’m excited to dive deeper in the upcoming days.
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What am I looking forward to in the upcoming month?

I’m eagerly looking forward to improving my content creation skills. I’m excited to try out this new approach with Tana. I also plan to make some changes to my website—to infuse more of my personality into it.

I’m slowly getting there as you can see here. Even though I’ve been on X for a long time, I’ve only taking it seriously for the past 4 months, along with my newsletter.

I’m continuously trying to refine my approach to the following platforms:

• Personal website
• Newsletter
• X.com

I believe that focusing on these platforms will benefit me in the long run. Gone are the days of trying to be everywhere. It’s now about less stress and anxiety—and more fun!

What about you?

If you want to, I’d encourage you to also take these questions and reflect on them. I’d love to hear your insights or what valuable resource impacted you. And also what are you looking forward to in the upcoming month?

Quote of the month

Thanks a lot for reading, as always. If you enjoyed the issue, please share it with someone you think will enjoy it, too. If you aren’t subscribed yet, you can do it here. Until next time, Stay inspired! Sharmarke

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