This week I joined Buildspace's "Nights & Weekends" - a free online school for people to work on an idea and develop it over 6 weeks, with feedback and mentorship along the way. The first days are dedicated to ideation and the tricky question of what to work on. This came at a timely moment for me - I'd recently read a great book that upended how I thought about ideas and goals.

In the months prior, I was forcing things; planning, mind-mapping, ideating, following all the usually prescribed "steps" to the epiphany. Nothing was working, previous projects had ran their course, while I was unsure what my next one would be. I'd attempted a few projects in spaces I thought would lead to success & business, but nothing was capturing my enthusiasm, and unsurprisingly, nothing worked. By late June, I'd had enough. In a chance encounter, I came across a book which clarified and expressed an intuition I felt I had on some level over the previous months.

Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Stanley & Lehman breaks apart the mainstream paradigm of goal-setting and 'good' ideas, which they say has mired many creators, particularly in the tech space; where product-market-fit, the customer development model, and ultra-rational approaches are dogma. The book immediately draws in the reader, with the revelation that you cannot plan for great, ambitious projects and goals:

They ignore the value of following a path for its own uniqueness, rather than for where it may lead.... ...... great discoveries are lurking just beyond our fingertips, if only we can let go of the security blanket of the objective. Sometimes the best way to change the world is to stop trying to change it - perhaps you've noticed your best ideas are often those you were not seeking.

The authors introduce us to the abstract "search-space" - think of it as a vast room where all ideas & possibilities exist. We explore this room when we ideate; I imagine it to be an infinite space, bright, but with a dense fog. All the unfound ideas of the world are in this room - if we traverse it well, we can discover them. The cure for cancer, fusion energy, new surgical procedures, your next favourite song - are all in this room. We navigate through it step by step, starting at one idea, and from there we can see our next. The authors warn us that the pathways to really ambitious goals are non-obvious and impossible to predict when we are in the search-space.

They use the example of the ambitious goal of building the first computer. In the early 19th century this was attempted by Babbage , however this idea was ahead of it time and what really led to the implementation of modern computers was something completely unrelated - vacuum tubes. Those who set out to build vacuum tubes had no intention of building computers (they needed them for something else), and anyone in the search-space trying to build a computer would not have started by building vacuum tubes. It could never have been planned and was non-obvious from the start! An interesting insight and a perfect example of the nuances of the search-space.

So instead of a grand plan, it is better to just start on a stepping-stone (an idea), and let new stepping-stones (more ideas) come into view. Our goal then becomes collecting stepping-stones to traverse the search-space, rather than reaching for a stepping-stone miles away with no discernible path towards it. Even if we thought we had a path, the authors warn that this is often a false compass - for ambitious goals it’s never obvious.

A goal of starting a successful tech company is ambitious, and with my old beliefs, I would only have followed ideas I thought could get me there - niche markets, business solutions ; all that obvious boring, over-thought, and contrived nonsense (which I believe is particularly prevalent on social media today via tech and business influencers). Now, I realise that that will never work. Unwittingly, I had limited myself to a confined area of the search-space, putting up walls made of my false beliefs about success and goals. I could not see, or would not see, stepping stones close by which did actually have my curiosity - but didn't make sense in the "grand plan" - Why would I make a music lyrics web app or write essays no one will read when there's no clear market or business model ? So I didn't - instead I tried things which had neither my curiosity nor interest. I was barking up the wrong tree. Then, I looked back and realised that my most successful project (if a few 100 users and some national attention is success) came from something that I was interested in which had no obvious business potential - a public good website for listing vacant and derelict properties in Ireland - www.dog-house.ie . That project is still not a business, and has not led to one property renovation, but it did raise awareness - which was all the original stepping stone was.

The penny had dropped, I was lost in the search-space, and needed to get back to basics. My resolution was simple: stop trying so hard - just follow my curiosity and genuine interest. Adopting this new mindset led me to Nostr, and the work being done in the space using Bitcoins Lightning Network. For those new to Nostr - it's new technology for social media & communication in general, a place where you own your social experience. Users can keep followers, posts, likes, and replies across platforms & apps. Some people won’t care, but for creators - this is a key innovation. You can view Nostr messages through clients. Clients are websites/apps that connect to the Nostr network. Think of them like different doors to the same room – your content and followers stay the same, whichever door you choose.

Exploring the stepping stones nearby, I found one which suited my interests and was something I would use - making an Obsidian plugin to publish long-form content seamlessly to Nostr (this essay came from there!). From there, I saw the potential for writers on Nostr; keep your audience, monetise easily, no platform dependency or lock-in, content ownership - the perfect place to publish. Then, the next stepping stone came into view - I decided to start publicly sharing some work I had written. This was something I'd wanted to do for a while but had never found the courage to do so. As the audience and visibility on Nostr is low today it helped me click publish and get off the mark - another serendipity on this trail of stepping stones! Finally, I'd discovered some long-form Nostr clients and enjoyed reading articles and posts on them. On Nostr, you can publish short-form Twitter like messages or long-form material; essays, blogs posts, reviews, op-eds, etc. The next stepping stone came into view - maybe I could build a long-form Nostr client that curated and displayed content in a novel way.

So, off the back of learning about this new space, and publishing written content to it, I decided this would be a fun thing to try and build over the next 6 weeks of "Nights & Weekends". The idea is still forming, and who knows where the next stepping stone will lead, but it feels like a relief to adopt this new approach and traverse the search-space care-free, knowing now that great things cannot be planned, and that, with some luck, serendipity would find me along the way.

References/Resources: Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth O. Stanley & Joel Lehman https://buildspace.so/nights-weekends

#ideas #tech #buildOnNostr #bookReview

This week I joined Buildspace's "Nights & Weekends" - a free online school for people to work on an idea and develop it over 6 weeks, with feedback and mentorship along the way. The first days are dedicated to ideation and the tricky question of what to work on. This came at a timely moment for me - I'd recently read a great book that upended how I thought about ideas and goals.

In the months prior, I was forcing things; planning, mind-mapping, ideating, following all the usually prescribed "steps" to the epiphany. Nothing was working, previous projects had ran their course, while I was unsure what my next one would be. I'd attempted a few projects in spaces I thought would lead to success & business, but nothing was capturing my enthusiasm, and unsurprisingly, nothing worked. By late June, I'd had enough. In a chance encounter, I came across a book which clarified and expressed an intuition I felt I had on some level over the previous months.

Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Stanley & Lehman breaks apart the mainstream paradigm of goal-setting and 'good' ideas, which they say has mired many creators, particularly in the tech space; where product-market-fit, the customer development model, and ultra-rational approaches are dogma. The book immediately draws in the reader, with the revelation that you cannot plan for great, ambitious projects and goals:

They ignore the value of following a path for its own uniqueness, rather than for where it may lead.... ...... great discoveries are lurking just beyond our fingertips, if only we can let go of the security blanket of the objective. Sometimes the best way to change the world is to stop trying to change it - perhaps you've noticed your best ideas are often those you were not seeking.

The authors introduce us to the abstract "search-space" - think of it as a vast room where all ideas & possibilities exist. We explore this room when we ideate; I imagine it to be an infinite space, bright, but with a dense fog. All the unfound ideas of the world are in this room - if we traverse it well, we can discover them. The cure for cancer, fusion energy, new surgical procedures, your next favourite song - are all in this room. We navigate through it step by step, starting at one idea, and from there we can see our next. The authors warn us that the pathways to really ambitious goals are non-obvious and impossible to predict when we are in the search-space.

They use the example of the ambitious goal of building the first computer. In the early 19th century this was attempted by Babbage , however this idea was ahead of it time and what really led to the implementation of modern computers was something completely unrelated - vacuum tubes. Those who set out to build vacuum tubes had no intention of building computers (they needed them for something else), and anyone in the search-space trying to build a computer would not have started by building vacuum tubes. It could never have been planned and was non-obvious from the start! An interesting insight and a perfect example of the nuances of the search-space.

So instead of a grand plan, it is better to just start on a stepping-stone (an idea), and let new stepping-stones (more ideas) come into view. Our goal then becomes collecting stepping-stones to traverse the search-space, rather than reaching for a stepping-stone miles away with no discernible path towards it. Even if we thought we had a path, the authors warn that this is often a false compass - for ambitious goals it’s never obvious.

A goal of starting a successful tech company is ambitious, and with my old beliefs, I would only have followed ideas I thought could get me there - niche markets, business solutions ; all that obvious boring, over-thought, and contrived nonsense (which I believe is particularly prevalent on social media today via tech and business influencers). Now, I realise that that will never work. Unwittingly, I had limited myself to a confined area of the search-space, putting up walls made of my false beliefs about success and goals. I could not see, or would not see, stepping stones close by which did actually have my curiosity - but didn't make sense in the "grand plan" - Why would I make a music lyrics web app or write essays no one will read when there's no clear market or business model ? So I didn't - instead I tried things which had neither my curiosity nor interest. I was barking up the wrong tree. Then, I looked back and realised that my most successful project (if a few 100 users and some national attention is success) came from something that I was interested in which had no obvious business potential - a public good website for listing vacant and derelict properties in Ireland - www.dog-house.ie . That project is still not a business, and has not led to one property renovation, but it did raise awareness - which was all the original stepping stone was.

The penny had dropped, I was lost in the search-space, and needed to get back to basics. My resolution was simple: stop trying so hard - just follow my curiosity and genuine interest. Adopting this new mindset led me to Nostr, and the work being done in the space using Bitcoins Lightning Network. For those new to Nostr - it's new technology for social media & communication in general, a place where you own your social experience. Users can keep followers, posts, likes, and replies across platforms & apps. Some people won’t care, but for creators - this is a key innovation. You can view Nostr messages through clients. Clients are websites/apps that connect to the Nostr network. Think of them like different doors to the same room – your content and followers stay the same, whichever door you choose.

Exploring the stepping stones nearby, I found one which suited my interests and was something I would use - making an Obsidian plugin to publish long-form content seamlessly to Nostr (this essay came from there!). From there, I saw the potential for writers on Nostr; keep your audience, monetise easily, no platform dependency or lock-in, content ownership - the perfect place to publish. Then, the next stepping stone came into view - I decided to start publicly sharing some work I had written. This was something I'd wanted to do for a while but had never found the courage to do so. As the audience and visibility on Nostr is low today it helped me click publish and get off the mark - another serendipity on this trail of stepping stones! Finally, I'd discovered some long-form Nostr clients and enjoyed reading articles and posts on them. On Nostr, you can publish short-form Twitter like messages or long-form material; essays, blogs posts, reviews, op-eds, etc. The next stepping stone came into view - maybe I could build a long-form Nostr client that curated and displayed content in a novel way.

So, off the back of learning about this new space, and publishing written content to it, I decided this would be a fun thing to try and build over the next 6 weeks of "Nights & Weekends". The idea is still forming, and who knows where the next stepping stone will lead, but it feels like a relief to adopt this new approach and traverse the search-space care-free, knowing now that great things cannot be planned, and that, with some luck, serendipity would find me along the way.

References/Resources: Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth O. Stanley & Joel Lehman https://buildspace.so/nights-weekends

#ideas #tech #buildOnNostr #bookReview