think. write. build. repeat

4-min

hii happy tuesday,

i’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately- unconsciously too. mostly because of some recent personal events. so i thought i’d write about it.

legends—or perhaps just centuries of observation—tell us that thinking is the defining trait that separates humans from every other form of existence.

to think is human.

almost everything around us—every tool, structure, and idea—began as a thought.

creation, as we understand it, is simply thought externalized.

newness begins in the mind. every revolution started as a refusal to accept how things were. every breakthrough was born from someone staring at the ceiling and asking, why not?

yet, outside of humanity, thinking is rare. you could even say it’s our competitive advantage as humans.

but between you and me, one of the many things we have in common is the ability to think.

you don’t need a degree to think. you don’t need a title. you don’t need permission.

it’s so fundamental to our existence that if you’re not thinking for yourself, i bet you someone else is doing it for you.

but like most things that are freely available, thinking is often undervalued.

most people don’t treat it as a craft. they treat it as a reaction.

yet there are levels to thinking.

> there’s reactive thinking—the kind you use to decide what to eat, when to cross the street, how to respond to a text.

>and then there’s another type of thinking i can’t put a name to yet—the kind that creates new categories, new companies, new civilizations.

the former keeps you alive when you dip your hands in boiling water.

the latter moves humanity forward.

the second type of thinking is rare because it’s hard.

it requires solitude. it requires being wrong—publicly, repeatedly, and with conviction.

it requires tolerating ambiguity and being curious in the face of not knowing.

it requires conversations with people who challenge you.

given the importance of generative thinking in driving humanity forward, we need to engage in it.

once you start, you quickly realize it compounds over time.

it’s not like thinking about what to eat- where you choose and forget.

this type of thinking keeps evolving, especially in our life’s work.

<sam altman>

because when we’re choosing our live’s work, it’s more important to spend a significant amount of time thinking about what to work on than the work itself.

(of course, there’s actually a need to execute)

</sam altman>

to think about the kind of life we want to live.

the kind of person we want to become.

the kind of love life we want to build.

this kind of thinking is not taught in schools yet it has been passed down multiple generations.

these aren’t questions you answer once.

and they’re not questions that stay answered forever.

so how do you know if you’re thinking well- or if you’re thinking at all?

» writing «

writing is thinking made visible.

it forces clarity.

you can lie to yourself in your head, but it’s harder to lie on the page.

writing doesn’t give you new answers—it surfaces the answers you’ve buried, avoided, or ignored.

it unlocks the second and third derivatives of your thoughts. it teaches you what you actually believe.

to think is human.

to write is to confront.

and sometimes, to discover.

chatgpt can help you write about what’s happening outside you.

only you can write about what’s happening within you.

if you want to accelerate your thinking, write.

if you want to compound your growth, write consistently.

the best founders, the best inventors, the best leaders—almost without exception—are also exceptional writers.

they may not be nyt best-selling authors. but they’ve pushed humanity forward with documenting, clearly, their thoughts.

not because writing is a side skill, but because it’s the core loop of original thought.

they think.

they write.

they build.

then they think again.

this is the real feedback loop of progress.

» lastly«

from all this, here’s my personal takeaway

the most important work you’ll ever do won’t happen in a meeting, or on a stage, or even in a product launch.

it’ll happen in your own mind.

in the quiet moments.

in the questions you’re brave enough to ask yourself—over and over again.

because thinking is how you begin.

writing is how you refine.

and building is how you show the world what you believe.

chase output but don’t just chase output.

chase clarity.

chase depth.

chase the kind of thought that outlives you- and one of the best ways to achieve this is writing.

ttyl,

dulra <3