Why I write blogs?

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A truly natural impulse

I quickly discovered my passion for writing, which I enjoy even more than reading. My father, a former writer turned entrepreneur, likely influenced me. I started writing at a young age in elementary school, with poetry as my first love.

Writing feels more like a natural impulse than a duty. If I don't write, I feel discomfort. With countless thoughts circling in my mind, writing provides a release, almost like a cure.

I recognize the benefits of writing: it helps in reorganizing thoughts, formulating structured ideas, and consolidating understanding, as Feynman emphasized in his learning method. However, these benefits don't push me to write. I write because I feel uneasy if I don't. I truly believe that’s how humanity works for most people: a habit is sustainable only if it feels like a constant, urgent demand from within. Merely stating "it's a good habit to have" rarely motivates people to adopt it.

I used to organize my thoughts using the iPhone's native memo app. But as I graduated from college, my thoughts became more complex and systematic, beyond what a simple memo could handle. So, I decided to start blogging.

A window for people to know me, aka personal branding

Whenever I meet a new interesting person, or catching up with some old friends, I really do have a lot to share, and those sharing are generally less about news but more about learnings. As I met more interesting people daily (a good sign!), I felt the repetition of introducing my learnings has been annoying enough that I wanted some form of automation, and blogging seems to be a great way to do it.

It also helps me to build a personal brand. I do believe personal branding has been one of the most underestimated asset in terms of its effect, and overestimated in terms of its cost. Personal branding, similar to any other assets, has compound interest. The earlier you get on the right track of exponential growth, the much greater rewards you will receive in the end.

Whenever I meet someone new or catch up with old friends, I have many to share. These are less about news and more about my personal learnings. As I encounter more interesting people daily, repeating my insights has become tedious enough that I wanted some form of automation. Blogging seems to be a great solution.

Blogging also helps me build a personal brand. I believe personal branding is an underestimated asset in its impact and overestimated in its cost. Like any other asset, personal branding yields compound interest. Starting early on the path of exponential growth can lead to significant rewards in the end.

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Why? Checkout →

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Exponential Growth and Compound Interest

I’m lazy, uninterested, and incompetent in other form of medias (music, art, video, and others), which makes blogging a no-brainer.

Practice writing

Even though I often claim I’m bilingual in both Chinese and English, I must confess I’m terrible at both in writing very concise, elegant articles (I admire George Orwell for that). Often times my English writing sounds Chinese-translated, and vice versa. In reality, my natural writing style is a blend of both languages.

Given that the potential audience of this blog primarily uses Chinese and English, I've decided to make the blog bilingual. This will also help me practice and improve my writing skills in both languages.

On originality

I won't claim much originality in my writing. Most of my content is a personal reinterpretation of ideas from great minds I admire. I draw inspiration mainly from the works of Paul Graham, Sam Altman, and Naval Ravikant, among others.(keep adding on this list..)