Hey friends,

Short announcement email today.

As the subject line hints, I’ve decided to slow down my email/essay publishing cadence. Instead of weekly on Fridays, I’ll send you an email whenever I have something interesting to share.

This is a big decision for me.

I’ve written a weekly newsletter for almost 8 years now. Over that time, I built up a writing habit, got my note-taking systems together, and enjoyed writing as a way to think more clearly. But I realized that things have changed for me. While my obsession with writing consistently got me to this point, it’s not what will get me to my next stop.

Online writing has been the direct or indirect reason for all my career opportunities so far. I’m afraid that if I pump the breaks, I’ll miss out on opportunities and the platform I’ve painstakingly built will crumble.

But I realize that at this stage in my writing game, the question is no longer “Can I do it?” but “How long can I do it?” And I know the answer is “Not very long”, especially if I force myself to a weekly cadence — even if it’s beyond reason — just because that’s what everyone else is doing.

I’ve had to face the harsh truth that while many creators recommend publishing consistently if not weekly to build an audience, I am just not one of those people. I’ve shown I can be consistent, but it takes a near-superhuman effort for me to do so. And anyway, I’d rather publish less frequently and enjoy the process than force a cadence on myself and hate it.

I’ve accepted that:

1. I’m more of a Tim Urban or a Paul Graham, than a Ben Thompson or a Packy McCormick.
2. I know how to vet ideas, get them out on paper, and broadcast them to the world. The important thing now is to develop really good ideas and to communicate them in the clearest way possible — and that takes time.

Writing, for me, is an infinite, intellectual game of a lifetime. I refuse to spend my life playing it by other people's rules or strategies. When (not if!) my readership shoots up and I start getting trolls and haters, I know that it will be other reasons, other than “I wrote a newsletter every week for 10 straight years.”

Anyways, that’s all for this week.

Tl;dr I’m not ending the newsletter — I need this and love this too much to stop. I just decided to shift my weekly cadence to a “whenever I feel like it” one.

I’ll talk to y’all less via email. But of course, I’ll still spout my usual nonsense on Twitter on a regular basis. And you’re more than welcome to join me there.

And with that, I’ll talk to you on Rox's Picks 82.