Sorry for a week’s hiatus from writing newsletter issues 🙏 - I’ll explain why it happened at the end of this one, but for now…
Although I don’t travel abroad very much (true, although ironic to say having just come back from Poland), I travel through the UK quite a lot
The weekend before last, for example, I headed from my home in Sheffield, all the way to Oxford to watch my brother row in the second-largest inter-college rowing event of the year.
Because I’ve got a bit of a vendetta going against the train services here in the UK, I took a coach there and back instead. That’s nine hours of travel in one day.
Fortunately, they weren’t wasted. I’ve built up a habit of using these journeys to my advantage. Think of it this way - it’s nine hours of time without great internet, just time to think, stare out of the window and dream up ideas.
You don’t know the people around you, so you have no distraction in that regard unless you go out of your way to pay attention to them and start a conversation.
On these journeys in the past I’ve come up with some splendid ideas for business, health and life, and one of them leads into the reason (or part of the reason) why I didn’t write anything last week. Let me tell the story…
A little less than a year ago I was sat on the bus home for Easter, thinking about my business PARAZETTEL. At that point, I was a little underwhelmed with the offering, knowing that I could do more than offer a done-for-you template for Obsidian.
As I disconnected from the internet, watching the world reel past the windows of the coach, my mind started to work on a new business idea. Because of the unbroken period of silence, I was able to go much deeper into planning than I might have done otherwise.
Originally, an idea for a cohort offer formed in my head - something a little more personalised and interactive. I had it lined up for the summer but never got around to taking action for a number of reasons, not least getting assaulted.
But I didn’t let the dream of an offer or product like this die and over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on bringing it to life.
It’s called the PARAZETTEL Community. Rather than a cohort, I built a place that could serve as a central hub for all my best ideas and content around knowledge management and productivity.
And it’s now live - you’re the first to hear about it aside from those on my PKM-specific email list. They’ve had the founding opportunity to get in, but you’re not far behind if you want to.
Anyway, I won’t bang on about this. If you’re interested, you’ve probably already heard about it on the other email list. But the link’s above.
The point still stands - some of the best ideas can come from long journeys because of the time spent in solitude, away from the internet, watching the world rush by.
Maybe give it a go, see how it works for you.
Talk next week,
— Theo
Last week’s issue (extended cut)…
Read the issue - 087 • The world’s not going to hurt you, but it won’t help you either
Made these video issues unlisted on the YouTube channel (for business reasons) but you can easily watch them from the link in the email here or on the website in the issue in question.