It starts when you encounter something.

You are walking along the road when you encounter BLANK. Whatever BLANK is, it causes you to react in some way.

How do we react?

Our most likely reactions are the result of our previous reactions. That’s what habits are really: our subconscious reaction to things. But we can change our reactions, if we want. And, the richer our habitual questions, prompts, and reactions—the richer our thinking.

There is one invisible habit change that can lead to huge ramifications in the direction and tenor of a person’s life. No one talks about it. It’s not about wearing workout clothes to bed. Or quitting smoking. Or losing weight.

It's about thinking better. That’s the ultimate keystone habit.

Can you develop a habit of making sense out of the things you encounter, as you encounter them?

For that, you need a  prompt like "Hmm" . You need something simple that becomes an automatic habit, so it’s always there, ready to propel you into your best thinking—your sensemaking.

And simple prompts like "Hmm" are always there, even if we haven’t made them explicit—and we usually don’t. That’s why we need to take great care in which thinking habits we drill, because our questions don’t just shape our answers, they shape our selves.

What we spend time thinking about, is what we slowly start to become.

Eventually, the sensemaker in us may start to grow ever more curious about how we are making sense of things. - “Are there ways to go about this better?” - “What are some of the best ways to think about a THING?” - “Where can I go to learn more?”

That’s what I believe I can offer you—and have been providing you—for over 2.5 years so far. I may call it PKM, or ideation, or writing, or creativity…and I’ll still call all of those things…but it’s all part of sensemaking:

“I think, therefore I am.” - Descartes

Good sensemaking illuminates our thoughts and guides our actions—adding clarity, enrichment, and joy to our lives.

That’s why this newsletter is entering it’s butterfly phase, putting even more focus on you: The Sensemaker—because you care about how you think.

Like boxing, sensemaking is a sweet science, and I’m obsessed with bobbing and weaving through it all and sharing my favorite sparks with you. From engaging with Cicero’s devastating attack on Catiline, to Erasmus’ obsessive “variations” on sentences, to  what it means for a song from 1983 by Kate Bush to top the charts in 2022 thanks to a show on Netflix.

Sensemaking is how we transform ideas into intellectual capital.

If you’re here for that ride, I’m happy to have you aboard.