Jacob Magalhães
All writing
TeachCreating Better·

How to Find the One Thing Worth Making

For everyone

The blank page isn't the problem. The crowded page is. Most makers I know aren't paralysed by having nothing to make — they're paralysed by having ten things and no way to choose.

Finding the one thing worth making is a subtraction skill, and you can practise it. I run three filters. First: which of these would I still want to exist in a year, even if it was hard? That kills the novelties. Second: which one am I uniquely positioned to make well? That kills the things someone else should do. Third: which one can I get a real version of in front of a real person soonest? That kills the fantasies that never survive a deadline.

What's left after those three cuts is usually obvious in hindsight and invisible before you run them. The clarity was never going to come from more thinking. It comes from ruthless elimination.

Clarity is a subtraction problem, not an addition one.

If you've got a crowded page and you're not sure which thing to commit to, that's a great thing to bring me. Tell me what you're weighing and I'll help you find the one that matters.

If this is where you are right now, here's the next step.

Show me what you're building
Not sure where to start?Find your next move

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