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The monthly newsletter for sharp thinkers |
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What happens in the moments before you begin? Those quiet moments when you're thinking up ideas, coming up with possibilities, or just pondering on what comes next. Those are the moments when magic can happen in our minds.
This edition is about that space. Where clarity can find you before chaos begins.
We've included two books that excel at one thing, helping you think better before you act.
Make Something Wonderful puts you inside Steve Jobs' mind. And The Almanack of Naval Ravikant curates years of insight and practical wisdom in one read. |
| Both books are free. And both are worth your time. If you'd like to read them on a reMarkable, download below and
follow our guide. |
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What's inside? |
Two minds on sharp focus: Think just like Steve Jobs and Naval Ravikant with these free books. Playground thinking: A short reflection on the messy middle, where good ideas get even gooder. The 5 Second Rule: Mel Robbins's tool for moving from thinking to doing. Sound thinking: Try an app with scientifically tuned-in sounds to encourage your best thoughts to pop up. Video portrait: A glimpse inside a transformation designer's creative process. |
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| Most of us know Steve Jobs the showman. Few of us know Steve Jobs the person, on a deeper level.
This collection changes that. Curated by the Steve Jobs Archive,
Make Something Wonderful gathers personal emails, speeches, interviews, and reflections from his teenage sketches of the future to quiet notes sent to his team at NeXT, his other tech company.
It's an intimate look at how one of the great minds of our time, thought creatively. Not just about products, but about time, intuition, simplicity, and what it means to build something with care.
This is a book to slow down with.
Download the book or read online |
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Yes apparently it's possible! And who better to learn from than Silicon Valley investor Naval Ravikant. His ability to turn years of learning into sharp insights, in as little as a sentence, has made him one of the most quoted minds in tech and investing.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
collects his most thoughtful ideas from years of podcasts, tweets, essays, and interviews, in one online space. It's not a traditional book. It's a toolkit for thinking about time, a balanced life, and how to live successfully on your own terms.
Full of "aha" moments and light on fluff. Whether you're taking a new direction or just rethinking your next move, this is the kind of book you'll return to, again and again.
Download here or read online |
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| Even after writing the first draft of a presentation with only pen and paper, Steve Jobs didn't jump straight into design. He stopped, tweaked and stripped things away. And then he went a bit further.
Inspired by this, is a short piece our own
William Chaumeton, Head of Concept Incubation at reMarkable. It looks at the moment after the first outline, and before the final polish. We like to think of it as a creative playground that's structured enough so you can think clearly, and open enough to play.
If deep thinking feels heavy, this is your permission slip to try, fail, and make a mess.
Read the Playground Principles |
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Sometimes the best way to untangle an idea is to teach it to yourself.
The Feynman Technique gives you a way to do this. Pick a topic, and then use plain language to explain it. The idea is this: what you can't explain easily, you don't understand yet. So you loop back, simplify, and try again.
Watch: The Feynman Technique (2 min) |
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After all this, there still might be a little wobble or two before getting underway.
Mel Robbins's 5 Second Rule bridges that gap. It bypasses your inner critic and replaces procrastination with action.
This is how you begin writing that first line, sketching a concept, or starting some work you mapped out. Trust us.
Watch: The 5 Second Rule explained (22 min) |
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Fancy a personalized soundscape to support deep work and better sleep? We do too.
Studies show that using the Endel app can boost focus up to seven times more than regular playlists. It adapts to you, the time of day, the weather, your movement and even your heart rate. Yes, really.
Discover Endel (2-month free for reThink readers) |
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In Carola Verschoor's work as a transformation designer, thinking doesn't stop when she puts down the pen, it's where it begins.
Writing by hand, moving words around, stepping outside or cooking are all ways she makes space to think and reflect on an idea. |
"I have Post-its in the kitchen, because thoughts will hit me, and I write them quickly. I know that I'll repurpose that later." |
This short video is a portrait of her creative process.
Watch Carola's story (2 min) |
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We've spent this edition looking at the part of our brains that can make something out of nothing. And ways we can bend our minds even further. How did we do?
Can you think of anything you'd like to see in your inbox next? Let us know. This isn't a survey, just a way for us to get into a conversation with your thoughts and ideas.
Share what you think
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