Projects on jneidel

Building a Split Keyboard for myself

web@jneidel.com (Jonathan Neidel) — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I have only ever used a laptop. To sit with a laptop at a desk is to sit hunched over. Fine for a time, but ideally you’d want to sit up, with your back straight and look straight ahead.

This is a solved problem. Get a monitor or laptop stand and an external mouse and keyboard.

Figure 1: A monitor and a laptop stand.

As you see I already had the monitor setup, but not the keyboard. Since I would use this keyboard all the time, it better be a great one. I chose my laptop, a Thinkpad, for that exact reason: it probably has the best laptop keyboard around. For my external keyboard I also wanted one of the best around.

This article tells the story of how I built an ergonomic split keyboard for myself. How I configured it and got good enough with it to be able to actually use it on a daily basis.

Let’s start with what makes a great external keyboard.

Great keyboard design #

Classic keyboards layouts emulate the typewriter through a sideways stagger that misaligns the keys. This stagger was necessary in typewriters their metal hammers would not get stuck. A constraint modern computers don’t share. 🙂

Figure 2: A classic keyboard layout with a sideway stagger.

With the removal of the stagger most finger movement become vertical rather than diagonal, finger paths are more consistent and strain is reduced.

Figure 3: After the removal of the sideway stagger.

To have the keyboard as one glued-together brick means that your arms are not aligned with your shoulders, but point inward.

Figure 4: With the layout split in two.

The ideal hand position is also not flat on the desk, but inclined to the side. Split keyboards make it possible to incline both hands independently of each other and in opposing directions, which is not possible if the keyboard is one large brick.

Figure 5: Demo of an inclined “tenting” setup.

Finger are not the same length so a horizontal stagger can add comfort.

Figure 6: With a horizontal stagger. Image credit

The best keyboard out there goes even further than that, but also comes with a much higher price point, less portability and a significant learning curve. I think the split keyboard will be the sweet spot for most people who want to have a great external keyboard.

Building process #

What is not for most people, though, is soldering together their keyboard themselves. More on that later. Let’s first choose a split keyboard design.

Picking a design #

The keyboard design should fit your needs.

The first thing to wrap your head around is how a keyboard can even be as small as this:

Figure 7: There are only 34 keys on the Ferris. Image credit

You can and have to program these keyboards. The Ferris can function because while you hold one of the arrow keys (in the bottom right) with your thumb, the rest of the keyboard get redefined, the keys now output something arbitrary you defined. This is called a layer. If you don’t have a number row, you can add a number layer. For example: usually you press E and get E, but if you hold the arrow key and press E, you can now get 3.

Layering is powerful and really can’t (and shouldn’t) be avoided when building a split keyboard. There are also combos, mod-tap and more. The fewer physical keys you have on the keyboard, the more reliant are you on these techniques. I knew, that as a beginner, I wanted a number row and many thumb keys. That already significantly reduced my options, which is a good thing.¹

I chose the Sofle design. It has amount of keys I wanted, a comfortable stagger, plenty of thumb keys and two encoders.

Figure 8: The Sofle design. Image credit

I chose splitkb.com as an EU-based vendor. There I could buy everything I needed at once with guaranteed compatibility, a guided part-picker, great documentation and no excessive shipping costs or import tax.

The Sofle kit requires me to solder the board myself. If you don’t want to solder:

Splitkb also offers already soldered kits that you can just plug together.
You still get all of the choice (switches, keycaps, display, encoder, trackpad), but without the manual labor. The price difference to self-soldering is a no-brainer if you consider the labor and tools.
Other vendors sell completely assembled keyboards at higher prices. You get the working product, but none of the fun or choice of building.
If you want to go dirt cheap you can go with AliExpress. Search for your design and get a preassembled keyboard or hunt down all the the parts you need.

Now to get my hands dirty.

Soldering and assembly #

The orientation guide helped me understand what all the parts were that I was looking at and how they would play together to (hopefully) become a functioning keyboard.

Figure 9: The parts upon arrival.

Choose the firmware #

Before anything gets soldered, test that the microcontrollers work by flashing their firmware.² My options were:

QMK: a text-based configuration language
Vial: a GUI where you don’t need to mess with key-codes

As much as I like configuring stuff, QMK looked like overkill. Vial was very easy to get into and is feature-complete for a beginners needs.

Figure 10: Testing that the microcontroller outputs a “keypress.”

Soldering #

Figure 11: My workstation.

My soldering experience was limited to one 2h session, years ago. I was basically a beginner. Great that the first task is to solder some tiny SMD diodes. A task not recommended for beginners, but I knew it was gonna be fine and went fine. Sure, the first 30 looked terrible, but I got better. The second PCB went really smoothly (4x faster than first one.)

Figure 12: A diode soldered to the PCB.

Next were the resistors.³ These were even smaller than the diodes. 🙂

Figure 13: Resitors soldered to the PCB.

With that I was done for day one after ~3h of soldering.

For 8€ one can add hotswap switch sockets. Without them you’d solder the switches directly onto the board. I chose what felt like the safer way, so that if I make a mistake or any switch breaks I don’t have to do a big desoldering effort. Which would be terrible (forshadowing.)

Figure 14: Sockets for easy switch replacement.

Through-out the first half of the first board I’m thinking “Why is this so hard to solder??? I thought I was good now!?”. By the second board it had become routine.

Figure 15: Preparing pins to socket microcontroller.

Figure 16: A microcontroller with pins soldered in can be easily removed from the socket.

As the last job for the day I wanted to do the rotary encoders:

Figure 17: The installed encoder.

Figure 18: Finished encoder with it’s hat on.

At the end of a 5h session I fuck up by soldering then encoder onto the wrong side of the board. Ouch. It only take one moment of inattention to mess up terribly.

Figure 19: Yes, that is the wrong way around.

I tried to desolder the encoder but it was not possible with my current tool. So, I went to the store and bought a new 30W iron. That also did not work. (Afterwards I found out that I needed the soldering iron with >30W that was marked as “unsafe for PCBs.” It is safe if you know what you are doing, which I wasn’t — so maybe it’s for the best. 😄)
Either way. I found a place in Berlin that does walk-in soldering work. After a two-hour train ride and 5-minute visit my board was fixed.

I put everything together, fixed some connections and tested the keys through Vials “Matrix Tester”. Everything worked, except for one row of keys.
I checked my soldering, redid connections, but … nothing. At some point I switch the microcontrollers and the dead row switches with along with it. A microcontroller problem it is.

Figure 20: Vial shows a dead row of keys.

After the newly ordered microcontroller arrived, was soldered up and put in, everything finally worked!

Figure 21: The final result.

From initial research to completion the build took around 20 days and ca. 13h of soldering and hardware debugging.

Cost overview #

Here’s what I paid for my kit, plus the unexpected costs:

Aurora Sofle Kit, switches, keycaps, microcontrollers, case, encoders and more: 226€
2m USB-C cable: 5€
Reordered a microcontroller: 31€
Bought a new soldering iron, which turned out to be only marginally better than old one: 43€
Had a professional fix the encoder soldering mistake of mine: 20€

Total: 325€ plus ~13 hours of my time.

Configuration #

My keyboard is smaller than a full-keyboard. Some of the standard keys are missing for lack of space. Through configuration they will be made available.

For Vial configuration is done through the local app.⁴ Vial needs the devices /dev/hidraw* to be writable. This can be done with:

ls -tc /dev/hidraw* | head -n3 | tr "\n" " " | xargs sudo chmod a+rw

I run this through an udev rule on device connect that calls this script.

Thumb keys for modifiers #

First up are the ten thumb keys. The requirement for my keyboard (configuration) was that it works well with Emacs. There is a lot of holding down Control in Emacs. Since the thumb is our strongest finger I wanted have it hold down that (and other) modifiers.

With one on each hand (2/10):

2x Control

Then I have (4/10):

Super: window management
Hyper⁵: Emacs bindings

Emacs also has bindings with two modifiers plus shift (control+meta+shift+something), so I needed a shift outside of the thumb keys. The other goes shift goes onto the thumbs (5/10):

Shift

With usage I quickly realized that the outermost keys were very hard to hit consistently and that the travel between the innermost to the outmost was slowing me down. I basically don’t use them now (7/10).

I only have 3 spaces left now and it needs to be these three (10/10):

Alt
Spacebar
Layer change: see next section

Figure 22: Base layer with my arrangement of thumbkeys (MO(n) is a layer change.)

I tried enter on a thumb key, but multiple Emacs org-mode bindings use two modifiers (two thumbs) plus enter.

Layer it on! #

A layer allows you to transform all keys on the keyboard. Here is what I get when I go into layer one:

Figure 23: Special characters layer.

You can see that I make keys accessible that are missing (#, *, ß, etc.) or so common that I want them more easily available (", ?, (), etc.)

Other people make much heavier use of layers than me. They have layers for numbers, special characters, movement, media, etc. I chose a keyboard with a number row, so I wouldn’t need to do this. After trying more layers I decided against it.

Why not use layers more heavily?

If I had more layers I would need more modifiers to activate them. I’m all out of thumb keys, so I would need to do mod-tap outside of my thumbs. Holding a layer modifier with the left hand, makes it hard/uncomfortable to hit a keybinding with the same. So if I had a numbers layer and numbers on both hands I would need a mod-tap on both hand to activate the layer.

Mod-tap introduces a configurable delay (200ms) for regular key-presses. In typing tests the mod-tap on an infrequent key like ö (; on US-querty) was both noticeable and bothersome. I would not want to have any more, especially not on frequently used keys like those on the home row.

Knobs (Encoders) #

Those rotary encoders are actually quite flexible. For their functions I have settled on volume control and left/right (for video control.) And on press down it runs the sequence C-x 1 – Emacs’ delete-other-windows – which is very convenient.

I experimented with them as page up/down for webpage and document scroll, but I did not use it much. What I did use was Emacs’ other-window in the direction that I was turning the knob. That was quite cool and I used it plenty, but to have the volume and forward/backward available outside of a layer was more important.

Adjustment period #

To get back to your usual typing speed and muscle memory on a new keyword will take time and conscious effort. For me these were the points where I felt the pain:

Orthogonal⁶ key placement and related bad habits.
Special characters in new places.
Keyboard shortcuts are completely different.

The orthogonal layout meant that keys were in slightly different places (e.g. straight up from the home row, instead of up and sideways.) Though this was the least of my trouble. My touch typing mistakes were much worse.

Figure 24: The touch typing rules show that B belongs to the left index finger.

On a staggered keyboard B is equally close to both index fingers on the home row and I used them interchangeably. On a split orthogonal keyboard B is on the left hand. For me that meant that my right index finger needed to unlearn that it could hit a B by going down and left.

Figure 25: On a split orthogonal keyboard B can only be reached by the left index.

Many special characters moved to layers as I already said. This too, took some getting used to. And while most letter keys were in the same place, the few that weren’t (the German ä & ß) threw off my writing speed.

But the hardest part were the keyboard shortcut that I had deeply etched into my muscle memory. Modifiers were now in different places. Key combinations used a different set of fingers. I had to look up some binding again and again because I just did not know them. They had been committed to muscle memory years ago and I had long forgotten what keys I needed to press.

Typing practice #

Typing tests are a great way to reduce typing friction and improve speed through deliberate practice. I used the full-featured website monkeytype.⁷

On my laptop keyboard I was at a comfortable 60wpm in English. I started out at an abysmal 10wpm on the new keyboard. I practiced regularly and added multiple increases in difficulty. I switched to German (more capitalization, harder combined words and ö, ä, ü, ß), added numbers and punctuation. It took me about 14h of deliberate practice to get up to 60wpm on the new keyboard too.

I saw the best progress when I drilled the “missed words” after a test, focused on accuracy over speed and stopped for the day when I hit a plateau.

Conclusions #

With that we have arrived in the present. A lot of work went into this project in building, configuring and adjusting to this new keyboard. I am left with a nicer computer setup for years to come. To me that was time well invested. And I enjoyed myself in the process.

I hope you feel inspired to do something like this for yourself (if you’re into this kind of thing.) 🙂

Much love,
Jonathan

References #

Consistent keybindings across macOS and linux (same copy-paste and more.) This is especially useful with a shared external keyboard.
The ultimate keyboard still awaits: the Svalboard. 3d printing and building this is someday project for me.
List of EU vendors for keyboards and keyboard components
Video: How to solder keyboards

See Decision paralysis aka. Analysis paralysis. ↩︎
Quick notes for flashing the firmware: Plug in the keyboard, mount it as a drive, move the vial .uf2 file onto the drive and test that it works as an input (as seen in the picture.) ↩︎
The resistors were optional for me, since I didn’t plan to add screens. I just put them on the board to be future-proof. ↩︎
Why not vial.rocks? It works, but the local app is faster and remembers what device was last used and that I selected the german layout. ↩︎
What is the hyper key and why would I want one? See this article. Why not use the hyper key built-in to QMK/Vial (HYPR(kc))? It does not produce a real hyper output in Emacs. I don’t want ctrl+alt+shift+gui I want a real hyper. ↩︎
What is an orthogonal layout? See the beginning of the article. ↩︎
I decided on monkeytype because it was 1) well recommended by relevant reddit communities, 2) full-featured and heavily configurable, 3) open-source. I’m very happy with my choice. ↩︎

Going vegan

web@jneidel.com (Jonathan Neidel) — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not writing this to convince anybody but myself. I have bad long-term memory. If I put my decision and the reasons going into it in writing it can help me sail through future seas of doubt.

Why vegan? #

I’m not going vegan for the animals. I’m doing it for me. Animal products are holding me - and humanity as a whole - back. Physically, ethically and spiritually.

Definition of veganism #

Being introduced to this definition was what made look into this topic again.

Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose - Vegan Society

The highlighted passage is key to me. Other definitions are black-and-white and insist that absolutely any consumption of animal products is evil. But peoples bodies are different. There might be someone who can’t live without a particular animal product. If they reduce the intake to as far as possible, they could be vegan as per this definition. Even with a non-zero consumption of animal products. Though it does require sensitivity and honesty with oneself.

The physical #

I’m not gonna make any health claims. Those by themselves did not convince me, no matter how much evidence there was.

How it makes me feel #

When I started with 100% raw food I found myself going back to cooked eggs. Without them I could feel truly satisfied. My body craved a nutrient it did not know where else to get. After some reading and experimenting I did not need eggs anymore. (I needed more green-leafy vegetables. Like way more. See Sunfood Diet Success System and it’s triangle for more info.)

Fish, eggs and dairy were still an occasional part of my diet at this point. What I noticed was how different I felt after eating a meal with and without an animal product. It was always noticeably worse. I had acquired a sensitivity I did not previously possess and I could clearly sense that I was better off without animal products and gluten.

The product itself #

I watched documentaries about the conditions the animal are held in. Milk cows are standing in their feces. Even a small cut will become infected in those conditions. Some infections grow so debilitating that the cow can’t walk anymore. They are isolated and “treated”, but if it gets worse they go off to the slaughterhouse. Still good enough for ground meat:yum: A lion would never go after an animal like that. That is tainted meat. The contaminated milk from puss-ridden utters is not any better.

“You are what you eat” and what the factory-farmed animal eats is the cheapest, pesticide-riddled, GMO-modified, unnatural (for their species) feed that big industry can get their hands on. The end product is of such low nutritional quality that the animal needs to be fed vitamin B12 supplements for the meat to contain any. That’s why meat eater in the know will insist on grass-fed beef. Otherwise the animals shitty diet end up on ones plate.

The ethical #

Gary Yourofsky makes the argument pretty convincingly. I also find that the pictures rationally examined speak for themselves. Most of these animal live their whole lives in conditions that would classify as torture if they were applied to humans (constant stress, noise and light = sleep deprivation, no sun or fresh air ever, not being able to turn around, sleeping in your own feces and lots more as allowed by your local regulations!)

The milk cows have it especially bad. They are doing 3-7 years of torture, with a sprinkle of the the regular rape plus having their children ripped away from them. At least for the rotisserie chicken it’s over after a month. Vegetarianism is not the answer to those cows prayers.

The spiritual #

This one is hard to explain. If you have not experienced this it might be hard to imagine. You really appreciate it if you have it though.

For me, it’s easier to feel things, I have a greater sensitivity in many regards. Connectedness to myself, my wife and the universe comes easier. Less ego and worldly attachment.

Every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher poetic faculties in the best condition, has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, or from much food of any kind. - Henry David Thoreau in Walden

Conclusion #

With this transition away from animal products I feel better for it physically, ethically and spiritually.

I felt secure having experienced that all my nutritional needs could be met without animal foods.
I felt motivated by feeling physically better without them.
I felt ashamed for the extent of humanities unconsciousness as manifested in this torture apparatus.
I felt drawn by the spiritual openness it afforded me.

After eating raw previously it was not hard to switch and seemed the logical next step.

References #

Best Speech You Will Ever Hear - Gary Yourofsky

:de:

Becoming profitable at Day Trading

web@jneidel.com (Jonathan Neidel) — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Becoming a better human being will make you a better trader.¹

What? #

Day trading is sitting in front of a lower time frame chart (5 mins, 15 mins) and speculating on what is unfolding in front of you. Positions are only held for the duration of the trading session.

Goal #

Be profitable.
Continuously increase the stake size (risk per point of movement in the underlying) up to 50€².

Why? #

What about day trading sparked my interest? Why did I commit to this project?

From No to :thinking_face: #

I had seriously considered day trading one year ago. I gave it a hard No. My aim is financial independence, not another job. I don’t want to sit in front of the chart all day, being restricted in my when and where. Case closed.

I still wanted trade with my money for some above average returns, but on a small time budget. That story is detailed here^:de: . As part of that I came across Best Loser Wins³. This quote caught my attention while reading:

Perhaps it is time to acknowledge trading for what it is? It is a great way to expose all your flaws. It is a great way to highlight your strengths. Through my trading and my research, I have uncovered weaknesses in my character.

For me, the side benefit of earning a living from trading the financial markets is the character traits it instils in me. I am more patient than ever. I am much more focused and disciplined than I was before. – Tom Hougaard³

Now it’s starting to sound interesting.

More about the mental game of trading

Success at trading is a mostly about mindset.

I always say that you could publish trading rules in the newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is consistency and discipline. [..] the confidence to stick to those rules even when things are going bad.⁴

The markets pose many challenges that need to be dealt with on a mental level:

Can you be calm and objective with a significant amount of money on the line?
Can you withstand the fear to get out and play it by the rules?
Do you have the patience to ride it out, to sight tight?

the ultimate test is the “belly test”. Can your belly handle the drawdowns? Are you willing to experience these feelings?

More clues #

At first I dismissed the idea. “I don’t want to be a day trader.” I said. But the idea kept coming back to me: “This vision of day trading has potential.”

I started to recognize aspects in trading I had already worked on:

“Don’t lie to yourself.” (Honesty⁵)
You need to listen to the market and view it objectively.
Failure is inevitable. It’s part of the process. It should be embraced.
Effectively changing my beliefs and subconscious reactions.
The importance of principles like “Ride winners, cut losers”, Always use stops, “Plan your trade, trade your plan”

These next two quotes strongly reminded me of The Power of Now:

In the past I was so preoccupied with what should happen. But to make money we must be focused on what is happening right here, right now.³

I think you are trading yesterday’s experience. You haven’t wiped the mind-slate clean. You are not present. You are focused on the past.³

Maybe trading, adapted to my style, would not be such a bad fit after all.

My decision #

I was hesitant to decide. Is this what I really want? Am I willing to put in the effort to make this work?

A decision carries with it the heavy responsibility to follow through. To not let up. To take the small steps that will get you there. To not be deterred by temporary setbacks.

I am very drawn to everything this project entails. In the end, the decision did not take long. My gut tells me that this is the way for me. I believe this is the best thing I can do for the world and other people.⁶

I know this is a though project. That it entails a ton of work. I’m all for it. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

Why specifically? #

“Just give me a concise list of reasons.”

In order of importance:

It provides me with a challenge that allows me to perpetually expand my comfort zone. (By continuously increasing the stakes to make it less comfortable for myself.)
There is much I can learn about myself in the markets, if I pay close attention.
Trading is fun.
Money also. Financial independence has always been one of the broader goal I’m working towards. I’d be nice if this gets me there or closer to it, but I’m not expecting anything.

How? #

I’m starting with Toms³ strategies and will slowly make them my own over time.

This is what I will do (ordered by the amount of time allotted):

Research and deliberate practice: get better with the strategies at a technical level
Trade: observe and review my strategies in action and the feelings they generate
Internal analysis: reflect and correct my behavioral responses
Produce output: share my research, learnings and progress
Distill and internalize trading principles
Improve my trading journal (it’s already pretty decent at this point)
Study price action
Consume relevant input (books, podcast, course)

This is an ongoing project and will be updated over time. More frequent updates can be found in the newsletter:

From a talk by Tom Hougaard (Author of Best Loser Wins³): The ideal trading mindset ↩︎
I realize this is a huge stake size and that I will have to build up a great level of confidence and capital to swing this big. I would rather aim way high and only get half-way there than setting a more realistic 10€. If you don’t comprehend why this is a large stake size: with a stop loss 20 points away, one has 1.000€ at risk. ↩︎
Best Loser Wins - Tom Hougaard: A book about the mental attitudes required to be a successful trader. It’s the best book on the stock market I’ve engaged with so far. The author is a real one. He knows what he’s talking about, is genuine and he lives what teaches. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Richard Dennis in Market Wizards – Jack D Schwager. ↩︎
Another quote about honesty in trading I found insightful:
The fruits of your success will be in direct ratio to the honesty and sincerity of your own effort in keeping your own records, doing your own thinking, and reaching your own conclusions. – Jesse Livermore
↩︎
Eisel Mazard always urges listeners to go out and attempt to make the world a better place. I have looked for way that I can do that. Some way that is right for me.

The outcome of my why workshop⁷ was: “To improve myself, so that I can best support others.” By improving my personality through trading I will be able to do much more for other people and the world. Nowhere am I as driven, as in my self-development. Harnessing that drive for the betterment of all is how I can make the world a better place. ↩︎
See Find your Why – Simon Sinek ↩︎

Naming the Newsletter

web@jneidel.com (Jonathan Neidel) — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What? #

I needed a name for my newsletter. It being called “Newsletter” just wouldn’t do. That “name” was a relict of Start before you are ready.

Why? #

Words mean things.

The best names convey an essence of what lay beyond. “The Power of Now” is about the energy of the present moment, “The 4-Hour Workweek” about the idea that you can work dramatically less, “Using your Brain –– For a change” about making your neurology work for you.

“Newsletter” is just a category descriptor. What it conveys is: generic, unoriginal, lazy, etc.

Simply, a fitting name for my newsletter would improve the perception of is contained inside.

How? #

I generated 10¹ ideas everyday, until I had a good selection (inspired by James Altuchers idea generation practice.)

My list of ideas #

Below you can find the raw list of what I came up with. Feel free to skip it. Some of these are awful, but I needed to get those out of my system, to get at the better ones that will come after.

Full list

Sunday:

weekly update
challenging
better every week
evolving
challenge update
more from me
progress report
progressive enhancement
bit by bit
step by step
every week’s a challenge
challenged weekly
challenged news
all the evolution
hardly structured (too deep)

Monday:

the hard report
the retort report (off topic)
daring updates
daring progression (double meaning)
daring darling
daring change
daring development (1. hard development, 2. challenging progress itself)
growth report
changing for the better
keeping up the momentum
keeping up with evolution
winding progression
the winding ways (analogy for change)
wandering to victory
the winding road of progress
the winding approach
roundabout rise
daring drive

Tuesday:

demanding more of yourself
down the road (analogy for progress)
further along (sound more like a coaching format or a podcast)
another week, another way
the long road to rising/riches
the winding path of betterment
the winding path of development
the winding path to nowhere
a winding path of progress
demanding development (double meaning)
endearing evolution
endearing development

Wednesday:

stimulating growth (double meaning)
stimulating progress (double meaning)
stimulate positive change
stimulating transformation
flowing towards transformation
a winding way of awakening
a winding way of advancement
a winding walk of competence
a winding walk to transformation (too on the nose)
winding up on top
winding up better
a small step for man
the smallest of changes

Thursday:

continuous improvement
inspiring incremental improvement
incremental improvement report
choosing to pursue
choosing to improve
choosing transformation

Friday:

wafting waves of success
wafting winds of change

Saturday:

undoubtedly better
mastering the path forward
IMprovement (incremental momentum)
various ways to evolve
wasting daylight
the inner game of progress
now that’s a challenge!
enhance! (zoom-in in movies)

Ok, towards the finish I was going off the deep end :joy:.

Effects #

Thinking of names confronted me with the questions of: What am I doing with the newsletter? What does it stand for? How can I capture that in a word? Or an image?

Themes #

To me, the newsletter is about continuous personal development and growth.

The three images I came up with that embodied this were:

Walking a winding path. Progress has it’s twists and turns but you just have to keep going and you will make it to the end. The path not straight-forward and differs for each individual. We’re all own our own journey.
A river flowing downstream. The river flows continuously. The water that it is made up of has a lot of power. The river will make it’s own way.
A (sun)flower waving in the wind (see my logo.) The winds might blow in this or that direction, but the flower remains stoic. The flower needs to keep growing or it will wither away, it goes through it’s own lifes journey.

Picking a winner #

I went through and picked a selection of contenders (bolded in the list above), which I weeded down to five candidates.

Flowing towards Transformation
A Winding Path of Progress
Changing for the Better
Winding up Better
Wafting Winds of Change

With input from my wife, I decided on A Winding Path of Progress, which had been my favorite picture all along.

Tools used #

Because I played around with alliterations, I created myself a list of nouns to reference what I wanted the newsletter to symbolize.

challenge
progress
evolution
development
change
growth
momentum
enhancement
transformation
shift

I expanded this list by looking through Synonyms and having Claude generate me a noun with a similar meaning, but starting with the letter X.

Also: Merriam Webster for definitions.

Creating a logo #

I had already envisioned a logo to go along with this title while I conceived it. I wanted a twisting road making its way into the horizon. To an image generation AI I went. This was my prompt:

winding path into the distance drawn in fine red line #d70000 on white background, minimalistic simple, no scenery

The original version image.

After some editing in GIMP (the linux photoshop), I had this final result:

The resulting logo on the website.

I added some logic to my website, where on /newsletter routes it would display this logo, rather than my normal sunflower. Here is the code of how I did that in my hugo setup.

Conclusion #

This was fun and easy to do. The method of generating many ideas over time worked very well for me.

If you are now interested in checking out the newsletter, you can sign up below:wink:

I wasn’t so fixated on the number. My target was 12, but some days I left it at less than that. ↩︎

Writing every day for 365 days

web@jneidel.com (Jonathan Neidel) — Thu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Project start: May23 2024 Offical project end: Nov17 2024

This project was aborted (i.e. the Project was stopped before completion.) See my conclusion.

Challenge definition #

I have decided to commit myself and take my writing to the next level. The challenge is: 365 days of writing every day.

No off-days. No excuses.

This challenge was inspired by Andy: CHALLENGE: Start a 365 Day Project and a this more in-depth podcast episode.

Intent #

I want to get better at writing. Doing something every day is a very effective way of getting better at something.

I have a vision of this website in my mind that I want to bring to life. That requires a lot of writing. I want to spend this time working through my huge backlog of articles and build traction for this site.

I thoroughly enjoyed writing my thesis in uni and have known since that I want to make this practice a regular part of my life.

Definition of Writing #

I am a person that needs clear rules. Uncertainty about what I can and can’t do leads me to indecision and abusing loopholes.

§1 Writing means writing something that will be used on this website.
§2 The minimum is one usable paragraph. It does not matter if the paragraph ends up being used. The intention should be that it will be. A note or rough draft does not count.
- a) Process-appropriate translation work is a suitable alternative. The minimum for translation is a whole article.
- b) Late-stage editing is another alternative. The minimum for editing is bringing an article from the editing phase to publication.
§3 Writing needs to happen on some article that is in the pipeline, not just: “Oh yeah, I wrote this note that will become an article later.”

Daily log #

This is the log, of what I wrote each day.

Wrote this article.
Finished writing Eat the frog, edit and translate it. Started writing The Inner Game review.
Continued writing and editing The Inner Game review^:de:.
Started writing on a post about vulnerability.
Wrote first version of the Neurostreams quick reference guide.
Wrote & published the coupons essay in German.
Put finishing touches on coupons. Started on Neurostreams review.
Wrote & published Minimeal review^:de:. Updates to Selling SOIL^:de:.
Started on Jim Rohn review.
Finished the Jim Rohn person review.
Continued writing the Neurostreams review.
Final version of the Neurostreams quick reference guide. Translated it as well.
Translated the coupons essay.
Some corrections, reworked and expanded the intermittent fasting review.
Collect sources for intermittent fasting, add maintenance paragraph to air purifier.
Continue on Neurostreams review.
Continue on Neurostreams review.
:slightly_frowning_face:
Started on waves essay.
Continued on waves essay.
Wrote my now page.
Make headway on Neurostreams review.
Editing first half of the Neurostreams review.
Add buying guide and do some editing on Neurostreams quick reference guide.
Write introduction to challenges.
Edit first half of Neurostreams review.
Continue editing/rewriting Neurostreams review a little.
Write first draft of No interrupting.
Finish editing the second half of the Neurostreams review.
Final edits and publishing of Neurostreams review.
Write first draft of donating blood review^:de:.
Finish donating blood analysis^:de:. Write offer technical evaluation. Translate first half of Neurostreams review.
Translate the second half of Neurostreams review.
Small addition to no interrupting.
Start project article about entrepreneurship.
Expand the project article about entrepreneurship in scope.
Significantly expand no interrupting essay.
Started writing on Trading on Coporate Earnings review.
Significantly expand no interrupting essay.
Wrote a little on the entrepreneurship article.
Wrote a little on no interrupting.
Started writing on Trading on Coporate Earnings review.
Expanded & edited a good chunk of no interrupting.
Greatly expanded the Trading on Coporate Earnings review.
Finish and publish Trading on Coporate Earnings review.
Expand Trading on Coporate Earnings review. Update german SOIL selling guide.
Final edits on no interrupting.
Wrote first half of trampoline jumping review.
Wrote second half of trampoline jumping review.
Final editing on trampoline jumping review.
Publish trampoline review. Publish no interrupting.
Start writing AWS review.
Continued writing AWS review.
Published AWS review.
Start writing essay on how to be miserable.
Continue how to be miserable. Start writing article on changing internet providers.
Continue writing on changing internet providers.
Write a tiny bit more on changing internet providers.
Edit and restructure changing internet providers article.
Publish changing internet providers. Correct mistakes on 3 articles. Slightly expand AWS review.
Structure and start writing on GbR project.
Continue on GbR project.
Write a little on GbR project.
Continue on GbR project. Write FYRST review^:de:.
Describe learnings of this challenge. Write the 1. Newsletter.
Continue a little on GbR project.
Continue write the GbR project.
Write an essay on negating commands.
Write on technical documentation project.
Write a little on GbR project.
Rules are there as a guide to push you in the right direction. If a rule does not push you in the right direction, it’s not a rule it’s an impediment. – I’m just tired after preparing and driving all day. I could get my one paragraph in, as I did yesterday, but it was and would be sub par.
Start NLP23 review.
:books: :student: Full day at NLP Seminar
:books: :student:
:books: :student:
:books: :student:
:books: :student:
:books: :student:
:books: :student:
Continue NLP23 review. Start writing hypnosis for coaching.
Continue NLP23 review.
:face_with_thermometer: Sick
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
Continue NLP23 review.
Continue NLP23 review.
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:slightly_frowning_face:
Continue NLP23 review.
Write newsletter #2.
Finish up writing NLP23 review. Start Oladance open ear review.
Finish up editing Oladance open ear review.
Write newsletter signup texts.
Rework and improve collect website feedback.
Translate und update now.
Start newsletter #3.
Publish newsletter #3.
Continue on technical documentation project.
Continue on technical documentation project.
:slightly_frowning_face:
:slightly_frowning_face:
:slightly_frowning_face:
:slightly_frowning_face:
Continue on technical documentation project.
Continue on technical documentation project.
Continue hypnosis for coaching.
:slightly_frowning_face:
:slightly_frowning_face:
Start 20 Days in Mariupol review.
Start on 720 Degree bottle review.
Start newsletter #4.
Start on article about what NLP is.
Continue on article about what NLP is. Add to NLP Practioner review. Finish 20 Days in Mariupol review.
Write page about AI usage. Finish and translate newsletter #4.
Continue on what is NLP.
:slightly_frowning_face:
:slightly_frowning_face:
Continue on technical documentation project.
:slightly_frowning_face:
Start essay about barefoot shoes.
Write essay about “I don’t have time”.
:slightly_frowning_face:
Start newsletter #5.
Continue newsletter #5. Publish translated Neurostreams review
:slightly_frowning_face:
Continue newsletter #5.
Publish newsletter #5.
:slightly_frowning_face:
Start stock market strategy^:de:.
Finish stock market strategy^:de:.
Update Minimeal and John Rohn review. Publish newsletter #6.
:slightly_frowning_face:
Update challenges. Update NLP23 Review^:de: .
:slightly_frowning_face:
Finish What is NLP?
Work on GbR project.
Start newsletter #7.
Write newsletter #7. Write Naming the newsletter.
Publish newsletter #7.
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
Update changing internet providers project.
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
Start time-tracking guide.
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:face_with_thermometer:
:neutral_face:
Start rewrite and restructure of now and about pages.
Write and publish digitizing papers project.
Continue now rewrite.
Continue time-tracking guide.
:neutral_face:
Write and publish newsletter #8. Publish updated now. Start year recap.
Continue year recap.
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
Start newsletter #9.
Continue newsletter #9.
Publish newsletter #9. Rewrite torrenting setup guide.
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
Edit naming the newsletter.
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
:neutral_face:
Write intro to newsletter #10.
Update now projects.
:neutral_face:
Write conclusions to this challenge.

Learnings #

Progress #

I can feel that I’m getting better at writing.

Structuring posts has become easier. First drafts are better. Editing is faster. I have a better sense of what won’t and will fit. The distinction between English/German has become more clear. I don’t mix the two together as much and both sound more natural. It’s easier to write clear short sentences. To omit unneeded words. I pick up and improve little stylistic elements, like: quoting a source, the us of footnotes, parenthesis for explanations, headline interaction with the text before and after, etc.

This outcome was expected, but it is still satisfying to see this happen organically, just by sitting down to do the work.

Comprehension & Completion #

The ideas and projects I pick to write about are usually very thought-out. I have already engaged with them, internalized and applied them to my life.

What I find in writing about them is that they were not as clear in my mind as I had thought. There are aspects I overlooked. Discrepancies that reveal themselves. Questions I can’t answer, that pop into my head.

Writing forces me to clearly structure everything I know on the topic in my mind.

It also makes me really complete a project. I go through my messy notes and create a beautifully shaped article out of them. One that put the core ideas are front and center. That lacks the unimportant references and tangents (side notes.) That is clearly structured and referenceable.

When I otherwise wouldn’t #

There were many days that I sat down to write in the evening just because I had to. This challenge forced me to do the right thing, when I otherwise wouldn’t.

Sometimes I would write very little. That’s ok. I made the bar (required minimum) very low on purpose. I still did the writing and kept up the habit.

Sometimes I was not in the mood. I still sat down to write and discovered that it was a lot of fun. It always is.

Challenge conclusion #

The last two months of this challenge were on and off. I was not really committed to the challenge any more. The big reason for this was: In my mind I had already already the goal behind this challenge. Only the arbitrary time restriction kept it alive.

My writing has improved. Anytime I want to write about a topic, I can pop out an article up to my quality standard. All the processes are in place, I know how to arrange the filter the contents and describe the topic in a compelling way. Certainly, there is still much room for improvement, especially when it comes to moving a reader to action. It is a topic I will focus on again in the future.

The website has a decent amount of content. When I started this website, I only had ideas of how things would work. I didn’t have the articles to fill my categories. I didn’t know if it would make sense. Now I do. To me, the concept has been validated and realized. A website can always have more articles and I have more to say. And I will. With time.

Future grow of the website does not hinge on more content. Articles are a factor, but SEO alone will not do it for me. Instead I would have to market the website and spend time on growing an audience. That, combined with a focus on putting out more articles is most likely a future priority.

With these point in mind, my focus naturally shifted. Other topic come into focus and supplanted writing. It became an annoyance on my todo list. I still like writing and this was fun, but I now have other things I am focused on. These challenges needs to be in line with my priorities, not the other way around.

Future writing for this website:

I will continue to publish the newsletter every week.
I will try to publish one article every other week.
The articles will be about topics I am currently working through.

Weekly Challenges: A format for continuous growth

web@jneidel.com (Jonathan Neidel) — Sun, 12 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A way to continuously apply self-development learnings and expand my comfort zone.

Any self-development learning can only be as good as your application of it. If you don’t apply it to your life, that idea means nothing.

Every week I am taking a self-development learning or something I want to expore and formulate it into an actionable challenge: A task for me to do every day, an idea that I want to pay close attention to, as I go through my daily life, or a restriction on a certain behavior.

I invite you to do something similar.

My challenges #

These are the learnings I have focused on. In the middle of 2024 I converted the format into a newsletter, where the challenges are clearly defined and I give some more insight into my experiences and outcomes.

Current streak: 5 weeks completed

Week 19: Applied:

The power plant doesn’t have power, it generates power
Week 20-21: Applied Eat that frog
Week 22: Neurostreams intensive
Week 23: Applied:

People are like balloons, with each interaction you can either let some air out of them, or blow them up a little.
Week 24: No interrupting others.
Week 25: No new information. Don’t consume anything I haven’t read or listed to before.
Week 26: Listen to my purpose. Consider the things that I am doing. Are they aligned with my compass (purpose) or are they not? What can I do about the ones that are not? How can I strengthen the ones that are?
Week 27: Leave work unfinished. Leave a task you want to continue later/tomorrow unfinished, so that you don’t let it go and are drawn to it later.
Week 28: Watch for signs of VAKOG. What are the conversation partners preferred communication channels? Listen for signals. Preparation for an upcoming NLP seminar^:de: .
Week 29: Dedicate some more attention to applying the Hemingway trick. See: outcome
Week 30: Learn and apply the Milton model to my self-talk. On the weekend make an effort to remember peoples names at the NLP seminar I’m attending. See: definition & outcome
Week 34: Improve presence in daily life.
See: definition & outcome
Week 35: Wear formal clothing to promote abstract thinking.
See: definition & outcome
Week 36-37: No audio-visual media.
See: definition & outcome
Week 38: Sun salutations as the first thing after getting out of bed.
See: definition & outcome
Week 39: 4x4 + Visualizations. Write down 4x4 goals (4 biggest goals, 4 times each) followed by a visualization technique that sounds actually effective. See: definition

If you have a suggestion for something I should try, just let me know :slightly_smiling_face:

Benefits of keeping a page like this #

Defining challenges ahead of time stops this behavior in it’s track: “Oh, I don’t know what challenge to do next”, which leads to “Damn I forgot to define a challenge” :right_arrow: “I guess I’ll skip this week” :right_arrow: *ignores next reminder*.

It also works as a way to keep me accountable to stick with these challenges. I combine it with an accountability group that I keep up with every week.

This page will be updated continuously and it will grow with time. Feel free to bookmark the site and come back to it on a later date :slightly_smiling_face:.