Hey I'm Rohan! Thanks for reading. Thursday Thoughts is a weekly newsletter where I share one thought I’ve been pondering during the week and then recommend 4 other random finds from across the internet. Not yet subscribed? Do so here.

In this week’s issue we will cover:

• If All Else Fails, Ship

• The Introspective Genius by Yath Prem

• A Great Primer on First Principles Thinking

• Myth-Busting: Presidential Seals Edition

• A quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald

If All Else Fails, Ship

Illustration by Visualize Value

I’m currently writing this at 8:40 pm on Thursday, the day that I’m supposed to be publishing an issue of my newsletter. I did not want to be in this position but I find myself in it any way.

My writing process with this newsletter for the last few weeks has been about the same: reflect on what I’ve learned over the past few weeks, jot down a couple headers in a Notion document, and then do absolutely nothing else until Thursday comes around, the day I need to send it out.

This is not ideal. It’s also not how I want to do things in the foreseeable future. I envision a more streamlined process about getting into a habit of writing every day, refining, editing, in order to make sure that the issue that goes out on Thursday is not a result of me just hunkering down and writing it in a few hours but a more well refined product.

However, even though I could work on the process, this is still better than doing nothing. For almost 2 years, I was telling myself to start an online presence, publish my thoughts, put something of value out into the Internet. For those two years though, I have absolutely nothing to show for myself.

Over the last 4 weeks however, I now have 4 editions of this newsletter to show for, which to me is nothing short of a miracle. Even shipping something that is not the best and refined by-product of your thoughts is better than an completely empty canvas.

Shipping - a term popularized by Steve Jobs and Seth Godin - is the act of delivering, publishing, or releasing your work out into the world. It’s also the barrier for many people that’s stopping them from taking action.

Many people have struggles with their perfectionism stopping them from hitting publish and sharing their work. This blocks them from getting started - the biggest impediment to creative work. This is what caused me to postpone starting a version of this newsletter 2 years ago.

While the issues I’ve published earlier haven’t been the most perfect version of my thoughts - it’s still better than having nothing to show for on my Substack page for the last 4 weeks. I’ve now adopted the ethos of “just shipping” with hitting publish on a newsletter being a non negotiable thing for me every Thursday.

It’s still early days for me as a writer and shipping things, even if they’re not my best work, still gives me the chance to learn from my mistakes, iterate, and then ship again with these in mind.

The Introspective Genius

Illustration by Yath Prem

My friend Yath came up with this term in the latest issue of his newsletter (which you can check out here).

In Yath's own words The Introspective Genius:

There are times when I fall into the trap of just "going through the motions", doing the bare minimum that I need to get through the day without taking the time to be introspective and think about what I'm thinking or doing.

Self Awareness is something that we all develop over time, but regular introspection is crucial to speeding up this process and I for one am planning on trying to build introspection into a daily habit. Yath also shared a habit that's worked for him in a video here which I really enjoyed.

A Primer on First Principles Thinking

I’ve been really interested in the notion of First Principles Thinking and came across this great Twitter Thread by Sahil Bloom on the topic which you can see here:

First Principles Thinking has been stressed as a lynchpin to the success of many great modern thinkers of the likes of Naval Ravikant and Elon Musk and ancient thinkers of the ilk of Socrates. It basically boils down to breaking the problems and challenges that you encounter to their unchanging foundational elements - thereby ridding yourself of assumptions and self imposed constraints. This thread was a great introduction to the practice and I will be exploring this topic in more detail in a later issue without a doubt.

Myth-Busting: Presidential Seals Edition

One of the most recognizable symbols in world politics today is the above Seal of the President of the United States. The seal is littered with symbolism: the thirteen stripes on the shield and clouds above the eagle representing the thirteen original colonies, the 50 stars representing the 50 states, and E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many One) also referring to the expansion of the United States. The eagle in it's right hand holds an olive branch - symbolizing peace - whereas in it's left talons holds a number of arrows - depicting the power of war.

In a West Wing episode aired in 2000 called "What Kind of Day Has it Been?", a presidential aide calls the attention of the president to the fact that the eagle's head is turned to the olive branch. He goes on to say that during times of war, the presidential seal is replaced on the carpet of the Oval Office with a seal in which the eagle's head is facing the opposite direction towards the arrows.

I was going to write this in this newsletter today, noting the clever symbolism and neat hat-tip, but upon fact-checking this story it actually proved to be false. Apparently, Aaron Sorkin used his imagination to write this particular episode and the presidential seal does not change during times of war and peace. Before 1945, the eagle was perpetually facing the arrows which is why in buildings designed pre 1945 the old seal can be seen as well as on the Resolute Desk (which was a gift given to President Rutherford B Hayes in 1880 by Queen Victoria of England). In fact, ironically it was President Truman who changed the seal for the eagle to face the olive branches feeling that, "it was symbolic of a nation on the march and dedicated to peace" in the aftermath of World War II.

Quote of the Week

That’s all for this week. Please let me know your feedback on how to improve this newsletter. Would love to chat with you to make sure that each issue is providing you value going forward. If this is your first time reading and you liked it consider subscribing! Until next week - stay safe!