you can’t think your way to the next idea.
brainstorming doesn’t work. waiting for inspiration doesn’t work. “just focus harder” definitely doesn’t work.
ideas don’t come from isolation.
they come from collision—your particular self hitting reality at the right angle.
you can’t force a collision.
but you can architect for it.
surface area
every new domain is a new collision angle.
learn something unrelated. meet someone unexpected. read outside your field.
not for virtue. for probability.
more angles = more collisions. more collisions = higher chance something lands.
speed of conversion
when a collision happens, you have a window.
the insight is hot. the energy is there. the connection is clear.
wait too long & it cools. gets fuzzy. slips away.
this is why systems matter.
not because i love systems. because when a collision happens, i need to act fast.
capture it. develop it. ship it.
if my infrastructure is slow, i miss it.
friction as feature
comfort is a low-collision environment.
smooth. optimized. sterile. nothing unexpected happens because you’ve engineered out the unexpected.
constraints create friction. friction creates contact.
money constraints. time constraints. physical constraints.
not because i have to accept them. because they keep me close to the edge where collisions happen.
the full loop
maximize collisions — expand surface area, learn new things, be in more rooms.
sharpen taste — build filters so you recognize signal when it appears.
act fast — build infrastructure so you can convert before the window closes.
surface area. taste. speed.
that’s the stack.
i don’t know what the next thing is.
but i know it won’t come from thinking.
it’ll come from collision.
so i’m building the architecture for that.
the vault. the routines. the constraints.
all of it is collision infrastructure.
insight is an accident. but accidents can be engineered.
architect the collision. capture the spark. convert before it cools.