Learn to See. Both Forest and Trees.
Whenever you set out to accomplish something, you enter a treacherous forest.
We know frighteningly little about The Forest, but we know it exists. It’s the nemesis of clear and directed thought, a mental maze for the mind worker. It’s the battleground where sirens whisper you off course or drag you down into deep, nasty rabbit holes.
The Forest is also a thief of attention and a leaker of life force. It’s what drowns you in the weeds or causes you to get lost in abstraction. It mirrors, in a rather sinister way, the tangled mess of misaligned thought: the devil hidden in the details, the wood missed for the trees, the particulars taken out of context, the concrete distorted by detached platitudes.
The Forest is ever-present. Everlasting. evergreen. And there’s no escaping it.
About This Substack
Hey! 👋
My name’s Dennis.
Accomplishment of any kind requires pathwork— you need to forge your way through The Forest. And yet, few are talking about how actually to do that. That’s why, in early 2022, I created a public journal of my research into the self-similarity inherent in personal productivity. I became convinced that true accomplishment demands getting the magnitude right. It requires us to work smart at all scales—to unite the grand with the granular. We need high-level aspirations aligned with the fine art of taking action. We need to focus on what truly matters at the expense of everything else.
So, my mission is simple: help you beat The Forest by uncovering patterns that drive Productiveness (with a capital P).
For this, we need more than just a newsletter or blog. We must embark on a long-term journey of knowledge-building. It’s about peeling back the layers of wisdom—one by one—so that with each interconnected puzzle piece we add, we build a vast latticework of insight over time, brick by brick. Over time, we aim to develop a comprehensive pattern language for accomplishment. To stay oriented along the way, we’re also creating a Knowledge Atlas & Lexicon, guiding us as we navigate this complex path.
Why Fractals?
Many of the wonders we’ll explore arise from size—specifically, from fractals, those scale-free entities that look the same across different levels of magnification.
Fractals are a pattern of reality. To see one, just look at the stalk of broccoli on your plate, the tree outside your window, or the flock of doves above that tree. Whether the flock consists of ten, a hundred, or a thousand birds, it behaves the same. That’s the fractal nature of the world.
Another excellent illustration of the idea is the famous Russian nested dolls.
Fractals were first discovered as geometric shapes, but they’ve since been identified in many other areas. Our focus is on conceptual fractals.
Let me illustrate: If you examine actions, tasks, and projects, you’ll notice they exist on a spectrum. These concepts are self-similar and scale-free, repeating the same patterns and principles across different magnitudes or levels. From this, we can extrapolate and uncover a novel concept—the personal program—that sits one level above the project and was previously hidden in plain sight.
In other words, fractals can open your eyes. They can make you see the forest and the trees and give clarity at every level. And clarity equals power.
How Fractal Productivity Can Help You
Here’s what I offer if you join our knowledge-building journey:
Gain A Dual Perspective—I will teach you to see both the grand philosophical picture and the nitty-gritty pixels of action. This will enable you to avoid waste, become more effective, and perform when it counts.
Get Unstuck—A dual perspective unlocks vertical agility. You’ll learn to fractal (that is, navigate magnification levels) to overcome many obstacles you face.
Train Your Brain—What we do here reaches deep, stimulating your executive areas and training you to sharpen your mind, think clearer, and solve faster.
Make Sense of the Noise—You will learn to navigate and debunk the chaotic landscape of productivity advice and recognize what works.
Repattern Your Mind’s Topography—Clear out your mental furniture and develop powerful new mental models. Learn advanced concepts to build scaffolding when it's helpful and tear down barricades that no longer serve or slow you down.
Build a Truly Personal Accomplishment System—You will get nudged towards a smart system uniquely tailored to you, guaranteeing smooth and effortless output. You’ll be ready to tackle anything and everything. More precisely, you’ll learn to…
complete action items instead of merely shuffling them around.
structure big efforts without getting overwhelmed by them.
work on what brings you joy — day in and day out.
tame a personal knowledge companion and become a peaker.
build a personal knowledge base that pays dividends.
and so much more…
What about the particular essays that aren’t free? And about access to the gold mine of 70+ essays that we already built up over the last two years?
Well, if you’re really into this and you dare to take the leap, I promise to take you even deeper down the rabbit hole. Most premium content is about cutting edge explorations that will propel you far ahead of those around you. Most productivtiy content out there is ridiculously shallow. I’m here to change that for you, if you only let me.
We’re still in the early stages of our journey together. So subscribing now is cheap. For a little while longer you can even gain lifetime premium access by becoming a founding member (in this I even include books I am writing in the years to come). But for most the annual subscription will turn out to be the best deal.
Testimonials
I loved your WIP on guilt-free collecting in WOW and
I'm interested in reading more of your ideas and techniques.
I subscribed because I'm very inspired by the idea of fractal productivity. And I like how you approach things. I was building a fractal productivity system myself, based on a model I built for psychological and spiritual development. I'm connecting both worlds. I look forward to connecting and learning from you.
"I am learning to get to the fundamentals of what it means to be productive, and efficient in life. I am curious about how first principles can help, and am hence exploring your writings"
No spam. No advertisements. No sponsoring. The only time you’ll hear from me is when I add another insightful piece to the world of Fractal Productivity. You can expect that to happen about one time per week.
If you want more, or shorter content, make sure to check out my second newsletter: Knowledge Builders, where I’ll answer common PKM questions in a digestable Q&A format.
If, after that, you still want to hear more from me, you can message me, join the subscriber chat or follow me on Substack Notes.
