Why I’m Changing ThinkBySketch

For a while, ThinkBySketch was becoming a site about parenting, children, learning and AI.

There was nothing wrong with that topic. The problem was simpler: it was not the most natural version of me.

I kept asking myself what the niche should be, what the pillars should be and what kind of content would perform. The more I tried to define the perfect box, the harder writing became.

The friction

I am 43. I have spent more than 20 years working in software. I still code. I still enjoy making small things. I still get irritated by repetitive work and immediately wonder whether I can build a tool, script, workflow or tiny app to remove it.

I also keep experimenting with how I learn. Sometimes it is a book. Sometimes it is ChatGPT. Sometimes I turn an idea into a visual, a note or a small system just to see whether it sticks.

That is what I naturally talk about. Yet I was trying to make the site sound like a publication written by a carefully designed persona.

What I tried

I tried tighter niches. I tried content pillars. I tried thinking like a publisher before thinking like myself.

Some of that discipline helped. But one thing kept bothering me: if the topic changed, the whole site identity seemed to break.

What actually happened

I realised the subject was not the thing holding the site together. The way I approach problems was.

That loop can produce an app one week, a learning experiment the next and a work system after that. The topics vary. The point of view does not.

What I changed

ThinkBySketch is now organised around three loose shelves, not rigid pillars:

• Build: apps, automations, AI tools and engineering experiments.
• Learn: books, ChatGPT, notes, visuals and ways of understanding things better.
• Simplify: small systems for reducing busywork, distraction and unnecessary complexity.

I am deliberately leaving room around those shelves. If I lock them too tightly, I will eventually start writing for the structure instead of writing from experience.

What I kept

I kept the name ThinkBySketch because it fits better now than it did before.

A sketch is not the final answer. It is a rough attempt. A prototype. A way to think by making something visible.

That is exactly what I want this site to feel like.

I do not want to publish perfect systems. I want to publish useful experiments.

Steal this if it helps

If you are struggling to choose a niche, try a different question:

What do I repeatedly notice, try, build or figure out even when nobody asks me to?

That answer may be a better foundation than a market category you have to keep forcing yourself into.

For me, that answer is simple: I keep trying to make work and learning a little easier, usually by building or changing something small.

That is ThinkBySketch now.