Hello, World.

This may be the eleventh time I start a blog. Please call me a serial entrepreneur, only because I failed all previous attempts. Not bad for a twenty-year-old. 

I start projects with reflections on past mistakes, since most of my mistakes happen for the same reasons.

In the case of maintaining a blog:

In hindsight they all seem so obvious. What makes this time any different?

 

Everyone has a 2020 story. Here is mine.

To get by each day, I started writing in a way that felt comfortable. Writing in school felt very forceful, so I never wrote outside of class. I had more time to read, think, and express my mind. This made me realize, only the prepared can seize the opportunities.

I read Atomic Habits by James Clear. He provides a straightforward framework to understand habit building. 

These four principles are my reasons to write using HEY world.

It makes blogging simple. Just send an email to world@hey.com and your post is live. The user interface makes writing emails a joy, not a chore. I feel natural, when writing emails. What about Microsoft Word documents? Not fun, especially because it reminds me of writing academic papers. And the instantly generated URL makes sharing and receiving feedback so easy. 

Nothing beats writing in the way I like it. Nothing beats the satisfaction of jotting down interesting ideas on sticky notes, turning them into draft, and rewriting. Nothing beats the generating more ideas when writing.

Okay, I hope this is not pandering to the team behind HEY. The people at Basecamp really had a vision on how emails should be, executed beautifully, and stuck to their core values. I stack my dream on theirs.

It's time for more people to enjoy writing (emails), for what it’s worth.

You might have a question: Why should I read your damn blog?

I don’t have a solid answer. If I can convince you with empty words, then I should go sell enterprise software to Fortune 500 companies. I don’t write viral Twitter threads like Naval, nor do I write prolifically like Tyler Cowen. But I write myself. Being authentic is the first and the last thing I can do as a writer.

I am a Gen-Z. Perhaps Zoomer sounds more interesting. Millions of people my age live in an environment full of insecurity and performance. Authenticity is scarce. 

 

After all, being “connected” 24/7 has some insane unintended consequences. Plenty of these connections are shallow and elicit negative emotions. I don't like that. Proactively being authentic is my best bet against this problem.

 

So here is what I can promise:

 

Sometimes I may have great ideas. Sometimes I may have very little to say. It doesn’t matter. Let's roll the dice and see what happens!

Please wish me the best, and welcome. My email is michaelhe@hey.com

Below is my profile picture by my wonderful friend Chris. 

P.S: Feel free to subscribe to this email list and visit my website. I rarely send anything, so don’t worry about spam.