what does it mean to guard my attention ?

π: (?) marks uncertain readings. The final photo cuts off part of the right margin; the visible fragments are retained.

i actually do prefer this workflow.

stay completely disconnected while the efforts to connect are happening at scale in the background w/out me getting exposed to all of the poisonous noise out there.

let me think thru this now bc. it feels relevant.

workflow. → the way of operating.

firstly, deep work is super important. long continuous, uninterrupted blocks of attention is required to study / understand / seek truth. — absolutely

an obvious sort of realization. i must protect my attention. guarding it is my firstest (?) priority. but this is nuanced...

1. expose myself to the right things.
2. let go of the things i've been exposed to that are irrelevant, w/out getting caught up in them.

basically, filter what gets to me in the first place, & even in that, have mastery over what you choose to pay attention to, and what you let go of.

② is in an internal skill. ① — what π will be able to help me w/.

and i certainly require both.

π: The circled ① and ② refer to the two numbered points above.

oh. so it's very clear what the scope boundaries are here. but let's go a bit deeper. — yeah, i want to flesh this out!

→ i want to create and publish to platforms w/out having to open the platform & expose myself to them when i simply want to publish an idea that i have.

→ i do not want to ever know how many people have liked my post, or how many "followers" i have. i do care about bookmarks, comments, dms. — basically i want to be very directly optimizing for the game i want to play & not what the platform want me to play. → design my own game!

→ i want to be notified when:

i want to be notified when:

→ someone i want to connect with follows me (bec. then i can DM them).

→ someone comments on my post. (not a bot!).

→ someone DM's me, and it is relevant / they are someone worth connecting with..

→ every 1000 bookmarks. for a post.

→ someone i want to connect with posts something relevant to my interests, that is an opportunity for me to reply & engage w/ them about.

i want to only pay attention to the metrics i care about → which fundamentally comes down to friendships on the path to seeking truth. → that is all that matters to me!

i want to consume discover:

→ people i would want to connect with.

→ expressions i vibe deeply with.

i would like to dedicate time every day to this exploration & discovery.

who is worth connecting w/? which expressions would i vibe w/? (idk) → that's what makes this so tough. these are not represented in instructions. they are intuition / feeling / instinct — needs to be modeled w/ data, not defined by w/ rigid description / instructions.

tooling / product / my "UX".

• inbox → dms, notifs, +(discovery feed).
• browser → apply my work personal lens.
• notifications → system / OS level notifications across devices.
  • → single notification system that is completely under my control.

π: “personal” is inserted above the crossed-out “work” before “lens”. An empty fourth bullet has no text.

fyi — essay here is "using AI to guard my attention".

there is also notion of transparency here.

it is tricky, but it can be done! i want to be as transparent as i possibly can be!

↓ configure our lenses!

Principles for using AI

1.) AI must never speak online (?) as me.

i.e., → any dm, reply, post, email, etc. that comes from me (me & my username / email / etc.) must never be drafted by AI.

my whole purpose is to cultivate friendships on the path, AI getting b/w me and people goes against my most fundamental north star.

2.) I must never capture negative signals:

(or explain (?)),

→ more for how i compile training data, but also in the conversations i have w/ AI → this is very very important.

π: The parenthetical “or explain (?)” is written above “negative signals”; its reading is uncertain.

Product notes for π (guard())

→ browser: remove all signals / stats i don't want, from x.com. → for any post, remove the 3 stats (likes etc.) — no stats must be visible for any post.

for my profile → cannot see the follower count. → becomes an important sort of: "zero" to how (?) i / filter for what information reaches me in the first place. (+ remove the notif tab entirely!)

The other surface areas are:

• notifs
• inbox

& that's it no? anything else that i'm missing here? nothing else comes to mind rn. ok, then let's flesh out the designs for this.

(& ofc the dashboard where we can [illegible (?)] science the shit out of this!).

π: “zero” is quoted and underlined. The surface-area list is in the left margin, connected by a curved line to the browser note; the deleted words remain uncertain.

INBOX

I see 3 categories here:

1. things that have actually reached me: e.g. a DM, email, response to my cold outreach, etc., a [illegible (?)] reply to my post, etc.

[π that is worth engaging w/]

π: The bracketed note sits beneath category 1; π is circled.

2. things that i should act on: e.g., someone posted something i should respond to, something changed in the world that creates an opportunity for me to express something.

3. things that are worth my attention: discovering people, ideas, expressions that i'd vibe w/.

① → is special bc. if it's reached me & it's worth engaging, the prob is v high it leads to something.

② → great, but prob very low that my reaction to this actually generates progress.

③ → not really abt. probability. just want to be exposed to great things!

from a UX, i see 2 divisions (neater).

act

discover

and have everything in a single screen.

as new info comes in, rerank the list!

↓ RANKING ALG ?

π: The sketch places categories 1 and 2 in the upper “act” division, with a line between them, and category 3 in the lower “discover” division. A brace groups all three into a single screen; an arrow leads from reranking to “RANKING ALG ?”.

How to rank my inbox ?

· obviously not chronological. but for action, there is a need for urgency. for sure! but perhaps not for discovery.

for now, keep it simple & chronological.

feedback?

no feedback mechanism in the inbox itself.

if i go onto actually reply / engage w/ the things presented — that becomes the feedback. if i ignore / archive w/out taking any action on that piece — it's treated as ignored.

really simple.

used to train the model.

notification:

→ things that require action — notify right away.

→ discovery item — do not notify.

and that's really it, no?

feels like enough information to bring this to life.

an important thing: what data are we capturing? how is it stored (where in ghost), how is that data utilized by π?

→ basically creating a continuously improving system.

& this leads to what we see in the dashboard view!

π: Arrows connect the data questions to both the continuously improving system and the dashboard view; the system note is circled.

The dashboard for π can literally just be -

2 things?

→ attention. → action / also discovery.

→ manifest.

is there a cleaner organization ?

→ expression

→ notes

→ videos

→ essays

→ products

→ vibed with

→ browsing

→ ai-chats

→ communication

→ personal-site neopuluri (?)!

π: A brace groups the list from “notes” through “communication”. “personal-site” is crossed out; the replacement reading “neopuluri (?)” is uncertain. This bottom item is circled and an arrow points from it to “products”.

vibed

π: This image is a close-up of a single handwritten word.

wh[illegible (?)]

ju[illegible (?)]

ev[illegible (?)]

top l[illegible (?)]

this

becau[illegible (?)]

is an

of [illegible (?)]

π: These are separate visible line fragments at the photograph's right edge. The rest of the margin note is outside the image; no continuation has been supplied.

---

Sources

1. IMG_0203 2.heic

Original HEIC

Left page

i actually do prefer this workflow.

stay completely disconnected while the efforts to connect are happening at scale in the background w/out me getting exposed to all of the poisonous noise out there.

let me think thru this now bc. it feels relevant.

workflow. → the way of operating.

firstly, deep work is super important. long continuous, uninterrupted blocks of attention is required to study / understand / seek truth. — absolutely

an obvious sort of realization. i must protect my attention. guarding it is my firstest (?) priority. but this is nuanced...

Right page

what does it mean to guard my attention ?

1. expose myself to the right things.
2. let go of the things i've been exposed to that are irrelevant, w/out getting caught up in them.

basically, filter what gets to me in the first place, & even in that, have mastery over what you choose to pay attention to, and what you let go of.

② is in an internal skill. ① — what π will be able to help me w/.

and i certainly require both.

π: The circled ① and ② refer to the two numbered points above.

oh. so it's very clear what the scope boundaries are here. but let's go a bit deeper. — yeah, i want to flesh this out!

2. IMG_0208.heic

Original HEIC

Left page

How to rank my inbox ?

· obviously not chronological. but for action, there is a need for urgency. for sure! but perhaps not for discovery.

for now, keep it simple & chronological.

feedback?

no feedback mechanism in the inbox itself.

if i go onto actually reply / engage w/ the things presented — that becomes the feedback. if i ignore / archive w/out taking any action on that piece — it's treated as ignored.

really simple.

used to train the model.

Right page

notification:

→ things that require action — notify right away.

→ discovery item — do not notify.

and that's really it, no?

feels like enough information to bring this to life.

an important thing: what data are we capturing? how is it stored (where in ghost), how is that data utilized by π?

→ basically creating a continuously improving system.

& this leads to what we see in the dashboard view!

π: Arrows connect the data questions to both the continuously improving system and the dashboard view; the system note is circled.

The dashboard for π can literally just be -

2 things?

→ attention. → action / also discovery.

→ manifest.

3. IMG_0207.heic

Original HEIC

Left page

INBOX

I see 3 categories here:

1. things that have actually reached me: e.g. a DM, email, response to my cold outreach, etc., a [illegible (?)] reply to my post, etc.

[π that is worth engaging w/]

π: The bracketed note sits beneath category 1; π is circled.

2. things that i should act on: e.g., someone posted something i should respond to, something changed in the world that creates an opportunity for me to express something.

3. things that are worth my attention: discovering people, ideas, expressions that i'd vibe w/.

Right page

① → is special bc. if it's reached me & it's worth engaging, the prob is v high it leads to something.

② → great, but prob very low that my reaction to this actually generates progress.

③ → not really abt. probability. just want to be exposed to great things!

from a UX, i see 2 divisions (neater).

act

discover

and have everything in a single screen.

as new info comes in, rerank the list!

↓ RANKING ALG ?

π: The sketch places categories 1 and 2 in the upper “act” division, with a line between them, and category 3 in the lower “discover” division. A brace groups all three into a single screen; an arrow leads from reranking to “RANKING ALG ?”.

4. IMG_0206.heic

Original HEIC

Left page

Principles for using AI

1.) AI must never speak online (?) as me.

i.e., → any dm, reply, post, email, etc. that comes from me (me & my username / email / etc.) must never be drafted by AI.

my whole purpose is to cultivate friendships on the path, AI getting b/w me and people goes against my most fundamental north star.

2.) I must never capture negative signals:

(or explain (?)),

→ more for how i compile training data, but also in the conversations i have w/ AI → this is very very important.

π: The parenthetical “or explain (?)” is written above “negative signals”; its reading is uncertain.

Right page

Product notes for π (guard())

→ browser: remove all signals / stats i don't want, from x.com. → for any post, remove the 3 stats (likes etc.) — no stats must be visible for any post.

for my profile → cannot see the follower count. → becomes an important sort of: "zero" to how (?) i / filter for what information reaches me in the first place. (+ remove the notif tab entirely!)

The other surface areas are:

• notifs
• inbox

& that's it no? anything else that i'm missing here? nothing else comes to mind rn. ok, then let's flesh out the designs for this.

(& ofc the dashboard where we can [illegible (?)] science the shit out of this!).

π: “zero” is quoted and underlined. The surface-area list is in the left margin, connected by a curved line to the browser note; the deleted words remain uncertain.

5. IMG_0205.heic

Original HEIC

Left page

i want to consume discover:

→ people i would want to connect with.

→ expressions i vibe deeply with.

i would like to dedicate time every day to this exploration & discovery.

who is worth connecting w/? which expressions would i vibe w/? (idk) → that's what makes this so tough. these are not represented in instructions. they are intuition / feeling / instinct — needs to be modeled w/ data, not defined by w/ rigid description / instructions.

Right page

tooling / product / my "UX".

• inbox → dms, notifs, +(discovery feed).
• browser → apply my work personal lens.
• notifications → system / OS level notifications across devices.
  • → single notification system that is completely under my control.

π: “personal” is inserted above the crossed-out “work” before “lens”. An empty fourth bullet has no text.

fyi — essay here is "using AI to guard my attention".

there is also notion of transparency here.

it is tricky, but it can be done! i want to be as transparent as i possibly can be!

↓ configure our lenses!

6. IMG_0211.jpg

Close-up

vibed

π: This image is a close-up of a single handwritten word.

7. IMG_0204.heic

Original HEIC

Left page

→ i want to create and publish to platforms w/out having to open the platform & expose myself to them when i simply want to publish an idea that i have.

→ i do not want to ever know how many people have liked my post, or how many "followers" i have. i do care about bookmarks, comments, dms. — basically i want to be very directly optimizing for the game i want to play & not what the platform want me to play. → design my own game!

→ i want to be notified when:

Right page

i want to be notified when:

→ someone i want to connect with follows me (bec. then i can DM them).

→ someone comments on my post. (not a bot!).

→ someone DM's me, and it is relevant / they are someone worth connecting with..

→ every 1000 bookmarks. for a post.

→ someone i want to connect with posts something relevant to my interests, that is an opportunity for me to reply & engage w/ them about.

i want to only pay attention to the metrics i care about → which fundamentally comes down to friendships on the path to seeking truth. → that is all that matters to me!

8. IMG_0209.heic

Original HEIC

Main list

is there a cleaner organization ?

→ expression

→ notes

→ videos

→ essays

→ products

→ vibed with

→ browsing

→ ai-chats

→ communication

→ personal-site neopuluri (?)!

π: A brace groups the list from “notes” through “communication”. “personal-site” is crossed out; the replacement reading “neopuluri (?)” is uncertain. This bottom item is circled and an arrow points from it to “products”.

Cropped right margin

wh[illegible (?)]

ju[illegible (?)]

ev[illegible (?)]

top l[illegible (?)]

this

becau[illegible (?)]

is an

of [illegible (?)]

π: These are separate visible line fragments at the photograph's right edge. The rest of the margin note is outside the image; no continuation has been supplied.