Find.

I wrote this on January 28, 2021. I must have been feeling the need to ship, so I wrote a note to self. Call it an anthem, if you will.

I woke up this morning—May 18, 2021—and my notebook prompted me of this. What wonderful fortune! So, now I will share.


You have to press enter.


This is a call to your brain.

You have to show your work.

This will not be comfortable. This will not feel done.

You have to.


Most of what I write is a note to self. Who else would take the time, anyway?

Yet, then something funny happens. Your thoughts become shared. Your words have reached another. Suddenly, it’s real.

How have I lived this long without understanding that to its core? This is not up to me. I do not have the option. This is a debt I owe.

If I bet my voice can improve the future, it has to come out.

This was the primary lesson of Shaping Things, somewhat inadvertently. I have loved sci-fi all my life, but I never studied the practice. Then I read about design fiction, and I realized for the first time—you are uniquely equipped for this.

Cool. Do I want that, though?


Open exploration can go on forever. Without focus in a direction, though, what will ever amass?

10 years working to educate. 8 years building games. 5 years leading humans. Not what I expected. Exactly what I wanted.

Only scratching the surface. A fraction of the whole. So, it's time.

Divergent becomes convergent. The future becomes the present. Time spent today builds tomorrow.

Passions connect. Interests devolve.

Of course it's a blend. We are all a blend.


That's why you have to press enter.

Only you are you. And only you can choose the path.

This is the work.

This is not comfortable. This is not done.

But you have to.

Brendan LangenComment