Hi all,
I am excited to pull the curtain back on an effort that I have been working on for the past year, The Building Better Project.
The Building Better Project is a new writing project that will seek to answer the question: How can we build better?
I have linked to my first post below and will likely continue to do so for my early posts to give you a taste of whether or not it is something you would like to subscribe to.
The Building Better Project: A Nobler Strain
Timeless Building Furthering Human Flourishing
But I also wanted to take the time to address a few questions specific to readers of A Berg’s Eye View
Will this replace A Berg’s Eye View?
No. This will be a separate writing project that I will write in parallel. In fact, I have already been writing it in parallel over the past year, I have just been waiting to begin publishing until I felt that the ideas undirgirding The Building Better Project were fully formed.
Why are you posting seperately?
I decided to keep my two writing projects seperate. I love having this be my personal blog where I can write about whatever I want. If you subscribe here, you are subscriing the following along with my story. Building Better is a fundementally different valuey proposition. It will be more niche and focused and be exploring a singular (though broad) topic.
What are your goals for The Building Better Project?
My goal for this blog is to share the concepts I am thinking and learning about in an approachable, applicable, and actionable way for modern readers. I want to explain complex topics in ways that make timeless truths accessible to a modern audience. I also hope that this blog can be a medium to share what I am building. To discuss the decisions I am making and how you can also put into practice the ideas of what it means to build better. My ultimate goal is to convince you that there is a better way to build and showcase how you can apply this approach to your own life.
What is the topic of The Building Better Project?
The tagline for the project attempts to sum it up: Timeless Building Furthering Human Flourishing. In subsequent posts I hope to convince you that:
Timeless - There is a timeless way of building that is best learnt by examining the wisdom and ideas that have stood the test of time rather than current events or the lastest trends.
Building - Humans are fundamentally builders, whether they are building actual buildings, technological products, societies, or their very lives.
Furthering - When we build things that are good, true, and beautiful their qualities reflect back upon us. Not only do we become more likely to build well in the future, but we become better as a reflection of building well. When we build poorly, the opposite happens.
Human - The philosophy espoused on this blog will seek to grapple with humans as humans. Humans as they are, not as we would have them be. Unabstracted mankind with its infinite capacity for joy and despair, good and evil, hatred and kindness, surprise and predictability.
Flourishing - True kindness is seeking someone’s long-term interest. Too often our modern decisions and discourse are guided by what feels good in the moment without regard for the impact to long-term well-being. I hope to convince you that some things really do enable us to flourish and others don’t and that those things are objective, discernable, and have the potential to be applied to every act of building.
How often will you be publishing each?
I am not sure. I haven’t exactly focused on publishing on a set schedule and I think my writing is the better for it. I have tried publishing with a set deadline in the past and it tended to incentivize me getting something published just for the sake of getting it out into the world. The Better Building Project is going to be my chief focus for a lot of my free writing time for the forseeable future, but I have plenty of half-formed posts for A Berg’s Eye View that I have on the backlog ready to be invested in. Without commiting too stringently, I would expect posts on Building Better to be published more consistently with the occasional post on A Berg’s Eye View to share something I have learned or am grappling with that is more personal in nature. I expect this to be the division of my effort for the forseeable future and we will re-evaluate based on how that goes.
Should I subscribe to The Building Better Project?
I hope you do! If you enjoy my writing style I expect you will enjoy this new project. It will likely be a bit more contemplative and toned down than you will have come to expect from ABEV , but the concepts I will discussing will be what I view to be some of the most interesting and importing topics that I have explored in years. Despite it’s niche focus, one of the fundemental hallmarks of my Philosophy of Building Better is that every single one of us is a builder at heart. So no matter who you are or what you do, my hope is that Building Better will include insights that you may find relevant and helpful.
Thank you for all of your support over the years. Thinking of myself as a writer has become a core part of my identity and it is only through the support and feedback from all of you that I have continued to invest in this craft and made it this far. I am more excited about writing than I ever have been and more sure that no matter what my future holds, it will include me writing my thoughts and analysis of it.
I’d love to hear what you think of The Better Building Project and feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback!
Erik