My Method

If you’re wondering how I build my websites, I’ve developed a relatively reliable method of parsing lots of information, starting in 2012. While everyone has their style, I imagine understanding how I built this stuff and why I speak and write with ontological certitude may help someone else.

Mechanically, it’s a bit like SQ3R, but with the Feynman technique as its primitive and without revisiting the same content twice. It’s a perfect solution for the over-information age.

This method guarantees understanding of the subject, but it is incredibly time-consuming, so you must do it either out of neurotic obsession or overflowing passion for what you’re working on. It also requires a computer that allows copy-pasting content back and forth.

I sincerely doubt The Stucky Method is a good idea for most people, and doubt it’ll catch on as a trend. It requires a ton of patience, with the primary output being the essays themselves.

1. Gather

First, amass a bunch of content. This content comes from various places, and requires the habit of hoarding saving everything you think could be useful.

While gathering, make pseudo-categories for everything. To save trouble, group the categories as exclusively as possible (e.g., productivity, happiness, and vacations for AdequateLife).

Keep on gathering and categorizing until you’re ready to attack the project with the burning-hot, passionate intensity of a thousand suns. Wait until you’re so angry at the pile and motivated to achieve it that you’re nearly losing sleep thinking about it.

2. Classify

Now, everything has to fit into a likely output article. If it doesn’t fit into that output, shove it into a different grouping for a different realm (which, incidentally, is the inspiration for the entirety of TheoLogos and NotaGenius).

By the end, everything should fit into a general location. Any sporks must fit into a clearly demarcated, final grouping. If there are too many of a particular category, they should be categorized as an entirely different class altogether.

Fiddly, weird sporks that refuse to fit into a classification should create an existential dilemma. If there’s no certainty about which of the two realms it fits into, define rigid, detailed rules that force them unquestioningly into one category.

3. Write

I don’t personally like outlines. It’s probably my autism, but I can’t really wrap my head around them. “The best-laid plans”, after all, waste time.

Instead, just start writing a flow of how you feel it would fit together logically, preferably inside something that reflects the same environment as your finished product (I used WordPress’ built-in content creator).

The paragraphs from the first article (A) will be interposed with my direct experience (a):

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. Aa
  5. A
  6. A

Then, I’ll splice in things from another article (B):

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. B
  5. Aa
  6. A
  7. B
  8. B
  9. A

A third article (C) may have 1-2 good sentences or ideas, but not much else:

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. B
  5. Aa
  6. A
  7. C
  8. B
  9. B
  10. A

Another article (D) will have a gigantic section that does a better job of portions of the second article (B):

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. B
  5. Aa
  6. A
  7. C
  8. D
  9. A

I may read or skim a book (E) that provides a vastly superior flow of reasoning, so after some inner debate, I’ll change the entire order of the article with the content practically the same:

  1. D
  2. E
  3. A
  4. C
  5. A
  6. Aa
  7. B
  8. Aa
  9. A
  10. A

Then, a block of paragraphs will distill into a few sentences:

  1. D
  2. E
  3. AC
  4. A
  5. AaB
  6. AaA
  7. A

Lather, rinse, and repeat for all the articles in that section:

  1. DI
  2. EHO
  3. ACKS
  4. AFJN
  5. AaBGgT
  6. AaAXx
  7. AH
  8. LPRW
  9. M
  10. QU
  11. V

Sometimes, if it makes sense, break the entire thing out into multiple pages:

  1. DI
  2. EHO
  3. ACKS
  4. AFJN
  5. AaBGgT
  6. AaAXx
  1. AH
  2. LPRW
  3. M
  4. QU
  5. V

And there you have it! Make some grammar edits at the end, and you’ve just worked and reworked through 150 articles/books/summaries/ideas. While you were busy incessantly parsing this content, you became a subject-matter expert and a very proficient writer!

Conclusion

Success isn’t easy, and this approach is inherently difficult. However, it repetitively revisits information dozens of times (and, more importantly, does something with that information).

This is not the easiest way to write a high-quality article. However, I believe it’s the most rewarding.

If you go through this rigor, you’ll remember and understand everything a bit more easily, simply because you’ve seen it from many angles.