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 own style, I imagine someone else may benefit to understand how I built this stuff and why I speak and write with ontological certitude.

While this method guarantees mastery in the subject, the entire method is incredibly time-consuming, so you must do it either from neurotic obsession or overflowing passion for what you’re working on.

I sincerely doubt The Stucky Method is a good idea for most people. It requires a ton of patience.

1. Gather

First, amass a bunch of content. This content comes from a variety of places, and requires a 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 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 TheoLogos and NotaGenius).

By the end, everything should fit into a general location. Any sporks must fit into one final grouping or the other. 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 the 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 own 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) won’t have much, but may have 1-2 good sentences/ideas:

  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 huge 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/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/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 achieving, you became a subject-matter expert, and a very proficient writer!

Conclusion

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

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

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.