Anti-What?

Responding to a tacky, opportunistic caricature

Scott Scheper has apparently decided to use my situation as fuel for his promotion of his newsletter and get-rich-quick scheme. Or at least to use a fictionalized version of my story, since what he has to say represents not reality but his own ambitions and self-interest. Here's his story:

For the record, I am still employed, I'm exploring a variety of next steps in my career, and I'm not "desperately looking for ways to make money". Projection?

Now, some of you may be wondering, who is this fountain of wisdom who could have helped me avoid my current desperate plight, if I had only listened to him and subscribed to his newsletter? Well, Scott is a self-taught note-taking and marketing pundit who has spent the last couple of years trying to turn an interest in copywriting and analog zettelkasten into a little business empire. There's nothing wrong with being an autodidact; I'm obviously a big fan of self-directed learning. But sometimes if people have discovered things in isolation, outside of community, they can come to believe they're the only people who have found (or created) some new, revolutionary truth. And sometimes advertisers who are desperate to carve out a space for their not-really-that-revolutionary product try to do it by bashing others. That can work in the short term, but in the end you need to actually deliver some value.

I've got nothing particularly against Scott or his "Antinet" technique of note-taking. I think it addresses a few flaws in the ways some people use digital "second brain" systems, sometimes. It can certainly add value in some circumstances, just as Nick Milo's system can, or any other of the many techniques and styles people have discussed in videos, blogs, courses, and books. There are a lot of different use-cases and learning styles in the world, and anything that adds options is almost certainly a net good. I have no opinion of Scott's marketing insights or of the "business model" he describes in his newsletter, which he is correct in saying I did not subscribe to. Not because I "didn't need to make money", but because I've been a sales and marketing guy in a previous career, and that's not what I'm focused on at this stage of my life.

In contrast to Scott's claim that his Antinet or his business model is the "one ring to rule them all", I'll continue, in MakingHistory and Lifelong Learning, to try to open-mindedly consider a variety of ideas, techniques, tools, and interpretations. I'll try to apply ideas I find in a wide range of sources, to the tasks and projects I undertake. And I'll offer my interpretations and the workflows and note-making processes that work for me, not as the only alternative, but as an evolving practice that I invite people to consider, adapt, and comment on. So, although I thought it was a bit tacky to be caricatured in Scott's latest newsletter pitch, I guess I appreciate the opportunity to respond and reiterate what I'm about in this Substack.