Figuring it out, again and again
Walking the tightrope of ideals and reality
One thing I’ve come to appreciate is that having a vision is not the same as executing it. There is no shortage of ambitious ideas. Time and time again, it is when the rubber of ambition meets the road of practicality that things get tough.
I love the way describes the tension of blending pragmatism and idealism:
Do we have principles we hold dear, and a vision for the future we want to create? Or are we fumbling along, tinkering, finding what works, and forever allowing contact with reality to rearrange our mental furniture, make a mess on our conceptual floor, and occasionally punch so many holes in the walls that need to strip our whole idea-house down to the studs before we can renovate?
To me the only answer that can possibly be satisfying is: both.
If you have ideals but you don't take responsibility for making a change in the world, you are working on your self-image, not a product for other people. If all you have is pragmatism, then you have speed but not a direction and the purpose of your work will get set by default to, at best, the same conventional things that everyone else is chasing.
Putting the idealism and pragmatism together is forever uncomfortable. Frequently the direction set by ideals means not taking the clearest practical path. More subtly, often as you go to put principles into practice, you realize that the ideal is not quite as simple as you thought when you started.
In walking the tightrope of ideals and reality, I find myself constantly re-identifying Sublime in order to reactivate my own standards and convictions about what it is we’re doing here and why.
Focusing only on who are we? questions can become its own trap, but I have found no better way to access the intellectual humility required to shepherd an idea into the real world.
The self-honesty is not a one-time thing, either. It’s an ongoing process. Figuring it out never ends.
We recently held our first State of Sublime community town hall, exploring the questions: Who is Sublime? What do we stand for? How do we fit into this world?
Our thinking, and a selection of the slides we presented below…
We are entering the post-information age. The barrier is no longer knowledge. It’s intention, self-regulation, and courage.
In the post-information age, a curated personal knowledge library will matter more than ever. The act of building your knowledge pulls you out of passive consumption mode and into creation mode.
Which means Sublime must be a beautiful, calm garden to save your ideas. I’m sorry but I cannot get into flow state with a tool that looks like this.
But what is Sublime, actually? Sublime is a knowledge tool – built for the Internet’s creative class – that helps you collect stuff AND connect it so you can actually make something with it.
We aren’t trying to help you connect ideas faster, or cheaper. We want to help you make something wonderful. And that comes from slowing down and deeply engaging with ideas.
We're not trying to help you press a button and generate a generic piece of content. We want to help you make something wonderful.
And that comes from collecting a lot of inspiration, connecting ideas, and deeply engaging with them.
Some of this is already happening (pssst… canvas), but there remains a lot of steps between here and there. Trust me, I’m using the product and feeling all the bumps! But we’re doing the work and slowly closing the gap between vision and reality.
Importantly, we define ‘making something’ broadly. With Sublime, you save that which inspires. Whether it becomes a tangible project or simply improves a conversation you have with your child doesn’t matter — both are wonderful acts of creation.
How will we do this?
Commitment to simplicity.
A simple product doesn’t just function, it brings people joy. You shouldn’t have to watch a 90min tutorial to figure out how Sublime works. We refuse to accept a world where our knowledge tools look like an airplane cockpit.
Communal inspiration.
We believe creativity starts with abundance, not a blank page. On Sublime, you don’t need to labor away in your solo tool. You can get inspiration from other people’s related thoughts.
Create with what you save.
The goal is not collecting stuff. The goal is making stuff. And not just large things: a book, a business, a side project, but the shape you give this afternoon, a conversation between two friends, a meal.
How we get there is not just about a new tool or technology. It’s about a new spirit. One that puts creativity above productivity and embraces that there are no shortcuts.
The work to hone your craft feels hard because it is hard. Most tools promise to do the hard work for you. We know that isn’t possible.
Instead, we’re creating a tool that acts as your companion throughout the messy, beautiful creative process that just may lead to something beautiful. It may not be the fastest path from A to B, but we believe it’ll be the most fulfilling.
If you got all the way here, thank you. I hope this gives you some clarity as to what we're up to.
We’ve chosen to be member-supported – if this seems like something you want to be a part of, now is a great time to become a premium member.
We have a choose what you pay model, which one of our customers described as “the most wholesome paywall on the web.”
We still have miles to go and I can’t wait to see the years add up with you.
xx
Sari
In other news
Workshop: Getting unstuck with Sublime Canvas
Sublime Canvas (beta) is a Miro/Figma type mindmapping tool but connected to your Sublime library + the entire Sublime network.
Join , Sublime's Head of Creative and writer of the top 10 humor Substack, , on Wednesday, September 25 at 12p EST for a deep dive into how Sublime Canvas has become the centerpiece of his creative process.
It’s gonna be a hands-on workshop where you can ask questions and get actionable ideas on how to move your projects / ideas forward using the Canvas framework.
Deets here.
In Case You Missed It
Raycast x Sublime - We just launched the Sublime Raycast integration. You can now save anything, search your library, find related ideas, and view your collections from anywhere on your Mac — all without interrupting your flow.
Buckets all the way down - A quick essay from on why creating buckets for your ideas matters.
How I Sublime w - The bucket theory of creativity in action.
Humans of Sublime
is exploring how individuals and institutions can adapt, evolve, and renew their sense of vitality when they become stagnant.
Zoe is collecting interesting software and cool websites.
James Stevens is wondering how we escape the trap of the dopamine machine ala black mirror ala smart phone.
urutau is tweeting in sublime so what.
Stamati is collecting S-tier websites and applications that inspire them to strive toward pixel-perfect UI.
Ooh, I'm going to have to watch that video for a project I'm working on. Thanks for doing that, and sharing!
Thanks for the shout out! Sublime is the best tool I know for bringing hot tub talks out into the world 🤍