- Random Access Memory
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- Reading and Writing
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To gain insights, you need to read a lot. Make it a habit to read daily before going to bed, whether it's short reads like articles or longer reads like books. There’s a vast amount of information available, so don’t waste time getting distracted by content that doesn’t help you grow. Plan who to follow and what to read to ensure you stay focused.
Thematic Reads
I personally prefer to read about a wide range of topics. As a product security engineer lead, it's essential to understand what developers and other teams are doing because you can't protect what you don’t understand. Securing systems is challenging because it requires extensive knowledge. That’s why I follow a thematic approach to reading blogs and newsletters (short-form content). Here is my weekly thematic reading list:
Weekday | Theme |
|---|---|
Monday | Application Security/GRC (Regulatory and Legal Changes) |
Tuesday | Cloud Security/DevOps |
Wednesday | Engineering Blogs |
Thursday | New Trends (AI/Supply Chain Security) |
Friday | Product Management/ Security Product News |
Saturday | Career Growth |
Sunday | Rest day / Read anything |
I use an RSS feed reader with my own curated RSS feeds. It’s far better than LinkedIn and other platforms because it helps avoid distractions. LinkedIn is increasingly becoming cluttered with opinions that don’t offer much knowledge-sharing. Ultimately, it depends on who you follow
Value of Reading
When you first start reading, it’s easy to do it without much thought, feeling satisfied without considering how you’re doing it or what you’re getting out of it. Here are the stages I encountered while developing my reading habits:
Lack of Visibility: You might not fully understand what you’re doing or why.
Gain Visibility: Start taking notes and think about how you can improve your reading habits.
Establish a Routine: Create a process to follow regularly.
Retrospective Feedback: Continuously improve by reviewing and reflecting on your routine.
Social media platforms are designed for entertainment, not for learning. Text-based platforms, such as Twitter and Reddit, are better for spreading information, whereas video-based platforms like Instagram are mainly for entertainment. I consider video-based platforms less effective for learning and do not choose them.
Podcasts: Video, Audio, or Text?
I always prioritize text-based content because it allows me to take notes, highlight important points, and easily import them to external platforms like Readwise. Podcasts without automatic transcription are hard to listen to for more than 20 minutes, whereas I can read for 20 minutes without a problem. That’s my preferred way of consuming information. Podcasts are usually more than an hour long, and I don’t have that much time to listen. I typically listen at 1.25x speed by reading the text and listening simultaneously. I focus on high-value podcasts only.
Exploring Deeply: Hitting the Rabbit Hole
Dare to explore the rabbit hole while you research. Sometimes this approach yields unexpected value, but it always provides learning opportunities. Figuring things out is a skill—whether it's debugging and fixing a bug, exploiting a vulnerability, or discovering one. It takes mental effort, but once you experience it, you’ll understand the process. You have to find your own way; no one else will do it for you. If you’re not willing to put in the effort, don’t expect results. Ask questions and seek the answers.
Writing
Don’t just consume content; you need to create something valuable from it. Simply reading without writing doesn’t capture or preserve the value. Writing forces you to think critically and helps generate insights. It prompts questions that you may not know the answers to—or that no one does. Writing allows you to crystallize your thoughts and insights, making the learning process personal and unique. This isn’t about using AI or just summarizing what you’ve read; it’s about generating original ideas.
Writing Blogs
I started writing blogs inconsistently because I thought it was just about sharing what I learned or did that was worth sharing. Slowly, I realized that writing blogs is not just about sharing what you've learned. Writing your own insights offers much more value. Your insights are unique to you and cannot be copied. No one else can replicate your perspective.
I find writing to be almost like a spiritual practice. It’s the single best way to understand yourself and discover who you are. You can uncover many things about yourself through writing. It’s a simple yet powerful technique that requires discipline.
Writing brings a positive feedback loop. More you write, the more you read and vice versa.
Consistency in Writing
Maintaining consistency ensures that you follow all the steps needed to write blogs. To write, you need insights, and to gain insights, you need to consume and think critically about what you read.
How to Generate Insights: The Art of Thought
To generate insights, you can follow a four-step process:
Preparation: Plan what to read and follow a structured path. Consume valuable content.
Incubation: Reflect on what you've read and connect it with your experience and domain knowledge.
Illumination: Develop insights or ideas by asking questions and finding answers.
Validation: Confirm the insight or idea by writing it down.
Using this "art of thought" technique can help you generate more insights and ideas.
To be consistent, you need discipline and commitment. For example, if you commit to writing a blog on your quality metrics once a month or once every three months, it creates a cycle that pushes you to read and write regularly, creating a flywheel effect. It provides more value to you than to others consuming it.
How to Write
Write without judgment. Don’t worry about being judged by others. Write uncensored to reveal your true thoughts and feelings. Creativity won’t flow if you censor yourself. Write whatever comes to mind—whether it's good or bad. Rigorous editing comes next. Refine the content to make it as concise as possible. Don't think that writing needs to be long to be valuable. Respect your readers' time and keep it brief. Aim for 20 drafts and review your work 20 times. Even I find it challenging to review so many times, but it's a goal worth striving for.
Writing is a type of model representation. Like how you use diagram representation to understand systems, you can use writing to understand your model of what you know (or) what you want to understand more deeply.
You Cannot Serve Two Masters
You can either write what you want or what your readers want. Sometimes it is difficult to accept. But be clear about why you are writing. Are you writing for yourself, to improve your reading and gain insights while sharing for the benefit of others? Or do you want to start a newsletter and grow an audience? These are two entirely different things, and sometimes the line between them can be blurry.
Tools I use
Readwise - To save highlights from books and blogs
Reader - To save blogs and weblinks for later read
Feedly - RSS reader
DayOne - Available in Mac and IOS for daily journaling
Kindle - for reading ebooks. Mostly I prefer reading in kindle
Notion - For writing newsletter content and drafts
Figma/Mirco/Draw.io - For pictural models - diagrammatic representation
Conclusion
So, what are you waiting for? I believe you should start writing today—not tomorrow, as that would be procrastination.
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