Signal & Story

Permission for Obsession

Don't let it die before it even begins

Four months ago, I published A New Home where I wrote about creating a website that finally felt like mine. Last week, I got it live. You can check it out here.

2 March 2026

Building Proof

A small app and a bigger question

A few weeks ago I published Jack Webb’s story — a database engineer who spent three years figuring out what to work on, then five weeks building Rock Simulator, a Sock Drawer app, and an unsolicited silliness audit. There was one question that kicked it all off for Jack. What’s the most playful version of your project?

23 February 2026

Ideas Are Back

You can’t force ideas. But you can create obsession. And obsession can’t help but generate damn good ideas

I haven’t written much by hand over the last two years. Digital tools, each serving a very specific purpose, have been my go-to on most days. For example, I use Obsidian to write, Figma for design, and Apple Notes as a central database.

16 February 2026

Frozen Ground

What I learned about rest in the city where World War II began

I’m standing at Westerplatte, the peninsula where World War II began. On September 1, 1939, at 04:48 in the morning, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on Polish positions. Major Henryk Sucharski and his garrison of 200 soldiers were supposed to hold for twelve hours.

9 February 2026

The AI Middle Ground

The best uses are the ones nobody talks about

There are two types of creators on the internet today: those who won’t stop talking about AI, and those who pretend it doesn’t exist. The first group has adopted an instant learn-share loop. Think of the countless productivity threads, automation workflows, and extensive videos describing the latest and greatest ways to make the most of AI you see today.

2 February 2026

Still Deciding

Not all decisions are created equal

When late January rolls around, most people have already forgotten about their New Year’s Resolutions. But you haven’t forgotten. You remember the goal, the hours spent crafting the perfect system for change, and the surge of clarity when everything falls into place.

26 January 2026

Ask Anyway

The message you don’t send costs more than the one that gets ignored

“What the hell did I just send? ” I stared at the screen after hitting send. Read the email again and again.

19 January 2026

Planting the Seed

What's the idea you'd work on even if it never succeeded?

I met a friend on Friday and he told me he wants to fix the Swedish healthcare system. He knew about the 21 separate healthcare regions in Sweden, knew how much of a hassle it is to get your own medical records, and knew how that hurts both healthcare providers and patients. My friend isn’t a doctor.

12 January 2026

The Second Resistance

What happens once the excitement of starting something fades away?

I’ve published 14 newsletters since September. Built the habit, proved I could do it, turned Signal & Story from idea to reality. The momentum exists.

5 January 2026

The 2025 AAR

How to review the year gone by and plan what's next in 30 minutes

An AAR or After-Action Review is a process for analysing projects or tasks to look for strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement. I learned about it in my startup role at Vojomo. At the end of each quarter, we’d have a meeting to break everything down to its finest details: What was supposed to happen?

29 December 2025

The Rules You Never Chose

One question to ask yourself before 2026

I’ve been thinking about year-end reviews and how we measure what we’ve accomplished. Most times it comes down to goals hit, projects shipped, or numbers reached. But I think there’s a different question we should ask ourselves as we approach 2026: Which rules did I follow that I never chose?

22 December 2025

Finding the Keys

Four years of building and five weeks of unlocking

Hey friends, This week, I wanted to share something different. For the past few months, I’ve been writing stories for Citizens of the Internet where I’ve interviewed Cris, Kyle, Magnus, and Lori. This time, I wrote my own story.

14 December 2025

29

The year gone by and the year ahead

I turned 29 last week. Throughout my twenties, I measured progress against imaginary finish lines. First, it was finishing medical school.

8 December 2025

The Final Sprint

The year isn't over yet

Kyle McGovern wanted to start a YouTube channel interviewing elders to preserve their stories. For years, he researched, watched documentaries, and imagined what it would be like when he finally started. In the last live lesson of Act Two, we were pushed to make one final sprint to the finish line.

30 November 2025

The Cost of Becoming Yourself

Every environment charges you something

Whenever I get asked how I ended up in Malmö, I always take a second before I share my response. I grew up in Dubai. Comfortable, stable, knowing exactly who I was supposed to become because everyone around me reinforced it.

24 November 2025

On Growth

When the numbers were climbing, I lost my voice. When they stopped, I thought I'd lost my ability. But in reality, I'd just lost my reason to create.

I’ve checked my subscriber count 27 times this week. 689 this morning. 693 two weeks ago.

17 November 2025

You Are Not Behind

Why you keep abandoning projects and how to fix it

When I first started writing online, I’d always see people share stories of how they grew their audiences to over 10,000 followers, and businesses past $10,000/month in revenue. I loved the process of documenting and sharing my ideas in public, it was the reason I started writing online. But compared to those around me, that just wasn’t enough.

9 November 2025

The Reverse Résumé

A new way to attract opportunities

1895 Lithograph, the second of four versions, of The Scream by Edward MunchI’ve sent two résumés in my life: student ambassador for my university and a summer tech promoter. I got the first one, rejected for the other, and learned nothing useful from either. November 7th, 2021.

2 November 2025

1000 Days of Nothing

I'd been learning Swedish for three years, but when I wrote my first essay...

I sat there staring at the blank page. I thought I knew a decent amount after three years of practice. But sitting in a classroom trying to write real sentences about my real life, nothing worked.

27 October 2025

Confidence by Competence

The gap between what you can do and what you believe you can do

October 14th. I was writing my first article for The Citizens of the Internet last week. This was the first project of its kind I’d worked on — a creator spotlight and investigative journalism hybrid.

19 October 2025