Stephen Penders

Writing The Virtuous Degenerate. Building Toki. Poetry, music, and things I thought I’d already worked through.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

The life I’ve built and the person I’m still getting to know. https://t.co/w9BRi5FMHY

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@ethanwalkerman Blessing and a curse man, for sure

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

A few people have asked about the Mac apps I’m building in public.

I’ve been using AI for work, building GTM agents and complex workflows. But I really wanted to dig into using AI to build apps for myself, something a bit more personal.

It’s funny, though, when I was trying to come up with ideas for myself, I was completely bankrupt and a little bit intimidated at the idea of building something. I come up with a million great ideas for my clients, but for myself I had writer's block.

So, I just started talking out loud to Codex. I dumped stream-of-consciousness questions and thoughts at it; nothing was a fully formed idea. My corgi, Toki, was curled up on the chair next to me.

Corgis are herding dogs. I’m trying to organize my thoughts. I want to create an app for myself.

Boom. Three completely unrelated things coalesced into an idea for an app: Toki, an application that helps herd information for meetings, ideas, writing, and research.

Fast forward, now those ideas have become a family. The Grimoire, Mochi, and Toki, with AI helping me build and Obsidian holding the notes, decisions, and context behind the work.

I’m still a consultant. Still writing my book. Still asking plenty of questions and reading a ton about how any of this works.

But knowing I can take an idea that would have stayed in my head and get a version of it running on my Mac. That’s pretty damn exhilarating.

So, if you’re on the fence about building something or going outside of your comfort zone with AI, just go for it man.

There’s a ton of wonderful people on X who post helpful information for free. Seek them out and absorb as much as you can from this community; they’re a stellar bunch of people who are clearly passionate about their work and helping others.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@CtrlAltDwayne It made any competent person an architect and amplified their output immensely. There’s a huge divide taking place and it’s exposing abstract and analytical thinkers from literal and lazy ones.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@CtrlAltDwayne lmao was just chatting with someone about this. I'm yoloing Astra Ultrafast to burn it down, but have one more baked reset in the pocket just in case 😬

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@RishiiManu Slow going for sure lol

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@blackroomsec I know we prize ownership, but what if we could accomplish everything we use our PCs for in the cloud?

Not glazing by any means but that would be a game changer for devices by a wide margin. Food for thought…

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@mediumushroom I’m banking on a reset. Burning through credits to vibe code an rpg. Worst case I still have banked reset that expires Nov 6.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@FFVIINovels I’m having a blast with this game. Even my son acknowledged how cool the art direction is between the pixel characters and 3D environments. It’s a hit, I hope to see more. Maybe even a Chrono Trigger remake 🤓

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@readswithravi Darkness and uncertainty are a blessing, not a curse. it sucks but thats the absolute truth of life.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

I think it comes down to the ability to think abstractly and have a capacity for meta cognition. I lot of folks just drop something in the chat to remove friction, whereas innovators are pushing to understand and surpass boundaries.

It’s a characteristic that will create a massive divide in who makes it and who doesn’t in the next few years, but I think it’s something that can’t be learned and not absolute or inherent.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

A few weeks ago I was (finally) in a shared workspace with my remote team. It had a whiteboard and ideas just popped off and everyone got what I'd been saying for months once it was visualized in front of them.

Personally, I use a @rattasupernote to whiteboard for myself and its awesome.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@SpartanPsyche Honored man. Thank you! Great conversation, look forward to more. 🤙

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

Everything was so contained and every episode was efficient in the message.

TV and Hollywood got sucked in the continuity trap, and while it keeps us engaged and waiting we lose the weight of each episode.

Interesting trade-off for sure.

Those light threads or multi-episode arcs just hit so well back then. I hope that kind of storytelling comes back.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@QueenMeng8888 @naval Thank you! And you as well! 🤙🏻

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

@RishiiManu Thank you man, you too! Let’s get after it 💪

[Carl Jung Archive @QuoteJung]

I keep seeing this:

“Intellectualism is a common cover-up for fear of direct experience.”

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

Absolutely. Two personal use cases come to mind for me: I wake up at 5am, by 5:30 I'm on the computer working for an hour then I my timer goes off to hit the gym.

I pace around dreading having to work out, its a disruption to my flow. I'm in excellent shape (if I say so myself), but I still resist working out. After a time I just yolo and do a set in my home gym and I'm off. Long term payoff > short term working on laptop yield. I feel incredible afterward.

My clients, mostly CFOs and CEOs with MBAs, consistently push for pricing models, GTM models, etc etc for short term yields and I have to go to war (consult) them on laying the foundation for and investing in long term gains.

It's so much deeper than not picking up your phone, having that snack, having that drink...

I'm a believer. The science is real.

[Stephen Penders @StephenPenders]

My mission is to be a positive beacon on X. We need more encouragement, grace, and compassion. There is way too much negativity and judgment being tossed around these days.

Let's be there for each other instead of against each other.

🤙