Octopus limbs can think?

Hey friends —

It's been a week of weird metaphors and clearer thinking. Sometimes the best lessons are hiding in octopus limbs and repetition. Let's get into it:

🔄 The Power of Repetition

Everyone wants to be stimulated. But mastery? That lives in the boring stuff.

Repetition isn’t a lack of creativity — it’s a loop that refines it. Whether I’m debugging something basic or doing my fourth Pomodoro writing session, I’ve started to fall in love with the rhythm. The boring parts compound.

Repetition = data. And with enough reps, you start getting the real signal.

Think of your reps as proof of consistency. And consistency is the ultimate flex.

🐙 What Octopus Thinking Taught Me

This week I learned that octopuses can think with their arms. No, really — their limbs process information independently. That’s wild.

This got me thinking: what would it look like if our minds worked more like that?

I've been experimenting with "multi-threading" my week. Monday = writing, Tuesday = design, Wednesday = more creative work, and so on. Each mental limb handles its lane. You switch less. You go deeper.

Octopus thinking isn’t about doing more at once — it’s about separating streams. Let each stream flow. I’ve found this especially helpful to my way of thinking, which is very scattered, and I like to do different things to prevent staleness. This was a helpful way to keep variety and discipline in my habits.

🌐 You’re One Website Away

I’ve built sites for a nonprofit, my passion projects, a concert countdown, and a few scrappy side projects. Every single one made something feel real.

Your own site = leverage. It says: “I’m not just thinking. I’m building.”

You don’t need fancy branding. Just claim a corner of the internet. Drop your story there. Embed a photo. Add a ‘Work With Me’ link.

It’s 2025. If you don’t exist online, you don’t exist. Let’s fix that. To add on that — Substack, a popular online newsletter/blogging platform, just raised over $100 million to build "an economic engine for culture." Here is the link to the post the co-founders shared: Here is the link to the post

🛸 Generative AI is Boring... Until It’s Not

Most AI right now is just... noise. Cool demos, low output. It’s become trendy to say you're "using AI," but most people are just copying prompts into ChatGPT and calling it productivity. That’s like buying a power drill and never building a shelf.

But when it clicks? It really clicks.

I’ve used AI to:

• Turn 1 blog post into 10 social assets in 10 minutes.

• Write 30 cold emails in 30 minutes using merge-tag personalization.

• Mock up a landing page concept while walking between classes.

• Summarize 40-page whitepapers into tweet threads + talking points.

The difference? Intentionality. If you come in with a goal and a system, AI becomes a multiplier. If not, it’s just digital noise.

The key is vision. AI can’t think for you. But it can carry the weight if you know where you’re going.

We're in the "microwave stage" — everyone wants fast results. But the founders, students, and creators who see AI as a scaffold, not a shortcut, are the ones who’ll win long-term.

Builders who get this are gonna fly.

🔄 Career Optionality > Career Path

People ask me what I “want to be.” I don’t know. But I do know what I want to be able to do.

I’ve written code. Built websites. Created content. Run marketing campaigns. Sat in on sales demos. Made decks.

Each skill is a door. The more I collect, the more doors I can open. That’s career optionality.

Don’t pick a lane. Build a ramp.

Ways to build optionality this week:

• Make something real (a site, a page, a doc).

• Learn one new software tool.

• Collaborate on something outside your major/role.

• DM someone who’s 2–3 steps ahead of you.

That’s it for this week. Stay weird, stay learning.

—Fahad
linkedin.com/in/fahadaldulaimi