I babbled a bit with Sublime over the past months. Kind of reluctantly to be honest. Because even though it’s right up my alley in terms of purpose, I am already quite content with Readwise and Pinterest (should write something about my use of Pinterest).
But I kept stumbling on Sari’s content. So I gave it a try on the premium for a year, mostly because I really liked the idea of the mind map. When I get stuck on something, it always feels fresh to try a less “writey” approach (kind of related to :fuck format).
More specifically I was excited about the ability to plug Readwise highlights and have them “separated” as highlights (as opposed to living in source files, as they do in my notes).
I imagined I would use the mind maps to put together highlights into collections . And that would help me be a better writer (ideation, sourcing, challenging, deepening… my practice).
This was 6 months ago, and none of that happened. Instead, I recently discovered a much better use for the tool (see : platforms are medium).
First off, I cut the Readwise integration. It was blurring things, too much volume (I’m a big highlighter).
Second, I decided I was going to use this tool for more visual stuff. Not another Readwise, but something I can use for examples of visuals, quotes… more like a smart Pinterest.
And third, I decided to always add what I save to a collection. Meaning things don’t just… live in the account, they form something over time.
That’s when it started to become useful.
Example. I had this weird statement in my head for a while : there’s honor in risk. Which, feels (and still is) incomplete. Doesn’t quite say anything yet. Kind of like a suspicion. There might be something there. So I created a collection with this phrase and I added stuff that gave me the same ‘suspicion’. A quote from the hobbit, a lyric from Raye, a citation from Cyrano de Bergerac. I didn’t quite know where I was going with that but those things made me feel something in common.
I could just let it there. That’s already useful in itself. Maybe I’ll resurface this for a later project.
But I clicked on the chat button. Which gives you a prompt to paste in your fav ai with details about each item you added. And I found the answer super interesting !
Let me paste you the Claude answer :
Two things that jump out:
First, there's a through-line about _transformation through difficulty_ — Bilbo becoming someone new after killing the spider alone, Raye's cold that teaches the heart to burn, the cavalry lined up before the unknown. These aren't just "be brave" platitudes — they're about what _happens to you_ when you do the hard thing. You come out different. Named. Forged.
Second, there's a quiet grief underneath the boldness. Théoden mourning what might be lost even in victory. The blogger mourning the lost art of slow, tedious research. Cyrano insisting on _his own lines_ in a world that wants shortcuts. The collection seems to say: yes, take the risk — but don't pretend it costs nothing.
Quick actions you could take:
1. Write a thesis — something like _"risk isn't just courage, it's the willingness to be changed by what you do"_
2. Make it a newsletter or essay — the Cyrano + Bilbo pairing alone could carry a beautiful piece
3. Pull out a visual direction — cavalry + vintage glamour + fantasy maps = a very specific mood board worth naming
4. Use it as a creative brief — for a project, a series, a season of work
5. Sit with the grief angle — there might be something more personal and vulnerable worth writing _from_ this collection, not just _about_ it
Ai is slopping a little, but yeah : the honor is the risk of losing yourself a little, regarless of the outcome. What I think maybe even more interesting are the quick actions (maybe I'll grow tired of them if I do this too much), but the 'visual direction'. noice.
So yeah. I feel like I've truly unlocked a new tool with this approach.