Reference · Cheat Sheet

Idea & Hook Bank

From Lessons 8–9. Keep this open when you make anything. Never start from a blank screen again.

Where ideas come from

Run this checklist whenever you feel "I have nothing to post."

Source	Ask yourself	Pillar
Today's bug	What broke, and what was the fix?	Learn from me
A tool you learned	What one command / trick just clicked?	Use it / Ship it
Something you shipped	What did you build this week?	Build it
Swipe file	What raw spark did I jot down earlier?	Any
Recurring questions	What do devs keep asking on r/webdev?	Any

The one habit that powers all of it Keep a swipe file — a notes doc you dump one-line sparks into the moment they happen. Capture beats invent. By the weekend you have ten ideas waiting, not a blank cursor.

Fill-in hook formulas

Frame one, big text. Drop your real work into the blanks.

Contrarian — "You've been doing wrong."
Curiosity gap — "The one that broke my whole ."
Stakes / cost — "This cost me hours."
Specific number — " tricks I wish I knew sooner."
Stop / start — "Stop . Do instead."
Mistake reveal — "The mistake every dev makes once."
Speed — " in seconds, no fluff."
Before / after — "How I went from to ."

Rule of thumb Write 5 hooks per idea, then pick one. The first hook is rarely the best — the fifth usually is. The hook's only job is to earn the next second.