The Gestalt Garden:
Learn to do and enjoy creative work
A free newsletter that helps you develop the mindset and systems you need to master and enjoy creative work — without turning into a soulless productivity machine or drowning in the chaos of your own ideas.
Creative work doesn’t play by conventional rules
It has its own rhythms, rules, and needs. While conventional work focuses on applying what’s already known efficiently, creative work is about leaping into the unknown hoping to return with something valuable in your hands.
That difference changes everything: your way of thinking, your expectations, your methods, how you organize your time, and even how you measure progress.
A common mistake is approaching creative work with the mindset and systems of conventional work. This often happens to PhD students, researchers, knowledge workers, or people developing personal projects.
The result? Frustration.
- You can’t create, and end up quitting.
- You can create, but only at the cost of your motivation, sustainability, or enjoyment of the process.
The solution isn’t to work harder or longer, but to learn how creative work actually works: to understand its needs and adapt your mindset and systems to honor them.
What will you get?
By subscribing to The Gestalt Garden, you’ll receive content designed to help you master and enjoy creative work right in your inbox:
📃 Reflections and actionable tips to improve your mindset, organization, and tools through small, sustainable changes.
📚 Articles where we’ll dive deeper into ideas, tools, and case studies.
🖥️ Free workshops and talks to learn together and share experiences.
🔔 News and updates about my projects, products, and services.
What readers are saying?
Quotes have been translated from Spanish to English.
“Very good article. It’s impressive how redefining the task as ‘time to think’ or something like that instantly makes it a priority, instead of just ‘editing, organizing notes,’ etc.”
—Daniel Salas, on “How to make time for your Zettelkasten”
“This came to me like a miracle, or an urgent necessity… I’ll start trying it on Monday, otherwise, I won’t make it to March 🤪”
—Cristina Hontanilla, on “The disconnection ritual reduces chronic stress”
“Of course it’s a win. You made me realize this process is implicit when we write, whether it’s a newsletter or a podcast script. The win of your note for me is making both elements conscious and explicit. Thank you, Fernando.”
—Richard Mújsica, on “The double filter of value”
“I loved the analogy. It’s a necessary article, because when it comes to method, we often forget the substance and get addicted to the shine.”
—Facundo Macías, on “How to be a ‘good player’ of Zettelkasten”
How to subscribe?
Subscribing to The Gestalt Garden newsletter is free — we’re already more than 400 people. Just enter your email in the form below:
I promise not to spam you, and you can unsubscribe at any time ;-)
To get started
Here are 5 featured posts from The Gestalt Garden that you can read as an introduction to the kinds of ideas and topics I share in the newsletter:
The last 10 editions
Here are the 10 most recent editions of The Gestalt Garden, in case you want to take a look at what I share :-)
- New article: Don’t share something without crediting its creative authorship
- Use tools that strengthen the right mindset
- Four sources of blockage in your Zettelkasten
- Deep processing activates learning in your Zettelkasten
- Exposing yourself to failure improves your ideas
- Flexibility and discipline are the foundation of determination
- A simple Zettelkasten is the best way to start
- What really is a Zettelkasten?
- You need cognitive flexibility
- How to make an idea blossom (with Sascha Fast)