MindTrellis

About MindTrellis

Hi, I'm Tekin. I write MindTrellis.

I'm an engineer living in the Netherlands. I work on cloud infrastructure during the day, and I write here about productivity, learning, habits, and how to work with AI without letting it think for you.

Why I write this

In my mid-twenties I had a degree in political science and a career path that didn't fit. I retrained into tech from scratch: new field, new country, new language of work. There was no shortcut. What got me through wasn't talent or motivation; it was systems: small daily inputs, honest tracking, and learning how to learn.

Most of what I write here comes from that period and what followed. When I write about active recall, it's because I used it to pass certification exams while working full-time. When I write about focus blocks, it's because mornings before work were the only hours I had. None of this is theory I collected to fill a blog post.

What you'll find here

Three kinds of writing, roughly:

  • Field notes: things I actually tried, with honest results. Thirty days of AI-assisted planning. Six months with a sleep tracker. What stuck and what didn't.
  • Essays: opinions on AI, attention, and work. I'd rather take a clear position you can disagree with than summarize what everyone already says.
  • Guides: practical how-tos on focus, habits, energy, and learning. Written to be used, not bookmarked.

What you won't find

No affiliate links. No sponsored posts. No "ultimate tool lists" written to sell subscriptions. When I mention a product, it's because I use it, and I get nothing if you buy it.

Start here

If you're new, these three give you a fair sample of what this blog is:

Say hello

Disagree with something I wrote? Tried one of these systems and got different results? I'd genuinely like to hear it. The contact page reaches me directly.