Norbert Hires

For years I had a picture in my mind about my personal blog as a seedling. Every new blog post represented a drop of water which helped the tree to grow. Upon publishing a piece, not much was visible, but I knew that over time the seedling would grow into a tree and would provide shade or just be gentle on the eye. Writing was something inherently positive and future-oriented. When I finished a piece I always felt that I beat procrastination; I am the one who delayed gratification and won the marshmallow test. The reach of the post didn't even matter. I derived my greatest joy from thinking through a topic and creating something new. Something new that will have a long future. ...

I usually share lessons driven by my experience tinkering on the internet. Sometimes I write because I have something to say, other times because I learn through writing. Over the past few months, I've been unusually quiet—and AI is largely to blame. I don't enjoy philosophizing about practical subjects like SEO, but sharing my experience might be valuable as we navigate this shifting landscape. This piece captures where I stand today, though I'm certain my views will evolve. ...

Every week, I come across articles that make me think—about work, AI, history, and how to stay sane in a noisy world. Some offer practical insights, others challenge assumptions, and a few just stick with me for reasons I can’t quite explain. Here’s a mix of what I read last week, from reflections on long-term thinking to the evolving role of AI in our daily lives. 1. How I’m Preparing For The Next Four Yearsby Ryan Holiday ...

Every year, when the renewal notice for my domains lands in my inbox, I pause. Is it still worth it? In 2025, where AI churns out content faster than ever, and readers scroll past essays in favor of bite-sized videos, the fight for attention feels more daunting than ever. The landscape has shifted, but does that mean writing no longer has a place? In the last 6 years, I shared the ups and downs of my journey in a few pieces: ...

I'm playing a risky game. Most newsletter subscribers expect consistency—they want content on the topic they signed up for. Search engines reward focus, pushing you to go deep on one thing and one thing only. Stray too far, and you risk losing readers and rankings. But is going broad really dangerous? If writing about the same thing over and over kills my enthusiasm, readers will leave anyway. And who honestly believes Google will keep rewarding those who "follow the rules" when the rules are shifting in real time? ...

Receiving and giving feedback does not come naturally to me. Where I grew up and got my early exposure to the world, asking questions on how to do something better often meant questioning authority. Giving feedback was the anonymous complaint box and though later most companies I worked at adopted some form of performance management with 360 feedback, it didn't quite feel right. Even during these years, I got exposed to good managers and started to see the gap between feedback for feedback's sake and feedback that prompts you to be better. ...

Tim Ferriss's "4-Hour Workweek" was the first self-development book I read. In this book, the author shared his story that many could identify with (working a lot but not being happy), outlined an alternative (outsourcing tasks I don't like and spending free time meaningfully), and detailed how to achieve freedom. While Tim Ferriss primarily approached freedom from a business perspective, through the "time = money" equation, today's book author wants to help break down limitations in other areas of life. Harry Browe wants to help, but doesn't tell you what to do, which is a refreshing opening for a self-development book. ...

It's been a while. The last time I published here was a little bit more than a year ago, so it makes sense to reintroduce myself. Two types of people will receive this e-mail: folks who know my nickname (friends, colleagues, SEOs), and dear readers who found me by reading my experience writing on Ghost, my book reviews, or my thoughts on tools for thinking. It is not that I totally abandoned writing for the past year. Six years ago I started blogging in Hungarian. This blog you are currently reading was a pivot to challenge me to write in English and also to explore more "professionally relevant" topics besides books and productivity. In short: I didn't want to harass my readers in Hungarian with articles about content marketing if they signed up for reading about productivity books. ...

In 2020 I had enough of the SEO agency life. Doubling with 15-20 websites at the same time was stimulating but it didn't leave room to get deep into problems. I wasn't happy with the results I was able to produce with superficial audits. I was fantasizing about what devoting all of my time to one website would bring to the table. An opportunity from Adevinta, a European online classifieds leader found me during this time. The next 3 years were something I couldn't even dream of when I got onboarded as the SEO Specialist for Hungary. ...

I am a semi-professional people pleaser, so my default way of "problem-solving" is to avoid hot topics and suffer the consequences later. Bringing problems to the surface and solving them are crucial for our personal and professional lives. To resolve this conflict in my life I picked up Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. I was hoping to get some useful advice with a bunch of stories (just like in usual non-fiction books), but I was surprised: the amount of practical knowledge packed in this book is hard to comprehend. ...