I hate sending cold emails.

I spent hours drafting them. Each message felt like tossing a paper plane into a storm, hoping it might land somewhere meaningful.

One of those emails changed my life: it led to my first meeting with my current PhD advisor. But over time, I realized something deeper. This is a trilogy that forms a gravity.

success didn’t come from perfect outreach; it came from building gravity.

65歲廖偉雄曾揚言坐喺度等錢到相隔16年為金句解說：唔係唔做

Phase 1: The Push Era

When you’re starting out, you have no field of gravity. You push. cold emails, DMs, applications, introductions. It’s a phase defined by effort and precision.

Its the hardest part and that’s fine. Everyone begins here. Sending a good cold email is like lighting a match in the dark. It’s small, but it’s how every fire begins.

Phase 2: Building Mass

Then comes the slow accumulation of momentum. The work that quietly builds mass:

  • Publishing papers that stand on their own merit.
  • Building research communities like GGG, where curiosity scales through collaboration.
  • Sharing reflections online, not for validation, but to think in public.

At first, none of this feels strategic. I just do what I love, and somehow, visibility grows as a by-product of genuine effort.

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Phase 3: Becoming a Gravity Well

Eventually, I stop chasing opportunities and they start orbiting me.

  • Recruiters reached out before applications open.
  • Collaborators DM me with project ideas that fit my interests perfectly.
  • People knows me well before I even meet them.

I realized I have built a gravity well. a presence so coherent that it bends the flow of opportunity toward you. It’s no longer about outreach; it’s about resonance.

The strange thing is, I didn’t notice when it happened. I thought I was still “just building.” But one day I looked back and realized: I haven’t sent a cold email in months.

Somewhere along the way, the center of gravity shifted: from me reaching out to the world reaching in.

Lessons Learned from the Shift

  1. Do the work that makes you visible, not the work that chases visibility.
    • Publish, share, and build things that reflect your curiosity and taste.
  2. Communities multiply gravity.
    • A strong circle amplifies your reach more than any individual post ever could.
  3. Visibility compounds quietly.
    • You may not see the results daily, but others are taking notice.