Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born
Henrik Karlssonhenrikkarlsson.xyzSaved by Keely Adler and
Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born
Saved by Keely Adler and
The Knight: As you know, I am afraid of emptiness, desolation and stillness. I cannot bear the silence and isolation.
Death: Emptiness is a mirror turned to your own face.
solitude and work
To state it in slightly different terms: in those critical years I learned how to be alone.... See more
[. . .] these three years of work in isolation, when I was thrown onto my own resources, following guidelines which I myself had spontaneously invented, instilled in me a strong degree of confidence, unassuming yet enduring, in my ability to do mathematics,
Another idea if you want to push against the mental pressure that kills good ideas, from Paul Graham’s recent essay on how to do good work: “One way to do that is to ask what would be good ideas for someone else to explore. Then your subconscious won't shoot them down to protect you.” I don’t know of anyone using this technique, but it might work.
As Paul Graham observes:
People show much more originality in solving problems than in deciding which problems to solve. Even the smartest can be surprisingly conservative when deciding what to work on. People who’d never dream of being fashionable in any other way get sucked into working on fashionable problems.
What solitude gives you is an opportunity to study what personal curiosity feels like in its undiluted form, free from the interference of other considerations. Being familiar with the character of this feeling makes it easier to recognize if you are reacting to the potential in the work you are doing in a genuinely personal way, or if you are
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