The French have a term: déformation professionnelle. It’s the way your profession influences the way you see the world.

Interesting people are good at sharing. You can’t be interested in someone who won’t tell you anything. Being good at sharing is not the same as talking and talking and talking. It means you share your ideas, you let people play with them and you’re good at talking about them without having to talk about yourself.

You don’t need to be anywhere in particular and you don’t need the perfect notebook. To be honest, you don’t even need to go outside, although you might prefer it. It’s up to you.

You’re used to capturing ideas.

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. Joan Didion

‘The secret to being interesting is being interested,’

The way to be interesting is to be interested. You’ve got to find what’s interesting in everything, you’ve got to be good at noticing things, you’ve got to be good at listening. If you find people (and things) interesting, they’ll find you interesting.

‘Mindfulness is the process of actively noticing new things. When you do that, it puts you in the present. It makes you more sensitive to context and perspective. It’s the essence of engagement. And it’s energy-begetting, not energy-consuming.’

Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. Mary Oliver