Highlights 🥑 Why Your Ideas Are So Bad
How Ideas Grow
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As you're writing, how do you know which thoughts are most valuable? What separates good ideas from bad ones?
My approach is to focus on ideas that are interesting or surprising. These are the ingredients of novelty. Novelty is what keeps readers reading. They tend to be:
My approach is to focus on ideas that are interesting or surprising. These are the ingredients of novelty. Novelty is what keeps readers reading. They tend to be:
- Counter-intuitive
- Counter-narrative
- Shock and awe
- Elegant articulations
Julian Shapiro • Writing Well - Part 2 - Writing First Drafts
“I rarely have good ideas.
To overcome this limitation, I think about one topic (like habits) for an unreasonable amount of time. Then, I revise, revise, revise until only the best stuff remains. It’s slow, but it works.
You can either be a genius or you can be patient.”
To overcome this limitation, I think about one topic (like habits) for an unreasonable amount of time. Then, I revise, revise, revise until only the best stuff remains. It’s slow, but it works.
You can either be a genius or you can be patient.”
jamesclear.com • 3-2-1: On attracting luck, taking risks, and the ineffectiveness of anger | James Clear
An essential part of making perennial, lasting work is making sure that you’re pursuing the best of your ideas and that they are ideas that only you can have (otherwise, you’re dealing with a commodity and not a classic).