The skilful bookshop owner and the gifted editor have lessons for our professional lives as well as our pleasures. Can you make connections other people cannot? Can you identify a helpful analogy? Will you bring an outsider’s perspective? Can you reconfigure existing information in a new and original way? Can you take one position while still

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But, then, ultimately, we get to this somewhat stark moment of conviction – a decision without certainty but with some level of instinct and belief. The work you’ve done is a big input, but then, I find there’s something else, too. It’s some combination of understanding, excitement, experience, gut, and fear. And this process repeats throughout our... See more

First, become able to feel conviction even in the face of high uncertainty. Second, learn how to weigh your options so hard that by the time you've picked the best available action, no part of you has an urge to go back into "deliberation mode" until you encounter new evidence or ideas that would have changed the result of your deliberation. Third,... See more