Seashells
To understand what a real essay is, we have to reach back into history again, though this time not so far. To Michel de Montaigne, who in 1580 published a book of what he called "essais." He was doing something quite different from what lawyers do, and the difference is embodied in the name. Essayer is the French verb meaning "to try" and an essai is an attempt. An essay is something you write to try to figure something out.
Figure out what? You don't know yet. And so you can't begin with a thesis, because you don't have one, and may never have one. An essay doesn't begin with a statement, but with a question. In a real essay, you don't take a position and defend it. You notice a door that's ajar, and you open it and walk in to see what's inside.
If all you want to do is figure things out, why do you need to write anything, though? Why not just sit and think? Well, there precisely is Montaigne's great discovery. Expressing ideas helps to form them. Indeed, helps is far too weak a word. Most of what ends up in my essays I only thought of when I sat down to write them. That's why I write them.
When you wait, you lose momentum. And momentum is incredibly powerful because when you’re inspired, you act—and you do it with enthusiasm.
Erifili Gounari • literally just do things
Open-minded people can take in the thoughts of others without losing their ability to think well—they can hold two or more conflicting concepts in their mind and go back and forth between them to assess their relative merits.
Ray Dalio • Principles: Life and Work
Open-minded people see disagreement as a thoughtful means to expand their knowledge. They don’t get angry or upset at questions; rather, they want to identify where the disagreement lies so they can correct their misperceptions. They realize that being right means changing their minds when someone else knows something they don’t.If you recognize... See more
Shane • The Difference Between Open-Minded and Closed-Minded People
introspection is overrated. That’s in part because what’s going on in your mind is not only more complicated than you understand, it is more complicated than you can understand. Your mind hides most of your thinking so you can get on with life. Furthermore, you’re too close to yourself. You can’t see the models you use to perceive the world because
... See moreDavid Brooks • How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
.@naval: First of all, I don't think of myself. I just want to be clear on that. And that's not a rule. It's just a habit I've kind of developed because I found that thinking about yourself is a source of all unhappiness and misery.
Self obsession is the root of all unhappiness.
What did... See more
Arjun Khemanix.com
Ed Sheeran and Neil Gaiman are in the top 0.000001% of their fields. They're among, say, 25 people in the world who repeatedly generate blockbusters.
If two world-class creators share the exact same creative process, I get curious. Also, while writing this, I found a video of John Mayer doing the same thing.
I call their approach the Creativity
... See moreJulian Shapiro • Highlights 🥑 Why Your Ideas Are So Bad
Mozart wrote over 200 hours of recorded music and never edited his work once (Don Giovanni’s overture was written the night before it was to be performed, he handed it to the copyists while hungover before 7am). Sometimes the less you edit the better. Trust your instincts. Inspiration comes fast, so if you’re taking too long to write something,... See more
Sherryx.com