Magnus

Be Very Careful About The Way You Craft Your Narrative

“Notice,” Michael Lewis suggests, “the effect the stories people tell about themselves have on their lives. If you listen to people, if you just sit around and listen, you’ll find there are patterns in the way they talk about themselves.” Some people are always the victim in the stories they... See more

That’s the promise: you will live more curiously if you write. You will become a scientist, if not of the natural world than of whatever world you care about. More of that world will pop alive. You will see more when you look at it.

It’s like what happens to a room during a game of “I Spy”: if your friend spies something red, the red stuff glows.

Whe... See more

“Another exercise that is very effective is walking on colors. Pick out all the reds on a street, focusing only on red objects—brick, lights, sweaters, signs. Shift to green, blue, orange, yellow. Notice how the colors begin to stand out more sharply of their own accord .”

The psychologists I spoke to said you don’t have to pretend like everything is fine after a bad event. Rather, you can write a story in which things can be fine. Look ahead for all the possible upsides that may come from your predicament. Consider how an event might make you stronger or open new doors. Then get to work.

At any rate, spring is here, even in London N1, and they can’t stop you enjoying it. This is a satisfying reflection. How many a time have I stood watching the toads mating, or a pair of hares having a boxing match in the young corn, and thought of all the important persons who would stop me enjoying this if they could. But luckily they can’t. So... See more

Every post I see about how I simply must use AI more and more in my workflow, if I don’t want to get left behind, further convinces me that I probably shouldn’t, if I want to have any chance of standing out.

In some ways, I suppose, it’s not so unlike life itself. What is a day well-spent? I’d say, if I’m really being honest, it’s a day spent in the right mental state (alert, loving, open, etc.) Same with writing. We can’t guarantee results, but we can try to be there at the desk, aware of the state of our mind, enjoying it, in our way, even when it’s... See more

Productivity, for me, is a natural outgrowth of passion. If I need to think about “productivity” as a separate discipline from “doing the thing,” something has gone wrong.