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What I’m looking for when I ask people questions normally is something one of my producers calls “the look away,” which is when someone is going back into their memory and really living in that space, and often they’ll break eye contact with you and look away because they’re not really with you anymore. And that’s the goal, to get someone there as ... See more

An essay is not the process of translating a fully-formed idea into words on a page; it is the process of discovering and testing an idea by challenging it with form, syntax, structure.

what matters more is who you are in your job, than the job itself

I simply have to know when I’m desperately curious and deeply suffocated by specific work situations. I’ve learned there is no “arriving” anywhere, which is maybe what the deep ache I feel is about. Seeing this as part of life helps me settle into the moments, however brief they may be.

In other words: the value of commitment is that you get something tangible in exchange for it. By making a choice, you get something Real. Whereas stewing in your potential and refusing to transform it into something Actual leaves you living more in your head—weighing and considering and thinking about all of the things you could be doing, but not ... See more

I want to write every day and read books and to be in love and live near all my friends and work on what I know to be true and good. For me, that’s salvation—that’s ambition.

Instead, I outright tell them that they already know, and I ask them questions to help them remember.

Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity.