If of interest..
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

On Writing

Before this site I did not write much. I mean, besides filling out one of these anxiety worksheets, I didn’t write at all. I actually didn’t even read that much. From the outside looking in, that may not seem truthful as I’m posting every week about a few amongst the many articles I’ve read, but it really is. This ongoing writing exercise/thought experiment called IfofInterest (IOI) has made me curious in a way that I never have never been before. While this might sound a bit dramatic or phony, I’ll explain.

I really like this quote by Paul Graham that Kevin Simler used on his blog (meltingasphalt.com)

“An obstacle downstream propagates upstream. If you’re not allowed to implement new ideas, you stop having them. And vice versa: when you can do whatever you want, you have more ideas about what to do. So [keeping a blog] makes your brain more powerful in the same way a low-restriction exhaust system makes an engine more powerful.” — Paul Graham

I always operated with a means to an end. That was my obstacle that bubbled all the way upstream and cut off any new or creative ideas I would have. Here’s a little what that was like:

· Let me read about XYZ up-and-coming technology industry, great, let me understand who the best companies are, who gets paid the most, weigh my skills against the opportunities and then wonder if I should change jobs

· Let’s learn about the e-commerce industry, great, let me see how fast it’s growing, see who the competitors are and try to understand how I can invest in one of these business so I can make money

· Or what if I read about the Middle East, its history and how it has developed into what it is today, great, well I’m going to see…..well, who cares if I know what’s going on? I mean, it can’t personally help me, nor does it affect me. I’ll read about that later.

See, the first two bullet points might be viewed as a good thing, something that is ambitious and goal-oriented. I would agree. But it becomes quite obvious by the third bullet that I’m dictating the information I consume based on upon two selfish criteria: 1) is it relevant to me? 2) Will knowing this information tangibly benefit me in some way? And when you have hard and fast criteria that determines the information you consume, guess what? You consume less and enjoy it even less than that. Now everything becomes a task. A relevant, tangible benefit must be identified before I bother learning too much.

And why did I do this? Because I wanted to learn the “right” things. The things that would make me the richest, the most successful, the perfect date, the savviest businessman, the things that would make me look cool. Because once I have all that down, that’s when I can really start living !

I rarely had any creative ideas because I didn’t actually have a desire to learn new things. I only had a desire to gain a specific set of knowledge that I deemed helpful in advancing me forward in the game of life.

I’ve attempted to change that.

I post about human biology, psychology, mental health, business, books and a bunch of other things because I just find them interesting. This blog is an outlet for all the things I like that I don’t have a formal justification for. And the funny thing is, I spend hours over multiple days writing some of these posts, and I really like it. And by that I mean I like this more than pretty much anything I do. And besides for improving my writing, it has no tangible benefit I’m hoping to leverage. If readership went to zero tomorrow, I would still post every week. Because my life isn’t tomorrow, or 10 years from now when I’m “rich and have a big house”, it’s right now, at 11pm on a Monday and I’m enjoying it quite a lot.

So if you read something interesting and would like to share. Please do — leave a comment or email me at jake@ifofinterest.com

This post originated on Ifofinterest.com