How to make writing less hard? In his article, Oliver Burkeman introduces the concepts of « pointing out things » and « joint attention strategy ». Two notions that can help us to better detect a writer’s intentions. « Academics are often more focused on showing off their knowledge. Journalists are often trying to inflame your anger, or rally support for some cause. ». Some interesting insights worth remembering.
In a recent article, Oliver Burkeman offers us an interesting point of view on why the social media distraction is not a war against the big players but a war against ourselves. Today, we have so much more information about how those platforms use our attention as a business model that we can’t only blame the system. In fact, you can complain as much as you want but in the end you are denying the fact that you can have full control over it. You can choose who you’re following, move these apps out of your home screen, shut off their notifications or even better, try to understand what you’re trying to escape by regularly going for this primitive and time consuming distraction. Oliver explains that we are some kind of « collaborators with the enemy » because we often uses our social feed as a way to escape a negative, stressful or challenging situation. But as Oliver reminds us: « Stop expecting hard, important, meaningful things to feel constantly comfortable and pleasant. Consider the possibility that mild discomfort – butterflies in the stomach, a sense of difficulty, a moment of boredom – might simply be the price of doing things you care about. » This article is definitely worth a read!
We all know a guru who introduces himself as the best version of himself. As if the guy had his entire life sorted out for good. To me, this is toxic and misleading because people who read and listen to those content think that a flawless existence is the ultimate goal. But we are all perfectible, so wanting to get on top of everything all the time, because you think that’s the only way to succeed, is a bad and dangerous belief. If the energy and time you consume to maintain this insane level of demand towards yourself does not burn you out, it will slow you down drastically and take you away from the meaningful things you really want to achieve. When you accept that you’re perfectible, you can better listen to yourself and learn how to go through those difficult phases/moments of your life by taking targeted and appropriate responses on them. You accept that your mood, energy, motivation come & go and thus the best you can do is to learn how to better react to them. Rather than ignoring what your mind and body are naturally feeling, you give them what they need to prepare the next ascending phase.
Your future will always be uncertain, unclear and unpredictable. The goal is not to build and lock yourself in a safety box. On the contrary, that’s the best way to make yourself even more vulnerable because you wipe out the only tool you can count on in an emergency situation: your ‘’readiness to react’’. We can’t have full control over what’s happening to us, that’s a fact. Even with the best will in the world, things don’t always go well. Therefore, we must cultivate our readiness to react to unexpected situations. Visualizing yourself resilient and confident in front of a hypothetical difficulty can help you build up your mindset awareness. Spare yourself the complaints and the bad mood, in those moments your energy is everything you have, save it to move forward.
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Pointing out things
How to make writing less hard? In his article, Oliver Burkeman introduces the concepts of « pointing out things » and « joint attention strategy ». Two notions that can help us to better detect a writer’s intentions. « Academics are often more focused on showing off their knowledge. Journalists are often trying to inflame your anger, or rally support for some cause. ». Some interesting insights worth remembering.