Running Thoughts

The Practical Polymath #37

Hi Friends, 

Greetings from Brooklyn! 

If you’re reading this, thank you. I’m grateful that you’re inviting me into your inbox every week. It’s a privilege that I don’t take lightly in a world where time is scarce and information aplenty.

I hope you enjoy this latest edition.

Until next week, 

Florian 

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Running Thoughts

Publishing a weekly piece is hard. 

A few weeks back I got stuck. None of my ideas felt any good. So I asked a fellow writer for advice and he said: 

“Don’t judge an idea before you write it”. 

We tend to think only good ideas deserve to be written. 

But the secret to writing regularly isn’t the ability to have a eureka moment on a weekly basis. It is to build the confidence that you can turn a flimsy thought into a solid piece. 

I often fail to apply this lesson. And when I do, it goes something like this: I think of an idea, write a few lines, decide that the idea is not good enough and switch to another one. But the next one turns out to be just as disappointing. Until I realize the only way  forward is to stick with a thought and start chiseling it into coherence. 

We think of ideas as having a fixed quality to them. They’re either good or bad. But just like we don’t get healthy sitting on a couch, ideas need motion to get fit. A hopeless thought may just be one that needs a little exercise.

Instead of abandoning an idea with weak legs, take it out for a run on the page. Write it and rewrite it. Perhaps wearing a different pair of words will give it a better grip. Talk it out loud a few times. Does it sound short of breath or is it finding its rhythm?

Watch it as it picks up speed and starts to make a run for the finish line.

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Weekly Wisdom

🪑 The Art of Gathering: Krista Tippett’s “On Being” is one of my favorite podcasts. This week she hosted Priya Parker. Parker argues that our lives are full of meetings that we’re holding without asking why we’re having them. The pandemic obliterated much of our plans to meet in person but it is also offering us an opportunity to reconnect with the purpose of coming together. 

📚 Book of the Week: I’ve started reading “Carrying the fire”, Michael Collins’ memoir about the Apollo 11 mission to land on the Moon. If someone was going to have a good perspective on this landmark mission, it was probably going to be the man who stayed in the control module while his two colleagues landed on the Moon. 

🥫 The Truth about Meal Prep: Last Sunday, I spent the afternoon prepping meals for the week. It made our lunches healthier and our evenings more relaxing. Some people can sustain that holy habit. I can’t. And I’m happy I’m not the only one. If you’re in my camp, you’ll want to read this hilarious piece.

Lateral Thought

"The older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I’m far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me."

Elizabeth Gilbert