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Be an explorer
Friday, 13 October 2006
I often get emails from readers asking me some variant of: "How do you manage to write about so many interesting topics?" Well, first of all, thanks for the compliment. This kind of thing is said to me in the non-Paul's Tips part of my life too. People say "How come you know about so many interesting movies/ music / technology / books / restaurants / foods etc?".
The answer is simple. I'm an explorer. Others like me will tell you exactly the same thing.
Most people don't like stepping outside their comfortable little world. They know what kinds of movies, music, ideas, and food they like. They had an amazing experience with a certain thing in these categories once, and then they keep trying to recapture it. The problem with that strategy is that we humans get bored quickly.
There comes a point early in our experience of any one thing that can seem like ecstasy - the first time you eat pizza, when you first really appreciate your favorite song, that great scene in a beloved movie. After that, the feelings start to fade.
But some people can't let go. Like a drug addict chasing that first amazing hit, they just keep doing the same thing over and over again. Hoping that one day the ecstasy will return. Their consumption becomes habitual rather than pleasurable.
I take a different approach to my consumption of pleasure. Instead of settling on a few good things early on, I prefer to cast my net much wider. I'm always on the look out for something new and different to stimulate me. Not just new versions of the same old thing like most people, but something genuinely new.
There's one problem with this strategy and that is that 80% of what's out there isn't very good. Most music produced is terrible, most movies are boring, most technology is more hype than cool, and most restaurants are average. But if you're prepared to scavenge through the dross, you'll find some real overlooked gems.
Hidden among the 80% of blah is some stuff that's so unbelievable it blows your mind. And usually you don't have to look that far to find it. With practice, you can find at least one cool new thing a day, one amazing thing a week, and one spectacular thing a month.
Rather than eating the same old stuff, reading from the same sources, and consuming the same old cultural products - expand your horizons a bit. Don't just go for variations of stuff you already know you like. Instead, seek out something genuinely new and enrich your life.
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