Hello intersectional thinkers đ
Greetings from Vancouver, where Iâm ready to wrap up the year!
Here are 3 intersectional ideas to wrap up the year:
1/ Create an aftertaste: Interesting has evolved to be a politely derogatory term. If you ate something âinterestingâ, itâs usually borderline offensive.
But isnât that border where creatives want to be?
We are attracted to whatâs interesting, not whatâs perfect.
This is one of my favourite mental models from Malcom Gladwell, storyteller extraordinaire. The idea itself might be a cliché, but the association with an aftertaste leaves a memorable sensory impact.
âYou want an aftertaste, and that comes from not everything being perfectly blended togetherâŠThe question is: What is interesting? Thatâs what has to drive any creative act.â
â Malcom Gladwell
Imperfections, flaws, quirks tantalize. Lifeless perfections bore.
2/ When big picture meets tiny details: 2021 marks a personal turning point.
Iâm not one for details. Thanks to an insignificant detail, I lost a kids speed-clothes-wearing contest on local TV at the age of 5 precisely because I didnât do up the neck-restricting button between the collars. Which five-year-old would ever wear a shirt that was buttoned up all the way to the neck?! That detail missed the point. At least thatâs what I thought.
The point is in the big picture. The direction. The goal. Details donât make or break the idea. So, Iâd quote Naval, priding myself on an efficient way of life:
"If you donât know yet what you should work on, the most important thing is to figure it out. You should not grind at a lot of hard work until you figure out what you should be working on."
â Naval
It wasnât until this year that I realized I had collected a bucket full of ideas, directions, goals. But I wasnât getting to where I wanted to go.
Unwillingly, I took down Navalâs wise advice, and swapped it with this ego-stabbing reminder:
âEvery action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.â
â James Clear
Time to put in the work towards unlocking that new identity. Iâll start by doing Ship 30 for 30 in January for my Twitter writing habit.
Hereâs my $100 off coupon for anyone who wants to write for 30 days with a built-in Twitter engagement pod.
3/ Fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes: I just started reading Matthew McConaugheyâs Greentlights.
He kept a diary for 35 years:
âNotes about success and failures, joys, and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. Thirty-five years of realizing, remembering, recognizing, gathering, and jotting down what has moved me or turned me on along the way. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to get what I want. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.â
- Matthew McConaughey
Itâs a love letter to life. And Iâm keeping track of mine on Obsidian.
To be intentional with my notetaking habit, Iâm using the Zettelkasten method. Itâs the secret sauce to thinking intersectionally and tracking ideas effortlessly.
In a nutshell, Zettelkasten is a simple notetaking system that (1) captures your everyday (shower) thoughts and ideas from consuming content, and (2) systematically help you turn them into your unique insights.
Hereâs my beginnerâs Zettelkasten Guide on YouTube if you want to start taking notes on life.
Bonus: an important update to the 2021 favourite quotes category:
âWe are not merely human beings having a spiritual experience, we are also spiritual beings having a human experience.â
- Maymie Chan
Thatâs it for 2021. If I find something else interesting between now and Dec 31, Iâll let you know on Twitter.
See you around the bend!
- Vicky
Intersectional Idea Wrap Up: 2021
Are you going back to Tokyo? I'm with you on the note taking and journalling habit. I just realised I used to journal in my early 20s, then completely stopped. Mine is now on Roam Research :)
Hey Vickie! Just hopped on Substack to write and glad i found you through Twitter. Loved the take on the word âinterestingâ haha, yes us creatives like interesting more than perfect.