Sometimes people articulate my own ideas much better than I’m able to.
Or, maybe it’s that they spent additional time understanding a thing when I’ve only ever experienced it and haven’t processed its implications. Like, I’m aware that it’s something I think about, but I haven’t yet examined why.
Did you know that the best way to learn stuff is to teach it to someone else? There have been so many times I’ve thought I knew something inside and out until I tried describe it to another person.
That’ll humble you real quick.
It’s also part of why I like writing so much; because it forces me to go through that process quite frequently. It makes me feel far more confident in the things I know and the stuff I don’t. Still, there are times when I come across someone else’s work and am bewildered to discover they’ve distilled my thoughts better than I have. Sometimes, it’s collaborative... as if I got my answer down to 4/16, found someone who managed to get it to 2/8, and then my mind goes “HEY LOOK IT’S 1/4!” Other times, it’s like I’m reading a word problem and then find someone who makes me realize I’ve been doing math this whole time.
I’m a hunter-gatherer.
I hunt for knowledge, and gather ways to apply it.
See this, the thing you’re reading right now, is an example of one of my unfinished concepts brought about by someone else’s nudging. I watched a video by Hank Green on YouTube recently where he talked about the idea of how “no effort is wasted.” Basically, he says it’s a way of life that centers around learning, for the sake of learning, without always knowing what you’ll use it for—just that you will, in fact, use it at some point down the road.
The way Hank framed this whole thing made me realize I’ve been doing math when I thought I was just analyzing word problems. I don’t think I stopped nodding once while he was describing it because this is just how I live my life. It’s how I’ve always gone about it. I do not know how to see it differently. So, part of me is shocked that some people do. I’m surprised this is noteworthy at all, really. What I really, really like about Hank’s perspective on this, though, is the line in the sand he draws between hustle-culture and its obsession with over-optimization, and curiosity-culture. He says outright that doing stuff just because it’s interesting is a worthy pursuit.
Hell yes it is.
“A life is not about getting some fucking task done; it is about building a you“
— Hank Green
Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
322/365
What's your take: can effort be wasted?
onward.
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