The challenge of original thinking
The more we consume advice as entertainment, the harder it is to hear our own voice.
Between podcasts and Twitter, it’s easy to find myself lost in the industrial complex of advice. There are just endless articles to read, podcast conversations to listen to, Twitter threads to unfurl. Sometimes I find myself not really seeking targeted advice as much as I am seeking entertainment through advice. What am I looking for? I don’t really know, but I do know that advice is enormously entertaining: frameworks, insights, mental models, statistics, trends, hot takes, lessons, first principles.
The problem is that the more we consume advice as entertainment, the harder it is to hear our own voice. It crowds out original thinking and atrophies our ability to practice the elusive skills of listening to our own intuitive, reflective intelligence. It’s far easier to be a product of the last conversation we listened in on than it is to slowly consider our own, very personal answer to a question like: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” What’s your answer?