Hello, fellow lifelong learner!
Stephen King is one of my favorite authors and I'm currently reading his memoir, "On Writing." He told the story of how he came up with Carrie by connecting two unrelated incidents.
The initial plot came from King's experience working as a janitor when he was younger and from an article he read years before about telekinesis. As he remembers, he imagined an opening scene where a girl gets her first period while in the locker. Other girls made fun of her even when she feels like dying from all the blood coming out of her. And she wants to fight back… But how?
He wrote:
Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.
He went through a lot of bad to mediocre stories first before he came up with this big break. He'd always put the rejection slips on the wall until the spike could no longer hold them.
So go on even if you feel like you're not reaping anything from what you're doing right now. The spark or The Moment doesn't always happen overnight or even after a year.😊
Here's a sketchnote I made on keeping an eye out for serendipity or making your own luck. Check out the article it's based on below.
Here are this week's curated articles:
⏳ Time anxiety: is it too late? | Anne-Laure Le Cunff | 🕰 6 minutes
A lot of us are suffering from time anxiety, especially when there's a feeling of just drifting through life. Check out the video version here.
P.S. Are you also a fan of Ness Labs? I find her articles well-written and practical!
🍀 How to be lucky | Christian Busch | 🕰 12 minutes
Forward this message to 10 of your friends to receive good luck? Nope, this is actually research-based. Yes, there is science in serendipity! We think of others who are luckier than us because of their circumstances or genetic traits, but we can also create our own luck. From Dense Discovery newsletter.
And note this very important disclaimer:
Note, while this approach has been successful across many settings, it does need to go hand in hand with tackling the structural inequality related to factors such as race, gender and income.
🌼 How to design the perfect day | Khe Hy | 🕰 7 minutes
What if you only have 2-4 hours for high-quality work in a day, how would your day look like? I like this guide because it touches on the nuances of how differently we expend our energy doing things we like vs those that we don't.
😈 Can you succeed without being a terrible person? | David Bodanis | 🕰 6 minutes
There's this popular adage that "Nice guys finish last." I've never believed this because I'd like to think of myself as a nice (enough) gal. This article shows how you can be successful AND nice.
Which article resonated with you the most and how will you apply it next week? Reply to this email or share it with me on Twitter!
Always thankful for you,
Bituin 💫