“The way to be interesting is to be interested.”

“We may be in the Universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all.”

–WILLIAM JAMES,  A Pluralistic Universe

“… A man’s vision is the great fact about him. Who cares for Carlyle’s reasons, or Schopenhauer’s, or Spencer’s? A philosophy is the expression of a man’s intimate character, and all definitions of the Universe are but the deliberately adopted reactions of human characters upon it.”

–Ibid

 Ok.  For those who know me, you already know that I can be a bit scattered.  A jack of all trades and master of none.  I have a wide range of interests and seem so overwhelmed with possibilities that I don’t really seem to explore any of them and, at times, even remember what they are.  I’m just that scattered.

While surfing the net, I stumbled across a great article.  You may have read it already.  I hadn’t.  It resonated with me.  Here’s the link (must give credit where credit is due!):  http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2006/11/how_to_be_inter.html

Other people seem to know who Mr. Davies is.  I don’t.  Please forgive me ignorance.  However, I will say this.  For me, this was a brilliant post.  The one thing I needed to get back on track.  Thank you, Mr. Davies.

Personally, I find the problem with working at a job that requires a large commitment, dedication to learning about the various pickup methods out there is that we no longer explore our other interests (or develop new ones).  Insulated lives tend to lead to insulated and boring conversations.  Let’s face it, insulated lives are uninspired lives and who in their right mind would want to be with a person who is uninspiring?

Mr. Davies says that:

1.  The way to be interesting is to be interested.  You’ve got to find what’s interesting in everything, you’ve got to be good at noticing things, you’ve got to be good at listening.  If you find people (and things) interesting, they’ll find you interesting.

2.  Interesting people are good at sharing.  You can’t be interested in someone who won’t tell you anything. Being good at sharing is not the same as talking and talking and talking.  It means you share your ideas, you let people play with them and you’re good at talking about them without having to talk about yourself.

He then goes on to recommend the following:

• Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.
• Start a blog. Write at least one sentence every week.
• Keep a scrapbook
• Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before
• Once a month interview someone for 20 minutes, work out how to make them interesting. Podcast it.
• Collect something
• Once a week sit in a coffee-shop or cafe for an hour and listen to other people’s conversations. Take notes. Blog about it. (Carefully)
• Every month write 50 words about one piece of visual art, one piece of writing, one piece of music and one piece of film or TV. Do other art forms if you can. Blog about it
• Make something
• Read

I now make the following commitment to myself and to being more interesting:

1.  When I wake up in the morning (or just before going to sleep), I’m going to write a game-plan as to what I’d ideally like to explore that day.

2.  I will also have a calendar to schedule events.

3.  On a daily basis, I will aspire to:

• take at least one picture a day and post it on flickr.
• read 20 pages of a book — and keep a simple, personal book journal.
• go to the gym.
• spend one hour doing something related to pickup.
• make at least four people smile.
• think about blogging.    

On a weekly basis, I’ll aspire to:

• Read a good magazine.
• Write about one one art form:  visual art; writing; music; film; tv.
• Sit in a cofffee shop and listen to a new conversation for one hour while taking notes.

On a monthly basis:

• Go to at least one museum; take notes.
• Go to at least one improv show; take notes.
• Go to at least one other live event of interest, such as a poetry slam or a storytelling session.
• Work on an art project that I’ve been thinking about for a while.

Each morning (or evening before), I’ll sit down with my to-do list and calendar to figure out how I’m doing with these things and what I’ll need to schedule.  If I do the things, I’ve schedule:  great.  If not:  no problem.  The goal is to simply get myself to remember about doing and thinking about these things.  That’s the only real goal of the list and calendar.  It shouldn’t become a job or a chore.

This is exciting.

~ by socialrobot on May 19, 2007.