flâneur

A beginner’s guide to exploration | thesephist.com

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I have a few friends who are in the midst of navigating very hazy idea spaces, guided by strong intuition and taste, but early enough in the process that very little is visible through the fog. Whenever I’m in this situation I feel a strange internal conflict. One side of me feels conviction in a direction of exploration, while the other part of me feels the risk of potential dead ends, afraid to go out on a limb and say I should put my full effort into pursuing where my hunch leads. In fact, I’m navigating a version of this conflict right now: Last week, I was catching up with one of my friends going through something similar, and ended up describing to them a mental model of exploration that I’ve developed in the hopes that it was helpful. It’s a framework I think my past self would have found meaningful, so I’m also sharing it with you, dear reader. Let’s begin by understanding that exploration is far from the only way to do meaningful creative work in the world. Following popular r

I have a few friends who are in the midst of navigating very hazy idea spaces, guided by strong intuition and taste, but early enough in the process that very little is visible through the fog. Whenever I’m in this situation I feel a strange internal conflict. One side of me feels conviction in a direction of exploration, while the other part of me feels the risk of potential dead ends, afraid to go out on a limb and say I should put my full effort into pursuing where my hunch leads. In fact, I’m navigating a version of this conflict right now: I feel strong conviction in the potential of usin

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