Horden's Treasures,
A Writer’s Notebook
Writing 1, Final Project 5
Scroll
down
Horden's Treasures,
A Writer’s Notebook
Writing 1, Final Project 5
Scroll
down
Horden's Treasures,
A Writer’s Notebook
Writing 1, Final Project 5
Scroll
down
The 50 points
1
Write badly
Treasure: “When I give my students permission to write badly, often something miraculous happens: words that used to trickle forth come gushing to the page.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: His idea reminded me that things don’t need to be perfect, that good writing doesn’t come from having everything in control but taming the messy thoughts that you have in your mind. I stopped writing to impress, which allowed my authentic self to come through. Its not a bad thing to write badly, thats the process that you iterate and refine.
Bruce Ballenger
Starting to write
2
Transform Motive
Treasure: “The brain is like a muscle, it grows stronger with use.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This reminded me that it’s ok to be frustrated at times. I used to think that I was just stuck and there was something wrong with me, but now I see it as mental training for the mind, akin to what the gym is to the body. I learned that after every mistake, I iterate and learn and train my mind to become sharper and better.
Carol Dweck
Starting to write
3
Four mistakes
Treasure: “Stretch mistakes occur when we try to do something beyond what we already can do.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This taught me how to tell the difference between failing in a repeating cycle vs using failure as a teacher. I used to want everything to be perfect and did my best to avoid mistakes, but I realized that is the wrong path and I aim to make better / deliberate mistakes so I may experiment and improve.
Eduardo Briceno
Starting to write
4
Fear
Treasure: “Students’ greatest obstacle to success is fear, fear of being wrong, fear of looking foolish.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I remember in elementary school when I feared being wrong, so I never raised my hand even when I had a question. I feared the opinions of other people and what I would be portrayed as but after writing, I am more incline / intuned with my thoughts and I have learned that we are all exploring this game of life.
Rebecca Cox
Starting to write
5
Mix Personal
Treasure: “Personal writing can reinforce an argument’s power when it deepens understanding.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: In highschool, I believed that logic reigned supreme compared to emotions. But after reading what Stewart said, it made me realize that emotion is how you truly connect with the reader or other people, it’s what makes us human after all. I have began intertwining my own personal stories into my writing to make it better and I feel more authentic by consequence.
Marjorie Stewart
Starting to write
6
The Process
I realize that we all start at square one when we write, and that is who we become on the journey. After taking joy in writing, I realize that it’s literally me on paper, me in my word from. When I reflect, I see more of myself, of subconscious patterns I have never known, and if they could be improved, then I do so.
Cumulative Reflection
Starting to write
7
Read -> Write
Treasure: “You are constantly reading like a writer. Examining why the author made certain choices and how those choices affect you as a reader.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I used to just glaze through the pages, not thinking much, but when I began writing, I learned to take it personally, to think about why the author used this specific voice of words. Kind of like unassembling a product, I find what makes the sentence have a type of substance and it allows me to understand deeper.
Mike Bunn
Starting to write
8
Build Style
Treasure: “Imitation is not copying, its improvement” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that after a certain point, most of our ideas were just other peoples ideas, like what we have learned from our peers, our parents and our ideas, is quite hard to find an idea that is originally ours. Which is why we should imitate, to not copy but to test them out until you find your own authentic one.
Craig A. Meyer
Starting to write
9
Brainstorming
Treasure: “Brainstorming is not about finding the right idea, but generating enough ideas that one sticks.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This line changed the way how I write. Instead of trying to get it perfect, I just machine gun a whole bunch of points on a blank page, then I take a walk, reflect, and I come to find one that I like and then I act on that. I realize that prioritizing perfection in the first place literally kills it.
UNC Writing Center
Starting to write
10
Punctuation
Treasure: “Punctuation is the music of meaning.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This reminded me how the small things really matter, like question marks, exclamation marks and even quotations. Like when you speak and you put a comma, you are allowed to pause and for the audience to think about what you wrote, its pacing in a way, but also in how you write.
Cassell
Starting to write
11
Read -> Writer (2)
Treasure: “When you notice how a writer captures your attention, you begin learning how to capture someone else’s.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This makes me take inspiration from other people, from the greats. Every time I pass by some writing that hits me viscerally, I make a note and then I go on a walk to reflect on why I felt that way. At the end, I end up closer to who I am and refined my own personal philosophy.
Mike Bunn
Starting to write
12
Silence
Treasure: “A writer’s best ideas often appear when the logical mind steps aside.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This is like what Robert Greene says in the book, Mastery, that one should “Allow for Serendipity” such as going in walks or going in nature, when we are surrounded by things bigger than myself. This is also like the origin of shower thoughts and why they are so great or why we get them mid workout.
UNC writing center
Starting to write
13
Origin
Treasure: “Ideas don’t come from brilliance, they come from attention.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Ive learned that one can attain the status of a genius or something of that sort when they put in enough work, Like Gladwell famously said mastery is achieved after 10,000 hours of concentrated attention. The more you take in from a field, the more your mind expands and by consequence, the more ideas you can come up with.
Cumulative Reflection
Starting to write
14
Shitty Drafts
Treasure: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: It’s ok to fail, we all start out somewhere. When I recall starting out in all of the hobbies or skills I am good at now, I started as a complete novice and failed. But through repetition and concentrated attention, I improved. Just stick with it and refine.
Anna Lamott
Starting to write
15
Say Nothing
Treasure: “Say what you mean, not what you think sounds smart.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, put your ego aside. Once you do this, you can truly be authentic and not some asshole that is saying it for the sake of it. At the end of the day, you want to communicate truth about what you think and be proud of who you are, not what you are faking.
Paul Roberts
Starting to write
16
Tough Sentences
Treasure: “Make your sentences lean and tough.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that I should cut the fluff from my speech and be direct, get straight to the point and the readers heart. This allows me to show respect for the readers time and eliminates things I don’t want the reader to think about.
Paul Roberts
Starting to write
17
Clarity -> Chaos
Treasure: “Good writers are simply good rewriters.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: People who are at where they are now, have failed multiple times bu they refined it each time, stuck with it and now we see the fruits of the labor. Trust the process.
Lamott
Starting to write
18
Exploration
Treasure: “Writing teaches you what you were trying to say.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When I first started journaling, I used to wait until I knew what I wanted to write about, But then I realized that if I just start, and Im in my flow state, the thoughts just come to me naturally and its more beautiful that way.
Ballenger
Starting to write
19
Proofreading
Treasure: “Proofreading is critical to establishing a professional tone.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that I cant just be one and done with all the things that I do, I need to proof read so I may refine and put out my best piece, so that I may maintain by credibility and my reputation for a good writer.
Moxley
Revising
20
Distance
Treasure: “To proofread effectively, you need distance.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realize that once I complete a writing, I cant immediately proof read it because my brain feels blocked in a type of way. I try to get patience by waiting a day so I may distance my emotion from my writing so I may correct it more accurately.
Moxley
Revising
21
Source
Treasure: “Good sources lend you their credibility.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This allowed my writing to have another dimension, to back up my own words and writings with the thoughts of others, mostly accomplished scholars and reputation in their respective field.
Warrington
Revising
22
Op-Ed
Treasure: “A clear argument is a public service.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you can coherently get your point across, and back it up with a story or evidence, then you are helping by giving your own input, especially in their world where people just recycle the words of other people.
Harvard
Revising
23
Community
Treasure: “Good writing belongs to a conversation, not a monologue.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This is like podcasting, like people do not want to feel like they are being interviewed excuse they don’t learn anything. They want it to be a conversation to like the other person can share their point of view and by consequence, they also learn something.
Lookout
Revising
24
Retire Op-ed
Treasure: “Op-Ed is a relic of an older print age; digital readers need clearer, modern labels.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: If you want to write good, you need to write things that fits the topic at hand. Past topics that once made sense need to be broken down for our upcoming generations / adapt vocabulary to the masses now.
Kingsbury
Revising
25
Thoughtful Voices
Treasure: “What’s disappearing are spaces where ideas can linger, be interrogated, and flourish.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: With the advent of social media, there are tons of informational, most are not good, so develop good writing filters. Writers should take the slow path and got on their own pace, as depth in itself is a competitive advantage.
Kingsbury
Revising
26
Standards of Argument
Treasure: “Opinion writing enforces standards of cogent argument, logical thought, and compelling rhetoric.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: To have standards doesnt not mean you are constraining yourself, it means that you have leverage in this domain. Arguments are the best when they have all three parts of clarity, structure and intention, always back up your emotion with this layout.
Kingsbury
Revising
27
They Say / I Say
Treasure: “Writing is joining a conversation: first understand what ‘they’ say, then respond with what you think.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Always get input from all sides, like a conversation. If you skip peoples inputs, your writing floats. If you skip what you say, you’re basically not being authentic and copying someone else. You need both.
Guptill
Revising
28
Avoid the Extremes
Treasure: “Either letting sources replace your thinking OR ignoring sources entirely weakens your thesis.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: To effectively write, you need to strike a balance between two. Engage with all sides of an idea by attacking them head on instead of hiding away or racing away from them.
Guptill
Revising
29
Context Before Quoting
Treasure: “Never drop in a quote without context. Readers need to know who’s speaking and why it matters.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you dump a quote, it signals a type of intellectual laziness and it disdains the reader. You need to provide and introduce all quote with context, which makes it more meaningful.
Guptill
Revising
30
Efficiency of Evidence
Treasure: “Long quotes without purpose dilute your authority; concise paraphrase often hits harder.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you are succinct and efficient, you show respect for the reader, also when you paraphrase something, it reveals that you have a deep understanding of the subject, akin to mastery rather than dependency for a quote.
Guptill
Revising
31
Exigency Defined
Treasure: “Exigency is why your message matters now, in this place, for this exact reader.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, you need to instill a sense of urgency or else it becomes forgettable, exigency is what comes between if something is interesting and if something is necessary.
Vieregge
Revising
32
Audience Centered
Treasure: “Invoke exigency by connecting your argument to your reader’s agenda.” You have to write in the readers perspective, get in their minds and think like them, frame things in their values not your own, because in order to persuade, you have to be like the other person. Aligned.
Vieregge
Revising
33
Reinterpretation
Treasure: “Bold, counterintuitive claims spark attention—but require grounded reasoning.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you surprise the reader, it must be built up to or else it will be in vain, and that if you want to introduce a big idea, you must be able to back it up with logic to convince the reader.
Vieregge
Revising
34
Find a Subject You Care About
Treasure: “Your genuine caring, not your linguistic tricks, is your most seductive element of style.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, your emotions are poured into the writing and the readers can feel subconsciously if you are being sincere or not, and when you care the writing gets clearer.
Vonnegut
Revising
35
Cut Ruthlessly
Treasure: “If a sentence doesn’t illuminate your subject in a new way, scratch it out.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Each sentence you write should bring a new thought or idea to the reader, when you edit too much, the authenticity and the ego dies. Be precise because that reveals your depth of understanding.
Vonnegut
Revising
36
Style Is Grammar
Treasure: “Style is the sum of your deliberate grammatical choices shaped by your rhetorical context.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, embody the persona of a architect, because your writing style will be the culmination of decisions, not just randomly putting ideas all over the place.
Hulst
Revising
37
No standard
Treasure: “Correctness depends on the context; preferred usage changes with audience and genre.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: There is no universal rule or law for what is right, but rather, what is right only works and is depend on the situation, just like cause and effect on what you are trying to do to the reader.
Hulst
Revising
38
Fragments
Treasure: “Breaking rules intentionally, like using fragments, can strengthen tone when used deliberately.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you want to break a rule or a style, you need to have full control over it so it makes sense, try to maximize the impact on the reader than trying to make the reader read more.
Hulst
Revising
39
Parallelism
Treasure: “Parallel grammatical structures clarify ideas and elevate elegance.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When your writing is in symmetry, it increases the force and the thud it has on the reader, and to make it parallel, it needs to have both rhythm and clarity.
Hulst
Revising
40
Begins with failure
Quote: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Interpretation: Failure should not be treated as something bad, but rather the start of something great. The greatest writers that ever lived don’t start good, they just iterate, stumble, revise and do it again and again until they achieved this so called brilliance, the job of the first draft is to be imperfect so it may become perfect.
Brooke
Finalizing
41
Failure creates growth
Quote: “Students must have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to learn from those failures as a means of intellectual growth.” Interpretation: When we avoid failure, often out of fear, we cant develop or grow as a person and our writing. When we write only once and as a final product, we avoid risk all together which skips the learning process because growth require experimentation and to make mistakes so we learn.
Brooke
Finalizing
42
Failure is shared
Quote: “Failure… is something all writers work through, rather than a symptom of inadequacy or stupidity.” Interpretation: Failure is a normal part of life, we are human and we make mistakes. It should be a normal, and universal thing, maybe even expected because we all stumble at some point, we are not perfect. We should reframe failure as part of the process to mastery, rather than something bad.
Brooke
Finalizing
43
Never finished
Quote: “Writers will never have learned all that can be known about writing.” Interpretation: There so so much information out of the world and we only know less than 0.000001 of 0.000001 of all information, and by consequence, writing is a lifelong process and an art. There is really no final form, you learn each time.
Rose
Finalizing
44
Doesn't transfer
Quote: “Writing strategies that are effective for them in one context are often inappropriate and ineffective in another.” Interpretation: Writing depends on the situation, some techniques will work on some while it may not work in others, how like a technique that works in a lab report will make a bad poem or a business plan, we need to learn to be adaptable so we can face whatever is throw at us.
Rose
Finalizing
45
Skill is relative
Quote: “A demonstration of one’s ability to write effectively in one context cannot constitute proof of one’s ability to write in other contexts.” Interpretation: It’s not a universal trait to be so called “good at writing”. It is an entirely subjective topic inself across genres, audiences and the intent of the reader or writer.
Rose
Finalizing
46
Practice = fluidity
Quote: “One kind of practice provides fluidity… with the sense of putting individual words on a page that then come together to form larger blocks of meaning.” Interpretation: The more we write, the more fluid we become because we get repeated exposure to the act of writing itself. Its like any other skill, the more you work on it, the better you will become through the process of learning.
Yancey
Finalizing
47
Refining
Quote: “Another kind of practice can refine technique, whether that be dialogue… citations… or a rhetorical appeal.” Interpretation: Technique is something we train and learn by doing, not by seeing or writing per se. If we want to gain deep understanding of a genre or how narrative works or the tools that aid them, we need to use them to we can course correct on the way.
Yancey
Finalizing
48
Across everything
Quote: “Practice can involve writing in different spaces, with different materials, and with different technologies.” Interpretation: Writing has so many dimensions and versions. Some people may prefer to write with a pen, or a laptop, or using the notes app on their phone. Some people may want to write at their desk, or a cafe or their dorm room like where I right now. Input from others shape how we think and how we write, because the more diverse we are, the more versatile we become.
Yancey
Finalizing
49
Self-Examination
Treasure: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: True happiness is now what you have, but in who you become. You have to reflect on your life for it to have meaning because in order to achieve excellence, we must have mastery of the self which requires awareness of our thoughts, motives, habits and choices. Only then can we know what to change.
Socrates
Finalizing
50
Years > Days
Treasure: “The years teach much which the days never know.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: We live our life so zoomed in that sometimes out daily experiences feel small and insignificant, but when we zoom out in perspective, we truly realize how much we have learned. This long view reveals patterns and truths we may not have realized other ways.
Emerson
Finalizing
The 50 points
1
Write badly
Treasure: “When I give my students permission to write badly, often something miraculous happens: words that used to trickle forth come gushing to the page.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: His idea reminded me that things don’t need to be perfect, that good writing doesn’t come from having everything in control but taming the messy thoughts that you have in your mind. I stopped writing to impress, which allowed my authentic self to come through. Its not a bad thing to write badly, thats the process that you iterate and refine.
Bruce Ballenger
Starting to write
2
Transform Motive
Treasure: “The brain is like a muscle, it grows stronger with use.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This reminded me that it’s ok to be frustrated at times. I used to think that I was just stuck and there was something wrong with me, but now I see it as mental training for the mind, akin to what the gym is to the body. I learned that after every mistake, I iterate and learn and train my mind to become sharper and better.
Carol Dweck
Starting to write
3
Four mistakes
Treasure: “Stretch mistakes occur when we try to do something beyond what we already can do.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This taught me how to tell the difference between failing in a repeating cycle vs using failure as a teacher. I used to want everything to be perfect and did my best to avoid mistakes, but I realized that is the wrong path and I aim to make better / deliberate mistakes so I may experiment and improve.
Eduardo Briceno
Starting to write
4
Fear
Treasure: “Students’ greatest obstacle to success is fear, fear of being wrong, fear of looking foolish.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I remember in elementary school when I feared being wrong, so I never raised my hand even when I had a question. I feared the opinions of other people and what I would be portrayed as but after writing, I am more incline / intuned with my thoughts and I have learned that we are all exploring this game of life.
Rebecca Cox
Starting to write
5
Mix Personal
Treasure: “Personal writing can reinforce an argument’s power when it deepens understanding.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: In highschool, I believed that logic reigned supreme compared to emotions. But after reading what Stewart said, it made me realize that emotion is how you truly connect with the reader or other people, it’s what makes us human after all. I have began intertwining my own personal stories into my writing to make it better and I feel more authentic by consequence.
Marjorie Stewart
Starting to write
6
The Process
I realize that we all start at square one when we write, and that is who we become on the journey. After taking joy in writing, I realize that it’s literally me on paper, me in my word from. When I reflect, I see more of myself, of subconscious patterns I have never known, and if they could be improved, then I do so.
Cumulative Reflection
Starting to write
7
Read -> Write
Treasure: “You are constantly reading like a writer. Examining why the author made certain choices and how those choices affect you as a reader.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I used to just glaze through the pages, not thinking much, but when I began writing, I learned to take it personally, to think about why the author used this specific voice of words. Kind of like unassembling a product, I find what makes the sentence have a type of substance and it allows me to understand deeper.
Mike Bunn
Starting to write
8
Build Style
Treasure: “Imitation is not copying, its improvement” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that after a certain point, most of our ideas were just other peoples ideas, like what we have learned from our peers, our parents and our ideas, is quite hard to find an idea that is originally ours. Which is why we should imitate, to not copy but to test them out until you find your own authentic one.
Craig A. Meyer
Starting to write
9
Brainstorming
Treasure: “Brainstorming is not about finding the right idea, but generating enough ideas that one sticks.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This line changed the way how I write. Instead of trying to get it perfect, I just machine gun a whole bunch of points on a blank page, then I take a walk, reflect, and I come to find one that I like and then I act on that. I realize that prioritizing perfection in the first place literally kills it.
UNC Writing Center
Starting to write
10
Punctuation
Treasure: “Punctuation is the music of meaning.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This reminded me how the small things really matter, like question marks, exclamation marks and even quotations. Like when you speak and you put a comma, you are allowed to pause and for the audience to think about what you wrote, its pacing in a way, but also in how you write.
Cassell
Starting to write
11
Read -> Writer (2)
Treasure: “When you notice how a writer captures your attention, you begin learning how to capture someone else’s.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This makes me take inspiration from other people, from the greats. Every time I pass by some writing that hits me viscerally, I make a note and then I go on a walk to reflect on why I felt that way. At the end, I end up closer to who I am and refined my own personal philosophy.
Mike Bunn
Starting to write
12
Silence
Treasure: “A writer’s best ideas often appear when the logical mind steps aside.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This is like what Robert Greene says in the book, Mastery, that one should “Allow for Serendipity” such as going in walks or going in nature, when we are surrounded by things bigger than myself. This is also like the origin of shower thoughts and why they are so great or why we get them mid workout.
UNC writing center
Starting to write
13
Origin
Treasure: “Ideas don’t come from brilliance, they come from attention.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Ive learned that one can attain the status of a genius or something of that sort when they put in enough work, Like Gladwell famously said mastery is achieved after 10,000 hours of concentrated attention. The more you take in from a field, the more your mind expands and by consequence, the more ideas you can come up with.
Cumulative Reflection
Starting to write
14
Shitty Drafts
Treasure: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: It’s ok to fail, we all start out somewhere. When I recall starting out in all of the hobbies or skills I am good at now, I started as a complete novice and failed. But through repetition and concentrated attention, I improved. Just stick with it and refine.
Anna Lamott
Starting to write
15
Say Nothing
Treasure: “Say what you mean, not what you think sounds smart.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, put your ego aside. Once you do this, you can truly be authentic and not some asshole that is saying it for the sake of it. At the end of the day, you want to communicate truth about what you think and be proud of who you are, not what you are faking.
Paul Roberts
Starting to write
16
Tough Sentences
Treasure: “Make your sentences lean and tough.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that I should cut the fluff from my speech and be direct, get straight to the point and the readers heart. This allows me to show respect for the readers time and eliminates things I don’t want the reader to think about.
Paul Roberts
Starting to write
17
Clarity -> Chaos
Treasure: “Good writers are simply good rewriters.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: People who are at where they are now, have failed multiple times bu they refined it each time, stuck with it and now we see the fruits of the labor. Trust the process.
Lamott
Starting to write
18
Exploration
Treasure: “Writing teaches you what you were trying to say.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When I first started journaling, I used to wait until I knew what I wanted to write about, But then I realized that if I just start, and Im in my flow state, the thoughts just come to me naturally and its more beautiful that way.
Ballenger
Starting to write
19
Proofreading
Treasure: “Proofreading is critical to establishing a professional tone.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that I cant just be one and done with all the things that I do, I need to proof read so I may refine and put out my best piece, so that I may maintain by credibility and my reputation for a good writer.
Moxley
Revising
20
Distance
Treasure: “To proofread effectively, you need distance.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realize that once I complete a writing, I cant immediately proof read it because my brain feels blocked in a type of way. I try to get patience by waiting a day so I may distance my emotion from my writing so I may correct it more accurately.
Moxley
Revising
21
Source
Treasure: “Good sources lend you their credibility.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This allowed my writing to have another dimension, to back up my own words and writings with the thoughts of others, mostly accomplished scholars and reputation in their respective field.
Warrington
Revising
22
Op-Ed
Treasure: “A clear argument is a public service.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you can coherently get your point across, and back it up with a story or evidence, then you are helping by giving your own input, especially in their world where people just recycle the words of other people.
Harvard
Revising
23
Community
Treasure: “Good writing belongs to a conversation, not a monologue.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This is like podcasting, like people do not want to feel like they are being interviewed excuse they don’t learn anything. They want it to be a conversation to like the other person can share their point of view and by consequence, they also learn something.
Lookout
Revising
24
Retire Op-ed
Treasure: “Op-Ed is a relic of an older print age; digital readers need clearer, modern labels.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: If you want to write good, you need to write things that fits the topic at hand. Past topics that once made sense need to be broken down for our upcoming generations / adapt vocabulary to the masses now.
Kingsbury
Revising
25
Thoughtful Voices
Treasure: “What’s disappearing are spaces where ideas can linger, be interrogated, and flourish.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: With the advent of social media, there are tons of informational, most are not good, so develop good writing filters. Writers should take the slow path and got on their own pace, as depth in itself is a competitive advantage.
Kingsbury
Revising
26
Standards of Argument
Treasure: “Opinion writing enforces standards of cogent argument, logical thought, and compelling rhetoric.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: To have standards doesnt not mean you are constraining yourself, it means that you have leverage in this domain. Arguments are the best when they have all three parts of clarity, structure and intention, always back up your emotion with this layout.
Kingsbury
Revising
27
They Say / I Say
Treasure: “Writing is joining a conversation: first understand what ‘they’ say, then respond with what you think.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Always get input from all sides, like a conversation. If you skip peoples inputs, your writing floats. If you skip what you say, you’re basically not being authentic and copying someone else. You need both.
Guptill
Revising
28
Avoid the Extremes
Treasure: “Either letting sources replace your thinking OR ignoring sources entirely weakens your thesis.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: To effectively write, you need to strike a balance between two. Engage with all sides of an idea by attacking them head on instead of hiding away or racing away from them.
Guptill
Revising
29
Context Before Quoting
Treasure: “Never drop in a quote without context. Readers need to know who’s speaking and why it matters.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you dump a quote, it signals a type of intellectual laziness and it disdains the reader. You need to provide and introduce all quote with context, which makes it more meaningful.
Guptill
Revising
30
Efficiency of Evidence
Treasure: “Long quotes without purpose dilute your authority; concise paraphrase often hits harder.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you are succinct and efficient, you show respect for the reader, also when you paraphrase something, it reveals that you have a deep understanding of the subject, akin to mastery rather than dependency for a quote.
Guptill
Revising
31
Exigency Defined
Treasure: “Exigency is why your message matters now, in this place, for this exact reader.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, you need to instill a sense of urgency or else it becomes forgettable, exigency is what comes between if something is interesting and if something is necessary.
Vieregge
Revising
32
Audience Centered
Treasure: “Invoke exigency by connecting your argument to your reader’s agenda.” You have to write in the readers perspective, get in their minds and think like them, frame things in their values not your own, because in order to persuade, you have to be like the other person. Aligned.
Vieregge
Revising
33
Reinterpretation
Treasure: “Bold, counterintuitive claims spark attention—but require grounded reasoning.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you surprise the reader, it must be built up to or else it will be in vain, and that if you want to introduce a big idea, you must be able to back it up with logic to convince the reader.
Vieregge
Revising
34
Find a Subject You Care About
Treasure: “Your genuine caring, not your linguistic tricks, is your most seductive element of style.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, your emotions are poured into the writing and the readers can feel subconsciously if you are being sincere or not, and when you care the writing gets clearer.
Vonnegut
Revising
35
Cut Ruthlessly
Treasure: “If a sentence doesn’t illuminate your subject in a new way, scratch it out.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Each sentence you write should bring a new thought or idea to the reader, when you edit too much, the authenticity and the ego dies. Be precise because that reveals your depth of understanding.
Vonnegut
Revising
36
Style Is Grammar
Treasure: “Style is the sum of your deliberate grammatical choices shaped by your rhetorical context.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, embody the persona of a architect, because your writing style will be the culmination of decisions, not just randomly putting ideas all over the place.
Hulst
Revising
37
No standard
Treasure: “Correctness depends on the context; preferred usage changes with audience and genre.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: There is no universal rule or law for what is right, but rather, what is right only works and is depend on the situation, just like cause and effect on what you are trying to do to the reader.
Hulst
Revising
38
Fragments
Treasure: “Breaking rules intentionally, like using fragments, can strengthen tone when used deliberately.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you want to break a rule or a style, you need to have full control over it so it makes sense, try to maximize the impact on the reader than trying to make the reader read more.
Hulst
Revising
39
Parallelism
Treasure: “Parallel grammatical structures clarify ideas and elevate elegance.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When your writing is in symmetry, it increases the force and the thud it has on the reader, and to make it parallel, it needs to have both rhythm and clarity.
Hulst
Revising
40
Begins with failure
Quote: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Interpretation: Failure should not be treated as something bad, but rather the start of something great. The greatest writers that ever lived don’t start good, they just iterate, stumble, revise and do it again and again until they achieved this so called brilliance, the job of the first draft is to be imperfect so it may become perfect.
Brooke
Finalizing
41
Failure creates growth
Quote: “Students must have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to learn from those failures as a means of intellectual growth.” Interpretation: When we avoid failure, often out of fear, we cant develop or grow as a person and our writing. When we write only once and as a final product, we avoid risk all together which skips the learning process because growth require experimentation and to make mistakes so we learn.
Brooke
Finalizing
42
Failure is shared
Quote: “Failure… is something all writers work through, rather than a symptom of inadequacy or stupidity.” Interpretation: Failure is a normal part of life, we are human and we make mistakes. It should be a normal, and universal thing, maybe even expected because we all stumble at some point, we are not perfect. We should reframe failure as part of the process to mastery, rather than something bad.
Brooke
Finalizing
43
Never finished
Quote: “Writers will never have learned all that can be known about writing.” Interpretation: There so so much information out of the world and we only know less than 0.000001 of 0.000001 of all information, and by consequence, writing is a lifelong process and an art. There is really no final form, you learn each time.
Rose
Finalizing
44
Doesn't transfer
Quote: “Writing strategies that are effective for them in one context are often inappropriate and ineffective in another.” Interpretation: Writing depends on the situation, some techniques will work on some while it may not work in others, how like a technique that works in a lab report will make a bad poem or a business plan, we need to learn to be adaptable so we can face whatever is throw at us.
Rose
Finalizing
45
Skill is relative
Quote: “A demonstration of one’s ability to write effectively in one context cannot constitute proof of one’s ability to write in other contexts.” Interpretation: It’s not a universal trait to be so called “good at writing”. It is an entirely subjective topic inself across genres, audiences and the intent of the reader or writer.
Rose
Finalizing
46
Practice = fluidity
Quote: “One kind of practice provides fluidity… with the sense of putting individual words on a page that then come together to form larger blocks of meaning.” Interpretation: The more we write, the more fluid we become because we get repeated exposure to the act of writing itself. Its like any other skill, the more you work on it, the better you will become through the process of learning.
Yancey
Finalizing
47
Refining
Quote: “Another kind of practice can refine technique, whether that be dialogue… citations… or a rhetorical appeal.” Interpretation: Technique is something we train and learn by doing, not by seeing or writing per se. If we want to gain deep understanding of a genre or how narrative works or the tools that aid them, we need to use them to we can course correct on the way.
Yancey
Finalizing
48
Across everything
Quote: “Practice can involve writing in different spaces, with different materials, and with different technologies.” Interpretation: Writing has so many dimensions and versions. Some people may prefer to write with a pen, or a laptop, or using the notes app on their phone. Some people may want to write at their desk, or a cafe or their dorm room like where I right now. Input from others shape how we think and how we write, because the more diverse we are, the more versatile we become.
Yancey
Finalizing
49
Self-Examination
Treasure: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: True happiness is now what you have, but in who you become. You have to reflect on your life for it to have meaning because in order to achieve excellence, we must have mastery of the self which requires awareness of our thoughts, motives, habits and choices. Only then can we know what to change.
Socrates
Finalizing
50
Years > Days
Treasure: “The years teach much which the days never know.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: We live our life so zoomed in that sometimes out daily experiences feel small and insignificant, but when we zoom out in perspective, we truly realize how much we have learned. This long view reveals patterns and truths we may not have realized other ways.
Emerson
Finalizing
The 50 points
1
Write badly
Treasure: “When I give my students permission to write badly, often something miraculous happens: words that used to trickle forth come gushing to the page.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: His idea reminded me that things don’t need to be perfect, that good writing doesn’t come from having everything in control but taming the messy thoughts that you have in your mind. I stopped writing to impress, which allowed my authentic self to come through. Its not a bad thing to write badly, thats the process that you iterate and refine.
Bruce Ballenger
Starting to write
2
Transform Motive
Treasure: “The brain is like a muscle, it grows stronger with use.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This reminded me that it’s ok to be frustrated at times. I used to think that I was just stuck and there was something wrong with me, but now I see it as mental training for the mind, akin to what the gym is to the body. I learned that after every mistake, I iterate and learn and train my mind to become sharper and better.
Carol Dweck
Starting to write
3
Four mistakes
Treasure: “Stretch mistakes occur when we try to do something beyond what we already can do.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This taught me how to tell the difference between failing in a repeating cycle vs using failure as a teacher. I used to want everything to be perfect and did my best to avoid mistakes, but I realized that is the wrong path and I aim to make better / deliberate mistakes so I may experiment and improve.
Eduardo Briceno
Starting to write
4
Fear
Treasure: “Students’ greatest obstacle to success is fear, fear of being wrong, fear of looking foolish.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I remember in elementary school when I feared being wrong, so I never raised my hand even when I had a question. I feared the opinions of other people and what I would be portrayed as but after writing, I am more incline / intuned with my thoughts and I have learned that we are all exploring this game of life.
Rebecca Cox
Starting to write
5
Mix Personal
Treasure: “Personal writing can reinforce an argument’s power when it deepens understanding.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: In highschool, I believed that logic reigned supreme compared to emotions. But after reading what Stewart said, it made me realize that emotion is how you truly connect with the reader or other people, it’s what makes us human after all. I have began intertwining my own personal stories into my writing to make it better and I feel more authentic by consequence.
Marjorie Stewart
Starting to write
6
The Process
I realize that we all start at square one when we write, and that is who we become on the journey. After taking joy in writing, I realize that it’s literally me on paper, me in my word from. When I reflect, I see more of myself, of subconscious patterns I have never known, and if they could be improved, then I do so.
Cumulative Reflection
Starting to write
7
Read -> Write
Treasure: “You are constantly reading like a writer. Examining why the author made certain choices and how those choices affect you as a reader.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I used to just glaze through the pages, not thinking much, but when I began writing, I learned to take it personally, to think about why the author used this specific voice of words. Kind of like unassembling a product, I find what makes the sentence have a type of substance and it allows me to understand deeper.
Mike Bunn
Starting to write
8
Build Style
Treasure: “Imitation is not copying, its improvement” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that after a certain point, most of our ideas were just other peoples ideas, like what we have learned from our peers, our parents and our ideas, is quite hard to find an idea that is originally ours. Which is why we should imitate, to not copy but to test them out until you find your own authentic one.
Craig A. Meyer
Starting to write
9
Brainstorming
Treasure: “Brainstorming is not about finding the right idea, but generating enough ideas that one sticks.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This line changed the way how I write. Instead of trying to get it perfect, I just machine gun a whole bunch of points on a blank page, then I take a walk, reflect, and I come to find one that I like and then I act on that. I realize that prioritizing perfection in the first place literally kills it.
UNC Writing Center
Starting to write
10
Punctuation
Treasure: “Punctuation is the music of meaning.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This reminded me how the small things really matter, like question marks, exclamation marks and even quotations. Like when you speak and you put a comma, you are allowed to pause and for the audience to think about what you wrote, its pacing in a way, but also in how you write.
Cassell
Starting to write
11
Read -> Writer (2)
Treasure: “When you notice how a writer captures your attention, you begin learning how to capture someone else’s.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This makes me take inspiration from other people, from the greats. Every time I pass by some writing that hits me viscerally, I make a note and then I go on a walk to reflect on why I felt that way. At the end, I end up closer to who I am and refined my own personal philosophy.
Mike Bunn
Starting to write
12
Silence
Treasure: “A writer’s best ideas often appear when the logical mind steps aside.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This is like what Robert Greene says in the book, Mastery, that one should “Allow for Serendipity” such as going in walks or going in nature, when we are surrounded by things bigger than myself. This is also like the origin of shower thoughts and why they are so great or why we get them mid workout.
UNC writing center
Starting to write
13
Origin
Treasure: “Ideas don’t come from brilliance, they come from attention.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Ive learned that one can attain the status of a genius or something of that sort when they put in enough work, Like Gladwell famously said mastery is achieved after 10,000 hours of concentrated attention. The more you take in from a field, the more your mind expands and by consequence, the more ideas you can come up with.
Cumulative Reflection
Starting to write
14
Shitty Drafts
Treasure: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: It’s ok to fail, we all start out somewhere. When I recall starting out in all of the hobbies or skills I am good at now, I started as a complete novice and failed. But through repetition and concentrated attention, I improved. Just stick with it and refine.
Anna Lamott
Starting to write
15
Say Nothing
Treasure: “Say what you mean, not what you think sounds smart.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, put your ego aside. Once you do this, you can truly be authentic and not some asshole that is saying it for the sake of it. At the end of the day, you want to communicate truth about what you think and be proud of who you are, not what you are faking.
Paul Roberts
Starting to write
16
Tough Sentences
Treasure: “Make your sentences lean and tough.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that I should cut the fluff from my speech and be direct, get straight to the point and the readers heart. This allows me to show respect for the readers time and eliminates things I don’t want the reader to think about.
Paul Roberts
Starting to write
17
Clarity -> Chaos
Treasure: “Good writers are simply good rewriters.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: People who are at where they are now, have failed multiple times bu they refined it each time, stuck with it and now we see the fruits of the labor. Trust the process.
Lamott
Starting to write
18
Exploration
Treasure: “Writing teaches you what you were trying to say.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When I first started journaling, I used to wait until I knew what I wanted to write about, But then I realized that if I just start, and Im in my flow state, the thoughts just come to me naturally and its more beautiful that way.
Ballenger
Starting to write
19
Proofreading
Treasure: “Proofreading is critical to establishing a professional tone.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realized that I cant just be one and done with all the things that I do, I need to proof read so I may refine and put out my best piece, so that I may maintain by credibility and my reputation for a good writer.
Moxley
Revising
20
Distance
Treasure: “To proofread effectively, you need distance.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: I realize that once I complete a writing, I cant immediately proof read it because my brain feels blocked in a type of way. I try to get patience by waiting a day so I may distance my emotion from my writing so I may correct it more accurately.
Moxley
Revising
21
Source
Treasure: “Good sources lend you their credibility.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This allowed my writing to have another dimension, to back up my own words and writings with the thoughts of others, mostly accomplished scholars and reputation in their respective field.
Warrington
Revising
22
Op-Ed
Treasure: “A clear argument is a public service.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you can coherently get your point across, and back it up with a story or evidence, then you are helping by giving your own input, especially in their world where people just recycle the words of other people.
Harvard
Revising
23
Community
Treasure: “Good writing belongs to a conversation, not a monologue.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: This is like podcasting, like people do not want to feel like they are being interviewed excuse they don’t learn anything. They want it to be a conversation to like the other person can share their point of view and by consequence, they also learn something.
Lookout
Revising
24
Retire Op-ed
Treasure: “Op-Ed is a relic of an older print age; digital readers need clearer, modern labels.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: If you want to write good, you need to write things that fits the topic at hand. Past topics that once made sense need to be broken down for our upcoming generations / adapt vocabulary to the masses now.
Kingsbury
Revising
25
Thoughtful Voices
Treasure: “What’s disappearing are spaces where ideas can linger, be interrogated, and flourish.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: With the advent of social media, there are tons of informational, most are not good, so develop good writing filters. Writers should take the slow path and got on their own pace, as depth in itself is a competitive advantage.
Kingsbury
Revising
26
Standards of Argument
Treasure: “Opinion writing enforces standards of cogent argument, logical thought, and compelling rhetoric.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: To have standards doesnt not mean you are constraining yourself, it means that you have leverage in this domain. Arguments are the best when they have all three parts of clarity, structure and intention, always back up your emotion with this layout.
Kingsbury
Revising
27
They Say / I Say
Treasure: “Writing is joining a conversation: first understand what ‘they’ say, then respond with what you think.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Always get input from all sides, like a conversation. If you skip peoples inputs, your writing floats. If you skip what you say, you’re basically not being authentic and copying someone else. You need both.
Guptill
Revising
28
Avoid the Extremes
Treasure: “Either letting sources replace your thinking OR ignoring sources entirely weakens your thesis.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: To effectively write, you need to strike a balance between two. Engage with all sides of an idea by attacking them head on instead of hiding away or racing away from them.
Guptill
Revising
29
Context Before Quoting
Treasure: “Never drop in a quote without context. Readers need to know who’s speaking and why it matters.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you dump a quote, it signals a type of intellectual laziness and it disdains the reader. You need to provide and introduce all quote with context, which makes it more meaningful.
Guptill
Revising
30
Efficiency of Evidence
Treasure: “Long quotes without purpose dilute your authority; concise paraphrase often hits harder.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you are succinct and efficient, you show respect for the reader, also when you paraphrase something, it reveals that you have a deep understanding of the subject, akin to mastery rather than dependency for a quote.
Guptill
Revising
31
Exigency Defined
Treasure: “Exigency is why your message matters now, in this place, for this exact reader.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, you need to instill a sense of urgency or else it becomes forgettable, exigency is what comes between if something is interesting and if something is necessary.
Vieregge
Revising
32
Audience Centered
Treasure: “Invoke exigency by connecting your argument to your reader’s agenda.” You have to write in the readers perspective, get in their minds and think like them, frame things in their values not your own, because in order to persuade, you have to be like the other person. Aligned.
Vieregge
Revising
33
Reinterpretation
Treasure: “Bold, counterintuitive claims spark attention—but require grounded reasoning.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you surprise the reader, it must be built up to or else it will be in vain, and that if you want to introduce a big idea, you must be able to back it up with logic to convince the reader.
Vieregge
Revising
34
Find a Subject You Care About
Treasure: “Your genuine caring, not your linguistic tricks, is your most seductive element of style.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, your emotions are poured into the writing and the readers can feel subconsciously if you are being sincere or not, and when you care the writing gets clearer.
Vonnegut
Revising
35
Cut Ruthlessly
Treasure: “If a sentence doesn’t illuminate your subject in a new way, scratch it out.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: Each sentence you write should bring a new thought or idea to the reader, when you edit too much, the authenticity and the ego dies. Be precise because that reveals your depth of understanding.
Vonnegut
Revising
36
Style Is Grammar
Treasure: “Style is the sum of your deliberate grammatical choices shaped by your rhetorical context.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you write, embody the persona of a architect, because your writing style will be the culmination of decisions, not just randomly putting ideas all over the place.
Hulst
Revising
37
No standard
Treasure: “Correctness depends on the context; preferred usage changes with audience and genre.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: There is no universal rule or law for what is right, but rather, what is right only works and is depend on the situation, just like cause and effect on what you are trying to do to the reader.
Hulst
Revising
38
Fragments
Treasure: “Breaking rules intentionally, like using fragments, can strengthen tone when used deliberately.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When you want to break a rule or a style, you need to have full control over it so it makes sense, try to maximize the impact on the reader than trying to make the reader read more.
Hulst
Revising
39
Parallelism
Treasure: “Parallel grammatical structures clarify ideas and elevate elegance.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: When your writing is in symmetry, it increases the force and the thud it has on the reader, and to make it parallel, it needs to have both rhythm and clarity.
Hulst
Revising
40
Begins with failure
Quote: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Interpretation: Failure should not be treated as something bad, but rather the start of something great. The greatest writers that ever lived don’t start good, they just iterate, stumble, revise and do it again and again until they achieved this so called brilliance, the job of the first draft is to be imperfect so it may become perfect.
Brooke
Finalizing
41
Failure creates growth
Quote: “Students must have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to learn from those failures as a means of intellectual growth.” Interpretation: When we avoid failure, often out of fear, we cant develop or grow as a person and our writing. When we write only once and as a final product, we avoid risk all together which skips the learning process because growth require experimentation and to make mistakes so we learn.
Brooke
Finalizing
42
Failure is shared
Quote: “Failure… is something all writers work through, rather than a symptom of inadequacy or stupidity.” Interpretation: Failure is a normal part of life, we are human and we make mistakes. It should be a normal, and universal thing, maybe even expected because we all stumble at some point, we are not perfect. We should reframe failure as part of the process to mastery, rather than something bad.
Brooke
Finalizing
43
Never finished
Quote: “Writers will never have learned all that can be known about writing.” Interpretation: There so so much information out of the world and we only know less than 0.000001 of 0.000001 of all information, and by consequence, writing is a lifelong process and an art. There is really no final form, you learn each time.
Rose
Finalizing
44
Doesn't transfer
Quote: “Writing strategies that are effective for them in one context are often inappropriate and ineffective in another.” Interpretation: Writing depends on the situation, some techniques will work on some while it may not work in others, how like a technique that works in a lab report will make a bad poem or a business plan, we need to learn to be adaptable so we can face whatever is throw at us.
Rose
Finalizing
45
Skill is relative
Quote: “A demonstration of one’s ability to write effectively in one context cannot constitute proof of one’s ability to write in other contexts.” Interpretation: It’s not a universal trait to be so called “good at writing”. It is an entirely subjective topic inself across genres, audiences and the intent of the reader or writer.
Rose
Finalizing
46
Practice = fluidity
Quote: “One kind of practice provides fluidity… with the sense of putting individual words on a page that then come together to form larger blocks of meaning.” Interpretation: The more we write, the more fluid we become because we get repeated exposure to the act of writing itself. Its like any other skill, the more you work on it, the better you will become through the process of learning.
Yancey
Finalizing
47
Refining
Quote: “Another kind of practice can refine technique, whether that be dialogue… citations… or a rhetorical appeal.” Interpretation: Technique is something we train and learn by doing, not by seeing or writing per se. If we want to gain deep understanding of a genre or how narrative works or the tools that aid them, we need to use them to we can course correct on the way.
Yancey
Finalizing
48
Across everything
Quote: “Practice can involve writing in different spaces, with different materials, and with different technologies.” Interpretation: Writing has so many dimensions and versions. Some people may prefer to write with a pen, or a laptop, or using the notes app on their phone. Some people may want to write at their desk, or a cafe or their dorm room like where I right now. Input from others shape how we think and how we write, because the more diverse we are, the more versatile we become.
Yancey
Finalizing
49
Self-Examination
Treasure: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: True happiness is now what you have, but in who you become. You have to reflect on your life for it to have meaning because in order to achieve excellence, we must have mastery of the self which requires awareness of our thoughts, motives, habits and choices. Only then can we know what to change.
Socrates
Finalizing
50
Years > Days
Treasure: “The years teach much which the days never know.” Interpretation / Analysis / Reaction: We live our life so zoomed in that sometimes out daily experiences feel small and insignificant, but when we zoom out in perspective, we truly realize how much we have learned. This long view reveals patterns and truths we may not have realized other ways.
Emerson
Finalizing
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