Different Perspectives

What suprised me?

Often, my answer to this question is also my favorite ideas, content, and experiences.

What most surprises me is new ideas and different perspectives I haven’t considered before.

For instance, I think of my perspective on writing a year ago, compared to now. Before, I’ve never thought of myself as a writer. I didn’t enjoy writing and it was my lowest mark in high school.

But after reading Paul Graham’s, The Age of the Essay, it surprised me how he talked about writing. He said that writing was a way of generating ideas and becoming a clear thinker. I’ve never thought about writing in that way before. This changed my perspective on writing and one year later I consider writing to be one of my favorite hobbies.

I try to optimize my information diet for what will surprise me. Ideas, knowledge, beliefs, values, these are all antifragile and seeking different perspectives is one way of challenging them to make them stronger.