【推荐1】Nearly five years ago, I booked a retreat (僻静处) to work on my book, Tracking Wonder. I knew I worked best with limited distraction, but when I finally was able to carve time away from the world to do this creative work, I found it very difficult to focus.     1     Now I know that we need to work on something counter-intuitive (违反直觉的): our ability to be bored.

    2    

Ⅰ. Reboot(重启) your mental health.

Just as our muscles need rest days between workouts to grow stronger, our minds need periods of idleness to process the world around us.

Innovators in times of crisis and adversity actually grant themselves space to be bored and daydream deliberately. This kind of daydreaming can lead to positive mental feelings of hope, renewal, and forward motion, but it requires boredom and space.

Ⅱ.     3    

The capacity to be bored and the capacity to be creative go hand in hand. Want to increase your creativity?     4     Embrace those periods of boredom that are built into your commute, break time, or meals. Turn off the podcast, stop scrolling through the news feeds, and let your mind lie fallow (休耕的) so that the seeds of your next idea have space to grow.

Ⅲ. Reconnect with what matters to you.

These days, current events—and the resulting analysis, opinions, and Twitter hot takes—come at us so quickly that it’s difficult to process one issue before the next takes its place.     5     Rather than reaching for stimulation (刺激) by searching for the next event to be entertained or enraged (激怒) by, boredom gives you space to think through the information you’re gathering and begin to challenge ideas. The next time you find yourself compelled to reach for your phone, I challenge you to try sitting with what matters to you, and letting your idle mind discover surprising connections.

【推荐3】Sometime in 2014, two famous men, the hip-hop artist Wale and the popular comedian Jerry Seinfeld walked into a recording studio. They were working on a rap album, but at this particular moment they were talking about marriage.

While recording a song called The Matrimony(婚姻), Wale questioned Seinfeld about his thoughts on marriage. At first, Seinfeld talked about what it felt like to get engaged(订婚). He explained the combination of excitement, nervousness and helplessness made engagement feel like sitting in a roller coaster heading to the top of the hill where the marriage awaits.

Wale paused for a moment, looked at Seinfeld, and said, “So, even if you make plans you never think you’re really ready for marriage?”

“No,” Seinfeld said. “Marriage is like any growth. You can’t be ready for it because it’s growth. It’s going to be new. You’re going to have a new life. You’re going to be a new person.”

I like Seinfeld’s definition of growth. You’re not ready for marriage. You’re not ready to start a business. You’re not ready to move to a new city. You’re not ready for growth... and that’s exactly why it will make you grow. Start before you feel ready.

By definition, growth must be something that makes you feel unprepared and uncertain. If it was comfortable and easy, it wouldn’t be growth. It would be normal. It would be standard. It would be who you already are.

There will never be a perfect time to do something that stretches you. At some point you have to embrace the uncertainty because it is the only path forward.

You can’t be ready for true growth. That’s why it’s growth. Just step into it with everything you’ve got.

【推荐1】71 years after starting college, a 90-year-old woman, Joyce Viola DeFauw, was graduating this year. She first entered college in 1951, studying early education, and later, home economics. She left school after three and a half years due to marriage.

The mom of nine, who is now also a grandmother to 17 and great-grandmother to 26, was busy through the years but never forgot about college.“I must have told the children that I wish I had finished back in the 1950s,” DeFauw recalled. “They suggested that I go back and I thought ‘Well, OK.’” Since the pandemic began in 2019, instead of walking to campus to attend classes, she did so behind a computer screen from her retirement home.“I needed a computer and they got one for me and so I’ve been able to use it and enjoy it.”

DeFauw re-entered Northern Illinois University (NIU) in August 2019 and began to take online courses toward a bachelor’s degree (学士学位) in general studies. Although there were times when she struggled with the courses and even thought about giving up, DeFauw kept doing schoolwork almost every day. “We get to exchange ideas and things through the computer and I’ve had wonderful instructors that guided me,” DeFauw said. “As far as the encouragement of everyone — my friends, my family and my teachers — I just can’t give up.”

Three years later, she put on the cap and gown and received a Bachelor of General Studies degree from the university. DeFauw felt very happy and thankful for being able to achieve her big milestone. NIU President Dr. Lisa Freeman praised DeFauw as an “inspiration” to others. “DeFauw is a pioneer and now a Northern Illinois University graduate,” Freeman said. “She has beautifully shown that earning a degree is never late at any age. For anyone still looking to realize your dreams, just go for it. There’s so much that life offers, and you will miss out on if you don’t take advantage of it.”

【推荐2】As a clueless freshman, I waltzed into my first creative writing course by accident, thinking it was a literature class on how to read stories, not how to write them.

When the teacher introduced the course, I realized my mistake. The credits I earned from the course wouldn’t count toward my major. By the end of the session, however, I decided that I had to be a part of the course. Perhaps, as a lifelong reader, I was eager to understand how stories worked their magic.

But taking the class would be impossible: I wasn’t even on the waitlist. That’s when the teacher asked for a volunteer to submit the first workshop story.

Silence blanketed the room. No one risked eye contact. Whoever volunteered would have to write a whole story in a week. Perhaps they, like me, had never written one before.

Seizing my chance, I raised my hand and asked, “If I go first, will you give me a spot in the class?” He said he would.

So, instead of keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact, I did the opposite.

Years later, I’d completed a degree in creative writing and was working on a novel when a literary agent (经纪人) asked to read the first 50 pages of my draft. But I wasn’t comfortable showing her anything; the novel was far from done.

Throughout graduate school, I’d been advised many times not to contact agents until I have a complete draft. In the meanwhile, I knew the beginning of my story was attractive and that the agent might not remember me after a year.

So, once again, instead of keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact, I did the opposite. I sent her the first three chapters. A month later, she signed me on the strength of those chapters alone. She has since seen me through the publication of three novels.

Determination, focus, perseverance—the qualities that I consider crucial in getting me into Stanford no doubt helped me become the novelist I am today. And yet if I’d trained my gaze only on the path ahead, I would have missed so many happy accidents, so many beautiful opportunities to look up, raise my hand, and say yes.

【推荐2】I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, my parents were very busy. In order to entertain myself. I found pens and paper and started drawing.

At that time, I thought of drawing just as a hobby. When I was tired of doing homework, I wanted to do something creative. One day, it hit me. How nice would it be if I could do something I love for a living? I did research on the best art schools around the world. One of my friends studied art in the USA. She advised me to go to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Luckily, I was accepted into RISD. At first, I felt a little down. I didn’t have my own style. I tried many different things. Finally, Chris Baselli, one of my teachers helped me find it.

Now, I’ve been working as a full-time illustrator (插图画家) for ten years. I’ve drawn for newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times and The New Yorker. I often get letters from readers. They love my style.

I’m still in the early part of my career (职业). The biggest fear that I have is losing the excitement. I hope that will never happen so that I can keep creating wonderful artworks in the long period.