The Idea Bank

Entry question: If ideas are worthless, why write essays?

Existential Crisis

A while back, I came to the conclusion that Ideas alone are basically worthless.

A few days after that, when I re-read the post, I basically got into a bit of a crisis. If ideas really are worthless and essay-writing as I do it is all about generating ideas, what is the point of writing essays?

No, seriously. If ideas are worthless, i.e., you can’t expect much Impact from just an idea, then why should I put so much time and effort into writing essays?

Laughing all the way to the Bank

Yes, ideas are worthless. Yes, it may even be a boon that we don’t remember them all.

But essays aren’t worthless. They form an Idea Bank.

Each of them contains a well thought-out, explicit chain of logic that leads to a good conclusion for some specific problem. Yes, I’m not gonna take action on any of my essays any time soon. It’s a guarantee. Nobody is holding their breath (not after this, anyway).

But, my past essays are for me what Albus Dumbledore was for everybody in the HP series - a source of good solutions. Got into trouble? Need help? Scar hurting? Wand turning on its own during mid-air battle? Ask Albus Dumbledore! He’ll know what to do! He always does!

When I need help on a problem, I need to look back at the essay I wrote about that problem and then take action on the solution. So, when I’m ready, when the time comes… the idea will be there, waiting for me.

The thing I have to remember is that there’s a “right time” to learn something, and it’s different for everyone …

This is an important thing to keep in mind when you’re blogging. Each person in your audience is on a different clock, and all of them are ahead of you in some ways and behind you in others. …

Besides, I’m not ready to hear what you have to say yet. When I am ready, it’ll be in your blog.

– Thalaivar Steve Yegge, You should write blogs

People aren’t ready yet… including the author of the essay! Writing an essay on some topic and actually taking action on it are two different things. I’m guessing it takes time for the ideas to sink in. It takes time to get to the point where you’ve worked up the motivation required - where you want to take action right now!

Living up to their name

Put your ideas in an Idea Bank, not in a To-Do List of ideas. With a To-Do List, there is growing burden on your head and increasing guilt in your heart. With an Idea Bank, it is just all your precious ideas locked away, at your disposal when you finally need them, when you’re finally ready to take Action on them. No tension, no worries. No Chinta, only Money!

And this is how essays can keep up the great expectations we have of them. We want them to deliver Impact in our lives - else, they’re useless. Well, this is how we’re gonna get the Impact. We get to the point in our lives where we desperately want the solution to a problem. We are aching to get some good results and willing to take action. Now, we turn the pages of our website… Hmmm… the answer is right here! I wrote this shit ages back! Let’s go!

Am I in a situation where some guy is making me unbelievably angry and frustrated? Wait a minute… this is a classic Revenge or Grow situation. Cool. I gotta press Grow.

Do I feel like some guy is a complete dumbass who got his success without deserving it and is therefore unworthy of my respect? Wait a minute… How do we judge that? Who should I respect? Solved problem.

Why continue on The Great 300-Word Experiment? Why write everyday? Why don’t I just take a break and “take action and stuff”? Well, here’s why. Questions answered. Let’s get back to writing today’s essay.

Some guy at work thinks I’m a dumbass. He thinks I don’t have much fun in life or that I don’t do “crazy stuff”. I feel like listing out every single awesome crazy thing I’ve done in my life and f*cking wiping that smirk off his face. In fact, I feel like listing them out right here, just for general showing-off purposes. Hmmm… it sounds like a virtue - something I want others to think I have. I feel like impressing the other person. I feel The Need to Qualify. Nope. Won’t make that mistake. Shut Up and Move On.

And so it goes…

Put it. Shut it. Forget it.

Yes, these are tiny little chunks of life. There are still vast swaths of problem-land yet to be conquered. But, these are now solved problems. I do not have to solve them again, ever. Once and for all, I have a solution. And I keep upgrading my solutions as I grow and learn more in life.

So, when the situation comes, I can behave automatically. I can just do the right thing without having to think twice. The reasoning is already there, and it is written to be understood by strangers, which means it will be eminently understandable by me (though it’s surprising how strange my own essays look after a while).

I was so disappointed with my essays because I hadn’t been taking any action on them. I was angry that they hadn’t been having any Impact on my life at all. Now I know better.

The Impact will come. It will come later than you hoped, but earlier than you expected. I hoped that my life would change for the better immediately. When that didn’t happen, I expected that I would never see any results at all. Nah. The wait is surely not 3 days, but it’s not 3 years either. Maybe 3 months.

One thing is for sure, once you write an essay about a problem, you don’t have to worry about that particular problem any more.

Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don’t have to worry about money no more. And I said, that’s good! One less thing.

– Forrest Gump

Notes

• May 2015: Just realized that the Idea Bank notion holds even for books written by others.

  I don’t have to beat myself up about the great ideas I’ve not yet implemented in my life. I just have to make sure that I have them lying about somewhere. When I need them badly, I will use them.

  i.e., I shouldn’t aim to acquire every single great skill I come across. It’s probably impossible (with the current state of the art) to learn and maintain a huge number of skills in different fields.

  Instead, I just need to keep the ideas handy and apply them when I come across a relevant situation.