Very interesting ideas, and well presented. I would add that, for me, many of the aspects that block clarity revolve around being afraid to know what I am really thinking. Sometimes it's easier to parrot cliches or pass on other people's ideas because we're deeply scared by our own innovations. I recently wrote an article on why we buy more than we need. And then I had a mini panic attack about publishing it. And then another one about recording reels to promote it. But people have liked it, and it's one of the articles I'm the most proud of. Pushing through the fear that manifests as fuzziness -- that's an interesting concept that this article made me think about.
This is such an honest and powerful reflection. Thank you for sharing it, Robin. That fear-disguised-as-fuzziness is so real. I’m glad you pushed through and published it. That kind of courage is contagious.
I needed this!. That moment you are trying to express yourself infront of people and ultimately end up giving a vague speech. It is a nightmare, especially if you are aware of your brilliant thoughts however you couldnt articulate them. I have been relearning on how to articulately express myself, without being wordy or using filler words. I gues practice makes perfect
I love these realizations. I’ve had some of them myself, and it’s funny how it’s changed my whole personality. People comment on how quiet I am now. But after I sit with my thoughts I realize that not much of what I wanted to say is relevant or helpful in any way. It is a little embarrassing, but we have to keep growing right? ❤️🩹
I also believe that the act of writing, repeatedly, helps you clarify your thoughts. That means accepting to write even when your ideas seem messy and enjoy seeing them gain more and more clarity as your writing goes on.
I like the work of the French linguist Emile Benveniste who considered writing as having a « thinking role in itself » (« fonction pensante »).
Exactly. Writing is very important in articulating your thoughts. I came across Émile's work on indo-european languages when I was exploring how different languages create different personalities in us. But I never really went deep into it. Now that you've mentioned him, I'll look at more of his work.
Great to see someone mention Émile Benveniste, his approach to connecting ideas and articulating those connections has been one of my greatly enjoyable intellectual explorations.
As a person who struggles to articulate my thoughts this is very helpful I actually say more than I intend to which makes it sound like a lecture and after reading you're articles it's very clear I need to distill until I find the core of what I am trying to express plus in general I struggle to communicate with people be it family or colleagues which is not good since communication is what shape connection and impact so what's you're thoughts on that
Oh wow thank you so much for sharing this. I think that self-awareness is already a huge step. You’ve spotted the gap between what you want to say and what actually comes out. Distilling to the core is a powerful habit, but it takes practice. One trick is to pause before speaking and ask yourself: If I had to say this in one sentence, what would it be? It not only sharpens your message but also makes the rest of the conversation feel lighter and more connected. And you’re right… communication is the backbone of impact. The clearer you get, the more your words will land. Thanks again for reading and sharing your thoughts.
The Heidegger piece is interesting. I had not been aware of Heidegger but love the suggestion. I have been exploring how we tend to let our written artifacts overstay their welcome and utility, thus possessing us to the point of total allegiance to them even if they are no longer serving our best interests. The language of them possesses us.
Love the suggestion of self-interrogation. I've recently started exploring Claude as a thinking partner and feel it really can serve this purpose well.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Yes. That’s exactly the trap. We create language and systems to serve us, but over time they become dogma. We stop questioning them because they sound right. It’s like being loyal to a map long after the terrain has changed.
Curious how Claude has been helping you with that. Has it pushed back in ways that surprised you?
Claude, or any other Generative AI product, can be very helpful at being a sounding board, an honest critic and a sparring partner. You can assign it specific roles and give it context about the goal of the conversation, it comes out beautifully (usually).
To add…Claude is not pushing back on my observation as a former information manager who began to notice how the written artifacts of that work led us to do the wrong work and prevented genuine transformation from occurring….even when that was the stated objective.
Interesting thoughts. I do feel that there is benefit in showing up who you aspire to be and not exactly as who you are. If you area Junior person in your team and people expect you to lnow surface level information, show up with the preparation level of a senior person that you aspire to be.
Value prism and secondhand knowledge got me here. Why some articles and social feels so lightweight because the author neither knows about the topic deeply and cares about even less. Thankfully here you are doing the opposite, really thoughtful piece Bechem
Thank you so much Ian. The value prism is one of those things make you go 'Oh yeah. Why didn't I think of this earlier?' 😂😂 At least that's how I felt when I first heard. Thank you so much again
That section on the art of self-interrogation really stood out for me. Asking better questions is such an underrated skill and often the fastest way to uncover what you actually think. Loved that reminder to pause and dig deeper!
It stood out for me too when I first watched the video. Questioning your thoughts can be a very powerful way to think better thoughts. Thank you so much Amel. I'm glad it resonated with you.
I have been feeling exactly this today, I’m new to sharing my thought and ideas, new to substack but love to write… yesterday I wanted to post a piece and when I read it.. it was just a jumble of words with no meaning… flat!
I will reflect on your post and thank you for sharing🙏
I have been feeling exactly this today, I’m new to sharing my thought and ideas, new to substack but love to write… yesterday I wanted to post a piece and when I read it.. it was just a jumble of words with no meaning… flat!
I will reflect on your post and thank you for sharing🙏
I love this. Im so happy to see that we are finally seeing the value of being our own person and questioning our thoughts instead of coping or comparing them with others. It is a very powerful tool.
At the moment im in a social media dopamine break, and im amazed by how much Ive learned about myself in the past days.
Boredom is truly a virtue and Im finally able to say that, since it’s something that Ive struggled with my whole life. I have recently been having very strong emotions about this topic, and it’s been hard to process it all at once.
Nobody talks about how that detachment from social media or even other peoples opinions and thoughts, makes you generate your own. Im amazed of how much “clarity” I have now. It’s also extremely scary.
Something that has helped me with those scary thoughts about getting to know myself is doing it extremely slow, I think it has something to do with being present.
I found it frustrating not being able to say what i think clearly and often wish if people could only see the world in my mind they would understand - this was so helpful thanks !
Very interesting ideas, and well presented. I would add that, for me, many of the aspects that block clarity revolve around being afraid to know what I am really thinking. Sometimes it's easier to parrot cliches or pass on other people's ideas because we're deeply scared by our own innovations. I recently wrote an article on why we buy more than we need. And then I had a mini panic attack about publishing it. And then another one about recording reels to promote it. But people have liked it, and it's one of the articles I'm the most proud of. Pushing through the fear that manifests as fuzziness -- that's an interesting concept that this article made me think about.
This is such an honest and powerful reflection. Thank you for sharing it, Robin. That fear-disguised-as-fuzziness is so real. I’m glad you pushed through and published it. That kind of courage is contagious.
Thank you! I just set another one to publish tomorrow, so the struggle continues... I really appreciate your encouragement.
I needed this!. That moment you are trying to express yourself infront of people and ultimately end up giving a vague speech. It is a nightmare, especially if you are aware of your brilliant thoughts however you couldnt articulate them. I have been relearning on how to articulately express myself, without being wordy or using filler words. I gues practice makes perfect
I love these realizations. I’ve had some of them myself, and it’s funny how it’s changed my whole personality. People comment on how quiet I am now. But after I sit with my thoughts I realize that not much of what I wanted to say is relevant or helpful in any way. It is a little embarrassing, but we have to keep growing right? ❤️🩹
I relate to that a lot. Getting clearer on what’s worth saying can make you seem quieter on the outside, but louder in the ways that actually matter.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, ABray.
Great article, thanks !
I also believe that the act of writing, repeatedly, helps you clarify your thoughts. That means accepting to write even when your ideas seem messy and enjoy seeing them gain more and more clarity as your writing goes on.
I like the work of the French linguist Emile Benveniste who considered writing as having a « thinking role in itself » (« fonction pensante »).
Exactly. Writing is very important in articulating your thoughts. I came across Émile's work on indo-european languages when I was exploring how different languages create different personalities in us. But I never really went deep into it. Now that you've mentioned him, I'll look at more of his work.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Marie
Yes Bechem exactly this! Benveniste's work has informed some of my articles as you've likely seen.
Great to see someone mention Émile Benveniste, his approach to connecting ideas and articulating those connections has been one of my greatly enjoyable intellectual explorations.
As a person who struggles to articulate my thoughts this is very helpful I actually say more than I intend to which makes it sound like a lecture and after reading you're articles it's very clear I need to distill until I find the core of what I am trying to express plus in general I struggle to communicate with people be it family or colleagues which is not good since communication is what shape connection and impact so what's you're thoughts on that
Oh wow thank you so much for sharing this. I think that self-awareness is already a huge step. You’ve spotted the gap between what you want to say and what actually comes out. Distilling to the core is a powerful habit, but it takes practice. One trick is to pause before speaking and ask yourself: If I had to say this in one sentence, what would it be? It not only sharpens your message but also makes the rest of the conversation feel lighter and more connected. And you’re right… communication is the backbone of impact. The clearer you get, the more your words will land. Thanks again for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Thank you will apply that
The Heidegger piece is interesting. I had not been aware of Heidegger but love the suggestion. I have been exploring how we tend to let our written artifacts overstay their welcome and utility, thus possessing us to the point of total allegiance to them even if they are no longer serving our best interests. The language of them possesses us.
Love the suggestion of self-interrogation. I've recently started exploring Claude as a thinking partner and feel it really can serve this purpose well.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Yes. That’s exactly the trap. We create language and systems to serve us, but over time they become dogma. We stop questioning them because they sound right. It’s like being loyal to a map long after the terrain has changed.
Curious how Claude has been helping you with that. Has it pushed back in ways that surprised you?
Yes, dogma!
I had not arrived at that thought yet in my own work.
Claude really serves as a more active form of journalling for me. It’s like a Zettelkasten that you can dialogue with. Pretty amazing if you ask me.
Claude, or any other Generative AI product, can be very helpful at being a sounding board, an honest critic and a sparring partner. You can assign it specific roles and give it context about the goal of the conversation, it comes out beautifully (usually).
To add…Claude is not pushing back on my observation as a former information manager who began to notice how the written artifacts of that work led us to do the wrong work and prevented genuine transformation from occurring….even when that was the stated objective.
I think I’ll try this approach 😊
Interesting thoughts. I do feel that there is benefit in showing up who you aspire to be and not exactly as who you are. If you area Junior person in your team and people expect you to lnow surface level information, show up with the preparation level of a senior person that you aspire to be.
Exactly. That's very important too. We even pretend to fall asleep in order to actually fall asleep. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.
Value prism and secondhand knowledge got me here. Why some articles and social feels so lightweight because the author neither knows about the topic deeply and cares about even less. Thankfully here you are doing the opposite, really thoughtful piece Bechem
Thank you so much Ian. The value prism is one of those things make you go 'Oh yeah. Why didn't I think of this earlier?' 😂😂 At least that's how I felt when I first heard. Thank you so much again
That section on the art of self-interrogation really stood out for me. Asking better questions is such an underrated skill and often the fastest way to uncover what you actually think. Loved that reminder to pause and dig deeper!
It stood out for me too when I first watched the video. Questioning your thoughts can be a very powerful way to think better thoughts. Thank you so much Amel. I'm glad it resonated with you.
The way I see it… The moment you start questioning your thoughts, you create space for clarity and growth. Grateful you posted about this, Bechem!
Absolutely. It helps you see things that were clouded by your preconceptions. Great way to put it.
I have been feeling exactly this today, I’m new to sharing my thought and ideas, new to substack but love to write… yesterday I wanted to post a piece and when I read it.. it was just a jumble of words with no meaning… flat!
I will reflect on your post and thank you for sharing🙏
I have been feeling exactly this today, I’m new to sharing my thought and ideas, new to substack but love to write… yesterday I wanted to post a piece and when I read it.. it was just a jumble of words with no meaning… flat!
I will reflect on your post and thank you for sharing🙏
Great read!
I love this. Im so happy to see that we are finally seeing the value of being our own person and questioning our thoughts instead of coping or comparing them with others. It is a very powerful tool.
At the moment im in a social media dopamine break, and im amazed by how much Ive learned about myself in the past days.
Boredom is truly a virtue and Im finally able to say that, since it’s something that Ive struggled with my whole life. I have recently been having very strong emotions about this topic, and it’s been hard to process it all at once.
Nobody talks about how that detachment from social media or even other peoples opinions and thoughts, makes you generate your own. Im amazed of how much “clarity” I have now. It’s also extremely scary.
Something that has helped me with those scary thoughts about getting to know myself is doing it extremely slow, I think it has something to do with being present.
Overall amazing read! Thank you for this
Self interrogation is the nice point. Every time i have an idea, i always do that. It also help to find another perspective.
I found it frustrating not being able to say what i think clearly and often wish if people could only see the world in my mind they would understand - this was so helpful thanks !