Common Discourse is a project designed to help others (and ourselves) think through creativity, focus, and intentional work—from Alex Tan & Alice Otieno.

Every Tuesday we share words from a journal, a few ideas, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

On Saturday, Mackenzie and I hosted a gathering to celebrate our engagement. I was prompted by friends to give a speech, but that prompt came a few glasses of wine too late. So I’ll just say it here:

You realize how lucky you are when you look around a room and know for certain that everyone, at some point in time, has made your life beautiful.

The feeling is much bigger than a story can do justice for. Half-drunk, a warm hug, a step outside for a cigarette. A heart to heart or a quick catch up. The art of introducing your friend to somebody you’re done talking to so you can slip out of the conversation. Moments of silence and patience. An inside joke. A new joke. An old friend. A quick run for more wine.

I’ve learned to force myself to stop in real time and acknowledge that I just had a really good moment.

— Alex

A few ideas

I. THE PAY OFF

Working through something for an hour per day over the course of the week is more total time spent than sitting down for 6 hours at one time.

More time means more chances to get it right, and it’s likely that you can spare an hour today versus 6.

Consistency pays greater than betting on a miracle.

II. THE LAST PART

There’s little to say about a chef who’s never served food, a filmmaker with no films to watch, an athlete that nobody has seen play, or an author with no books to read.

The last part, just as important as all the steps before it, is putting it out there.

III. ONE QUESTION

One question that is important to consider when trying to move onto the next thing quickly: Are you saving time or wasting it?

A quote from somebody else

"Society wants you to stay in your lane. When we’re unsure if we’re ‘allowed’ to do something, we seek permission from others before we even try. We wait for the world to tell us it’s okay. I can tell you from experience that you’ll probably never get that permission.”

— Polymath Playbook

Links worth sharing

✍🏽 Toni Morrison Talks About Her Motivation For Writing

🧘‍♀️ How to Meditate Outdoors With Us Right Now is an interactive guided meditation by The New York Times, featuring a series of relaxing sounds, images and texts to help your body release stress and recenter.

🍽 The Great Food Instagram Vibe Shift details the changes in how we capture and share food imagery on Instagram. The article notes the shift towards lo-fi, less perfect and a low-effort approach to curating images on the platform.

🧠 "These things I know for sure" by Andrea Zittel

🍲 Poetry Soup is an interactive site where users can compile a set of images inspired by a poem they’ve read. The aim is to create your own visual interpreations based on the poem’s essence.

👥 The beginning of the end of influencers?

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

🐤 We have a Twitter feed where we populate things that resonate.

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ This project is more fun when there is dialogue amongst those who are reading. Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article to start a conversation, we’ll use your ideas for future briefings and food for thought.

#066 Stopping In Real Time