All you can do is learn. In the immortal words of Rush: "Those who wish to be must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme."
Starting with exploring genuine interests which have maybe not been 'listened to'. Being a bit adventurous (determine if things you've been curious about you actually care about), and trying new things (discover and identify new areas that exist) which could end up being interesting to you.
From what I've seen, the key to being interesting is weirdly being more of "your true self".
Start respecting the fact that intellectual development & progress is only one axis on the map that is the human experience.
One can find interest, happiness and satisfaction by pursuing passions where scientific knowledge may only be of slight advantage instead of the absolute focus.
Being a Musicians, touching the emotions of a whole crowd in a live performance is such a passion. Deeply complex, hugely important, some would say powerful, but science will only be a minor help if at all.
If you find other people boring ask yourself why you are too boring to see the ways they aren't.
Sure there are people that are ignorant, one-dimensional etc. but speaking from anecdote, i've yet to meet someone that didn't atleast had one experience that was interesting to listen too.
Life is too complex to disregard people that easily.
I might add that another option would be to study something totally unrelated in college, to broaden your horizons. Literature, arts, architecture will teach you how to understand and enjoy culture, at a level that is difficult to acquire as an amateur. The old "study Latin and Greek to better understand life and humanity" thing is still valid.
Your comment hits a nerve. I've been wondering about how to distinguish between something I am genuinely interested in, and something I think I should be interested in. I feel sometimes things get lost in a fog and I can't tell them apart.
Perhaps the real question is not so much how I can stick to things, but what I am _actually_ interested in. Thank you.
Yeah, sit and watch the world go by. Let something - anything - spark an interest and just follow the vibe. You'll soon discover something you hadn't known before and find yourself in a preferred position to that in which you are now.
Why do you believe or desire the things you do? Be honest with yourself and try to keep in mind at all times the role of moral/social pressure. Think about history and the different forms of status and normality that came before.
Go ahead and read books by great thinkers but don't let that be everything. The most valuable form of learning is when you can untether yourself from appeals to authority in conversation and speak intelligently about your own conclusions.
I dabbled in many things but didn’t manage to focus on anything much unless it is related to my work. How do I discover what I am really curious about?
I don't think you can learn what excites you in an overt process whereby you research a broad range of topics and then pursue whichever one entertains you the most at the end of some period.
You should already be reading things that interest you, and you probably have a few topics that routinely intrigue you, right? Learning about what interests you, and then working on related projects, is an organic process.
As Peter Thiel says, you should think critically about why you're doing the things you do, and be careful not to fall into the trap of prioritizing style (appearance, status, prestige, novelty) over substance.
I'd say learn to work hard at whatever it is that interests you. Everything follows from that.
If you haven't learnt how to work hard put yourself in environments with people who do.
more simply, start by teaching things that people are currently interested in, and work back from them. if you like something, you are curious about where it came from
You won’t, can’t , and really don’t need to know everything perfectly. Just start with the thing that looks the most interesting / accessible to you. go down the rabbit hole. Come back up, go down another. When you start getting bored, start producing some stuff. there will always be opportunity costs no matter what you chose to do. Just try to enjoy what you are doing. Another trick is to copy someone you respect. Try to learn what they know. And when you know more than them, find someone else to copy. One day people will start emulating you.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. This isn’t an uncommon feeling. The people that develop extraordinary skills are often quite ordinary.
YMMV but this works for me…
Have an interest in some topic? Develop that interest, deliberately. Build it into a passion over time. Allot a small amount of time every day to learn and think about it. Everything we love to do has an ugly side. Embrace it. Accept it as the cost of doing what you love/want to do. Most of the time spent developing skills and interests can feel like complete drudgery. Or it can feel like a journey, with moments of enlightenment along the way.
If at all possible, never let your personal situation be an excuse for feeling this way. Just go for it!
Don't decide which things to work on and risk analysis paralysis along with a string of other negative feelings.
Let curiosity guide you, explore as many domains as you're able and willing to and become competent with most of them. The more domains you weave into the web of knowledge, notwithstanding the lack of expertise, the higher the probability you'll find links across the ever expanding network. Maybe delve deep into the foundation, occasionally or frequently, for you could stumble into something new. Consider teaching or talking about your knowledge; open a blog, write a book, whatever. It'll help others as well as you, now and later.
In the end, whether through our descendants, works or knowledge, we're all child of that instinct to leave something after our death, of which your post is yet another manifestation.
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