How To Be Interesting

Russel Davies has created a mini-primer called How To Be Interesting — a list based on two assumptions: 1) The way to be interesting is to be interested, and 2) Interesting people are good at sharing. The title is tongue-in-cheek of course, but some of the suggestions are good — carry a camera with you at all times and post one photo per day, try things you’ve never tried before (often), pay attention to art, interview one person per month, make things (“Making’s the new thinking.”)

4. Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before. Interesting people are interested in all sorts of things. That means they explore all kinds of worlds, they go places they wouldn’t expect to like and work out what’s good and interesting there. An easy way to do this is with magazines. Specialist magazines let you explore the solar system of human activities from your armchair. Try it, it’s fantastic.

I think the sharing recommendations are great – sharing is the open source of human endeavor. And the more you take in, the more interesting what you have to share will be. I personally feel this tension — like I’ve become less interesting over the past few years as my available time to consume information about things not directly related to my work has slipped toward a vanishing point.