068 • Becoming more 'stylish'
068 • Becoming more 'stylish'
Thoughts on what style is and how to nourish it...
One of the short pieces of writing that has resonated most with me is 'Style is consistent constraint' by Steph Ango, the CEO of Obsidian (convenient, I know, seeing as I do all my writing in that app).
The first time I read it, the piece put into words something that I understood was true but could never quite cross the line from simply feeling to having a set description for.
The idea in the piece was that reduction, constraint and limiting yourself was the only way to build a personal style - think of always wearing a certain thing, saying a certain phrase or being known for a certain action in a certain situation.
And I don't think I'm being stylish enough. Unless you count stylish as not being willing to adhere to a certain set of constraints, which would be meta but counter-intuitive.
So it's something I want to work on.
I think this will be through building habits, which I've talked about in the past, and staying more disciplined. An example is mindful spending of my money (one of the biggest for me right now).
I’ve normally let the emotion of what I'm feeling in the moment dictate whether I make a purchase and in the past, it's led to carelessness. No constraint and consequently, no style.
This is something I journal about a lot.
Is a personal style entirely something that you consciously choose? Perhaps. I just mentioned an example relevant to myself, after all. But I more so think it's a combination of you working on yourself with the addition of other behaviours that you tend towards naturally or pick up through behaving subconsciously.
You might not know what your style is consciously, but you do have one. To keep your thoughts in order you need at least a few constraints or you'd swamp yourself with the sheer amount of decision-making required to survive every day.
Just a few notes from inside my head that I've been trying to process during this last week or so; hope some of it resonates.
See you next week,
— Theo
Last week’s issue (video cut)…
What I’ve written this week…
Nothing new but I’m planning some more pieces to take up the mantle that the short-form essays of last autumn have been carrying for so long…
Now that I’ve built a little bit more of an idea of how my writing for business and personal gain are being segregated, everything’s looking a bit clearer in terms of what I’m aiming to create. So look forward to new writing soon!