How Our Memories Mislead Us

How Our Memories Mislead Us

Memories aren’t replayed, they’re rebuilt, which is why the ones you keep revisiting can grow kinder or crueller. Here’s the science behind the drift, and five ideas for steering it.

Playing The Orchestra

Playing The Orchestra

Benjamin Zander realised a conductor makes no sound. A quarter of storms, grief and tinkering taught me what that might mean for a one-person business, and why everyone may soon have an orchestra.

#14: Roller Coasters & Eclipses

#14: Roller Coasters & Eclipses

When the next wave hit, I thought in earnest: am I going to drown?

None of the waves were especially big, but the first one caught me off guard, knocking me off my feet and under.

#12: Future Forgetting & Clowning

In this week’s piece, I’ve broken down the different kinds of future forgetting that most often trip us up, along with their likely causes, so you can better support your memory. I’ve also included a newsletter-exclusive.

#11: Nine Funny Filters & A Funeral

It’s been a dislocating fortnight. By popular demand, find your guide to writing satire inside. Today is also Father’s Day. My intention was to write about my dad but last week, my Nana Bapa – my mum’s dad – passed away.

Why You Keep Forgetting (and How To Fix It)

Why You Keep Forgetting (and How To Fix It)

Our memories are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in any meaningful general sense. Instead, they are specifically fallible. They fail in particular ways, under particular conditions, for particular reasons. And these reasons are largely diagnosable.

The Foggy City: Part One

The Foggy City: Part One

‘You’ve been here a while now. Do you prefer San Francisco or London?’ Fran, Britney, and I were having lunch in the canteen. I finished my bite and answered without hesitation. Souring my colleagues' excitement wasn't my intention, but I can't deny that seeing their...

The Art of Magnetic Conversation: Build Up, Not Out

The Art of Magnetic Conversation: Build Up, Not Out

Learning to bring a conversation to life turned out to be simpler than I expected, and the insight came from an unlikely place: improv.

Specifically, from realising I’d been misreading its foundational principle, ‘Yes and…’. Once I corrected my understanding, I started noticing it everywhere, especially in the people I find the most magnetic to talk to.

Creative Company

Creative Company

I found Vincent the way you find most good things: in a bookshop. We were both attending a signing event by one of our favourite authors and happened to be neighbours in the queue. As seems to be custom for my best friends, Vincent promptly left the country.

#8: Muscle Memory & Dark Chocolate

I’ve turned to one of the forgotten cousins of memory: the comeback. This week is about the power and consolations of muscle memory, repairing my broken body, and the strange way I’ve been eating dark chocolate.

The Oil Layer

The Oil Layer

This week, I figured out that the entire wellness supplement industry was, for most practical purposes, a very attractive wall of nothing. I did this while trying to fix my eyes. Nobody was particularly interested.