2 types of thinking for 2 parts of writing.

So, I’ll quickly show you how I put them together.

Divergent thinking is to idea generation what sparks are to a firework.

In this process, I like to cast as wide a net to find my main idea. It’s also how I collect evidence to support my ideas. For instance, consider this post, which I came across while reading The Runaway Species by David Eagleman & Anthony Brandt.

Once I find them, I store them, but now I keep the X-ray machine tuned to that idea. Anything that comes into that frame, I add it to my argument.

It can be a quote from Nietzsche. Or a graph from Sam Altman.

Everything that can be used will be added. I keep no boundary.

The more, the better.

But once I think I have made enough ground to write a meaningful post, I switch my thinking.

Now, the convergent thinking is my buddy.

All the things that I collected through my wide fishnet will be put through a small funnel filter. I’ll start evaluating, categorizing, and separating claims from evidence and objections from warrants.

I want to see which pieces fit tightly and which ones are odd. It’s all critical and logical thinking.

My thinking is now ‘ less but better’.

Now, I don’t want to pretend like Buddha here, who has complete control over his thoughts. Sometimes these two thoughts overlap, and the same happens with these two parts of writing.

But largely, I try to separate, and it works.