Many of us crave to be more interesting people.
The question is: how might we become so?
We rightly tend to associate being 'interesting' with achieving difference from the norm: with being able to serve up some unusual and intriguing stories and ideas.
But what might be the best way to lay our hands on these?
One prestigious thesis tells us that we should try our best to root out new and well-reviewed books and articles, travel to remote places and befriend people who are prominent in the arts and business.
This correctly latches on to something – that we should aim to be different.
But it entirely overlooks that, before we've ever read a single book, gone to any foreign country or met any Nobel Prize laureates, we are all compellingly different anyway.
The problem is that we just don't allow ourselves to come across as such.
To get a taste for this pre-existing level of originality, imagine if we placed a microphone in any of our minds and listened closely in on the chatter.
We would quickly find the most surprising, and authentically gripping information: we'd realise that we were attracted to some very unexpected people, often just the sort we weren't supposed to have any feelings for.
