The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard

Product Information

Understanding can't be focused. Distraction can make the work easier, it builds momentum. Distraction helps you to not think about what you are doing, so you are content with doing it. There are two ways to clean a burnt pan: taking considerable time and effort to scrub it, or to simply let it soak and return to it later. The first is based on effort, and the second on ease. Postponing action and letting things look after themselves is a win-win. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Hyper specialization can cause a sort of blindness to the broader picture of what is, based on the view we have of the world and how we operate within it. Don't think about solutions, think about the problem as if the problem were a person, let it speak for itself. Do not confuse preparation with practice. Excessive practice makes you stale. With astonishing ingenuity, they were able to fashion a cabin out of driftwood and planks cannibalised from their vessel, but they were woefully ill equipped to survive the Arctic winter.

Olivia Colman cuts a chic figure in a dark green jumpsuit as she joins Timothee Chalamet and Hugh Grant for the Wonka photocall It’s a vivid, compelling blend of memoir and academic sleuthing, and if his claims for the lingo sometimes seem inflated, its worldly-wise lexicon nonetheless conveys irresistible resilience and ‘chuzpe’ (chutzpah). When we say "France," France itself is no more than an idea-une certaine idée-which exists in the collective imagination in its condensed form of "Paris," the international symbol of all forms of freedom, the dream of thinkers and artists. This Paris is evoked in the alluringly titled Le Rendez-vous des Étrangers (Where Strangers Meet) by Elsa Triolet, Louis Aragon's muse-a Paris in which the Spanish Picasso, Russian Chagall, and Italian Giacometti all felt at home, and with good reason:A laissez-faire guide to self-help. This is a book for those who aspire to the déshabillé, Serge-Gainsbourg-and-Jane-Birkin-morning-after look and the studied negligence of the Parisian Bobo (bourgeois-bohemian).”― The Times(London) It’s exactly the same with living. There is no preparation for life. So you need to skip the warm-up. Watch your attitude. If you set off without a safety net, proudly, you learn how to live just as you learn how to ride a bike or a horse: by accepting the propulsion offered by life itself. Living like this is constantly surprising . . . OK, but in a good way or in a bad way? Nothing’s ever exactly what you thought it was going to be. You’re never adequately prepared. But the longer you hesitate, the harder it will be. Don’t wait until you’re sure before you act. What’s going to happen in the future? You’ll have to get there to find out. So you don’t begin an action because you’ve thought about it long enough to judge that it’s the best of all possible choices, but because indecision is the worst of all evils, and there just isn’t time to examine them all. Seen like this, beginning is the key to completing. It means forgetting about deliberation, hesitation, and calculation and just getting on with the job. Not tomorrow, not later: here and now. Don’t wait for the first of January to make your vows. Alain says: “Making a resolution means nothing; taking up a tool is what’s needed. The thought will follow. Consider that thought cannot guide an action that has not been embarked on.” So you don’t have to renounce all thought when you act, but you must think only inside the action, at its service, and only when necessary. Thought must be as light as possible, it must not trip you up. When it is regulated by action, thought is a powerful tool. Left to itself, and to doubt, it will be your scourge. Because if I went on feeling as satisfied as I was yesterday, that would mean—in contradiction to what I generally think, wouldn’t you say?—that either I’ve lost my critical faculty or I’ve now come to a point where there’s nothing left for me to do.” Ollivier Pourriol is a philosopher, writer, and novelist. He lives in Paris, where his lectures mixing philosophy and cinema are widely attended, and where he puts his ideas into practice over aperitifs with friends.

Adele poses with BFF Alan Carr, 47, on the night she confirmed she had married Rich Paul - and the comedian's new toyboy lover, 27, took the photoBarents believed in the then-fashionable theory that there was open water around the North Pole, because the sun shone constantly throughout the summer and therefore had to warm the sea. Paris Hilton is seen for the FIRST time since revealing birth of daughter London as she dons chic ensembles to plug Paris in Love: 'My life feels so complete' Kanye West sings anti-Semitic song Vultures with the lyrics 'I just f***ed a Jewish b****' on stage with Lil Durk and Ty Dolla Sign in Dubai Camilla has 'no relationship' with Prince Harry despite sympathy for what Meghan went through, as she has 'no respect for how they handled themselves'