Keep one thing that’s only yours. A notebook, a walk, a playlist nobody else gets to judge.

Almost everything you do gets observed and lightly scored, which bends it over time toward whatever goes down well. Something nobody sees stays uncontaminated. It is the one place you can find out what you actually like, rather than what you have learned looks good, and that information is hard to get any other way.

Choose one thing and keep it off the record. No posting it, no explaining it, no inviting anyone along. A route you walk, a half filled notebook, a playlist with embarrassing songs on it. When you catch yourself wanting to show someone, notice the pull and keep this one back anyway.