This post from David Perell is illuminating.

Here are few points I’d like to mention.

1. The Paradox of Reading: The books you read will profoundly change you even though you’ll forget the vast majority of what you read.
2. The Paradox of Writing: Great writing looks effortless. But because the ideas are so clear, casual readers don’t appreciate how much time it took to refine them.
3. The Paradox of Decision Making: It’s better to choose, commit, and get started instead of waiting for the best possible option, so the correct decisions are actually sub-optimal.
4. The Paradox of Originality: Many of history’s greatest artists have found their voice by copying others. We discover who we are by imitating others and watching our uniqueness emerge over time.
5. The Paradox of Abundance: Information abundance, like all markets of abundance, are bad for the average person but great for a small number of people. My favorite metaphor is health, where obesity rates and the number of people in incredible shape are *both* rising.