Deliberately cultivating eccentricity can offset a self-perceived dull, methodical temperament.

Evidence

As an undergraduate at Harvard College, he’d studied mathematical physics. He knew he was smart, but in his most self-critical moments he saw himself as methodical and dull. His remedy for this perceived flaw was itself methodical. “I work hard to cultivate a little flakiness in myself,” he once confessed. He cultivated various small eccentricities. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 404

Categorization

• APHORISMS: A quietly usable life tactic: if you feel dull and over-methodical, engineer small eccentricities on purpose.
• XREF: connects to: Habit’s simplification costs spirit a sacrificial alienation of itself.; Serene calm can function as positive alienation rather than New Age self-discovery. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 359; Market-driven exaggeration of eccentricity makes the individual complicit in his own commodification. (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Market-driven exaggeration of eccentricity makes the individual complicit in his own commodification. #complicates (0.85)
• Intellectual achievement compensates for but does not cure a deep-seated sense of worthlessness #exemplifies (0.85) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 289
• Habit’s simplification costs spirit a sacrificial alienation of itself. #corroborates (0.75)
• Serene calm can function as positive alienation rather than New Age self-discovery. #corroborates (0.75) — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 359