Where do you get your furnishings?
I love good fiction, including the works of modern authors, as well as stories from long ago.
I’m a big fan of original writers, like James Lee Burke, Roald Dahl, and John Fowles, among others, and one who has always stood out in my mind is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
Speaking of Holmes, the best portrayal of all time was Jeremy Brett. Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply incorrect. 🙂
In one of Conan Doyle’s stories, Watson is startled to discover that Holmes, despite his brilliant mind, did not know that the earth orbited the sun. He went on to say that it was totally irrelevant to his life and his work, and would now do his best to forget it again.
He spoke of the brain as a finite place that was furnished with information, and that we should be careful what we put there, ensuring it’s important or useful.
Holmes was correct about the brain having a limited capacity, but modern-day neuroscientists would tell him that he would never be able to reach that limit. We have far too many brain cells to fill, no matter how hard we try.
And the number of connections can be as high as 100 trillion.
So we have lots of neurons, but what happens if a large number of them are filled with junk? What kind of junk?
Think of the most insufferable bore you’ve ever talked to.
That kind of junk.
We all know that one person who fills conversations with meaningless drivel. And while there’s no law against it—perhaps there should be.
Wasting someone’s time with pointless stories steals moments they’ll never get back.
But if that information is 80% of what fills your mind, that’s what you’re going to talk about. It’s what will naturally rise to the surface when you’re speaking with anyone.
It’s symptomatic of the lost art of conversation.
Or at least, nearly extinct.
In the days before technology, people would meet for the simple reason that they wanted to talk to each other. Dr. Samuel Johnson was a perfect example.
Dr. Johnson was known as England’s most brilliant mind. He composed a dictionary back in 1755 and could expound on just about anything, in English or Latin. People would flock around him, just to hear his incredible discussions.
Imagine that—people gathering to hear someone, not for social media fame or a viral moment, but because their mind was a treasure trove of wisdom and wit.
Now, think about what fills your own mind.
Is it worth sharing?
Is it the kind of thing that would make people lean in, eager to hear what you have to say? Or is it just mental clutter—random trivia, dull recountings of things that don’t matter, conversations that go in circles and lead nowhere?
I’m not saying trivia is bad. Trivia can be fun, even fascinating. But there’s a difference between someone who knows trivia and someone who is genuinely fascinating.
A fascinating person isn’t just a collector of facts. They are a curator of ideas. They think deeply, ask great questions, and bring something of value to every conversation they enter.
So the question is this: How are you furnishing your mind?
Are you filling it with thoughts that inspire, stories that captivate, knowledge that sharpens your understanding of the world?
Or is it cluttered with mental junk that no one—yourself included—finds interesting?
If you want to be someone that people want to talk to, someone whose presence sparks thought and curiosity, then start treating your brain like a well-kept library, not a storage room for useless debris.
Read great books. Learn about history, philosophy, art, science—whatever draws your interest but also expands your thinking.
Study the way brilliant minds think and communicate. Listen to great speakers. Watch how they structure their ideas.
And most importantly—ask better questions.
The fastest way to be interesting is to be interested. Be deeply curious, and the rest will follow.
So I’ll ask again:
Where do you get your furnishings?
- Mike Mandel
(Chris here: Did you know that Mike's entire "Mandel Trilogy" hypnosis bundle is included in the Brain Software Syndicate. The price to join is ridiculously low.)