NESA #: 32245617

"Magical thinking makes you crazy - and renders everything possible."

Using this quote from Zadie Smith as a stimulus, compose a discursive piece in which you
discuss the relationship between thinking habits, creativity and achievement.

Within the academic sphere, we love to talk about relationships and correlations. In mathematics, we
spend countless hours memorising formulas and relationships such as Pythagoras’ theorem, which
describes a relationship between three sides of a right-angled triangle. In economics, we talk about
how the appreciation of a currency will theoretically lead to a deterioration in the Balance of Goods
and Services—whatever that means. Since I spend so much time studying these kinds of concrete,
defined relationships, I was bewildered when I first came across Zadie Smith’s idea of ‘magical
thinking’, or that there was some kind of correlation between thinking habits, creativity and
achievement. It’s not like you could simply define a relationship linking these three concepts like the
three sides of a triangle. But why is that?
Perhaps you have already made the observation that these concepts are not literal and concrete
mathematical concepts, an observation which is indeed, correct. Mathematical relationships can only
be applied in only one context – Pythagoras can only help you find the sides of a right-angled triangle.
Yet abstract concepts such as thinking habits, creativity and achievement can exist in a seemingly
infinite number of contexts, so how does one establish a relationship between them? Maybe, we should
reconsider our understanding of these concepts.
For instance, once could view ‘achievement’ in a purely academic and quantitative sense. I know that
myself and a myriad of other Year 12 students certainly do. Can’t ‘achievement’ be the fabled 99.95
ATAR which we all place on a pedestal and pray to some otherworldly figure every night that we may
have at least a slim chance of achieving? Yet, isn’t ‘achievement’ also about personal goals, such as
losing weight, finishing an extremely difficult piece of writing or making a lot of money? Even these
achievements can be numerically labelled – kilos lost, word-count reached, dollars earned. But in what
units can one measure satisfaction, or pride?
Things become even more nebulous when we try to describe thinking habits and creativity, which
further complicates this so called ‘relationship’. For all those non-economists out there, we use this
lovely Latin term, ceteris paribus, which means “all other things being equal”. This term is a
justification to form relationships which exist in a simplified version of reality, since it would be
impossible to account for an infinite number of other factors. This idea is relevant here, where any
numbers of contexts may exist for an individual to practice creativity. And if thinking habits can
loosely be defined as “the way you think”, which is unique to every individual, there would be a grand
total of almost eight billion thinking habits, which is a slight inconvenience to someone wishing to
explore the topic. But while a ‘habit’ might imply something unintended like chewing the end of your
pencil, thinking habits can be deliberate choices. To simplify, by way of example, I will take a page
out of the economist’s textbook and assume that only two general thinking habits exist – ‘magical’
thinking, associated with making creative leaps and connections, and ‘logical’ thinking.
Normally when we hear the word ‘magic’, we think of clichés and tropes such as magicians, rabbits
coming out of hats, card tricks and so forth. Of course, ‘magical thinking’ is not actually magic in the
traditional sense, it is merely ‘thinking outside the box’ to put it in colloquial terms. A magical thinker
is able to break free from the prison of rationality and logic, being able to accomplish things that are
different or more creative than their usual capabilities.
NESA #: 32245617

From the above description, you may deduce that ‘magical thinking’ is objectively better than ‘logical
thinking’ since it has the ability to – theoretically – make anything possible. The side effect of ‘magical
thinking’ is that your mind enters into a state where logic and rationality no longer exist – a state of
‘craziness’ which I have personally experienced. It’s like you’re sitting on the bus and as you see an
ad for honey, a strange thought enters into your head; a sudden idea as to how you’re going to complete
an assignment which has been bugging you for the last few weeks: “I’m going to write about bees.”
After that, you feel very confident and that a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Only for
you to get home, sit at your desk, stare blankly into some desolate A4 page Microsoft Word document
and think to yourself: “How am I actually going to get this done?”

Although ‘magical thinking’ gave you the idea of it being possible to write a 1000-word essay in a
single night, it wasn’t exactly a very rational and practical idea now, was it? I mean, you know you
want to focus on the life-cycles of Australian native bees but you’ve no idea what you’re supposed to
do from here. That’s when logical thinking comes to the rescue. By using a logical mindset, perhaps
you could now make a rational plan as to how you can achieve your end goal – complete some research
to make your Word Document look a little less desolate and empty. Instead of trying to destroy your
sanity in a single night, you could space your work out over a longer period of time. Today, you might
decide to come up with an introduction and thesis, tomorrow a body paragraph, the next day another
paragraph, until you finally reach the conclusion. Then, you can hit that submit button and watch as
all your worries float away like said Tetragonula hockingsi on a breeze (until the assignment is marked,
that is).

If achievement – whatever that may be – is the light at the end of the tunnel, thinking habits are the
tools you use in order to reach that light. And for most great projects, more than one type of thinking
may be needed along the way. That one crazy and creative idea you get from thinking ‘magically’
becomes your vehicle. Since vehicles need petrol and maintenance, we can view logical thinking as
being the kind of thinking which keeps the project chugging. A mixture of both thinking habits is
required to achieve that goal.
NESA #: 32245617

Reflection
The purpose of the composition is to provide an objective analysis of two different thinking habits –
‘magical’ and ‘logical’ thinking – and how both thinking habits can be utilised to reach the goal of
‘achievement’. Since my intended audience for the piece are those involved in the academic sphere -
whether they may be school students or teachers – some of the stylistic and creative elements of the
piece are intended to target that particular audience. For example, in the introduction of the piece I
use mathematical and economic jargon alongside the simile: “It’s not like you could simply define a
relationship linking these three concepts like the three sides of a triangle.” The simile contrasts the
intangible relationship between thinking habits, creativity and achievement against the well-known
relationship of Pythagoras’ Theorem as a way of demonstrating how one cannot formularise abstract
and undefined relationships. This difficulty is further emphasised in my discussion of the idea of
“achievement” through my repetition of rhetorical questioning in this extract:

The aim of this extract is to show that achievement lacks a simple and uniform definition which can
be applied universally to any context, as the idea of achievement differs significantly between each
individual. I present the most common idea of ‘achievement’ amongst my audience – “the fabled
99.95 ATAR” – and then juxtapose that idea with a different perspective of achievement as a way of
showing that achievement is not a uniform concept.
I then use economic jargon, i.e. the term “ceteris paribus”, as a way of introducing the concept of
magical and logical thinking, terms which are loosely derived from Zadie Smith’s ideas of “macro
planners and micro managers.” Although Smith portrays “macro planners and micro managers” as
being two distinct and mutually exclusive concepts, I present magical and logical thinking as ‘tools’
which can both be used to reach ‘achievement’.
Zadie Smith’s That Crafty Feeling lecture had a significant impact on my composition’s stylistic
decisions and features. Smith’s distinctive style of syntax in which she repeatedly begins her
sentences with the usage of conjunctions – was also used throughout my composition to create a
sense of continuity in which my ideas related to one another across sentences, for example: “And if
thinking habits can loosely be defined as “the way you think”, which is unique to every individual,
there would be a grand total of almost eight billion thinking habits.” The conjunction serves to link
the sentence to the idea of ceteris paribus – in which economists use models which “exist in a
simplified version of reality” – as means of justifying my need to establish that only two thinking
habits exist, as the relationship I discuss only exists in a simplified version of reality and cannot be
applied to all contexts.

Smith’s extensive usage of anecdotes throughout her text, such as her personal experience with the
process of creating writing, also served as an inspiration for the anecdote implemented in my
composition. My anecdote about completing an assignment – although somewhat exaggerated for
humour and absurdity (i.e. writing an essay about bees) – is used as a means of communicating the
necessity for one to practice both thinking habits, otherwise one will be faced with “a desolate A4
Microsoft Word document.”