On noticing what you already know

There's a particular kind of insight that arrives not as new information, but as a sudden recognition of something that was already in view. You didn't learn it. You noticed it. And the noticing feels bigger than the thing itself, because until the moment it arrives you would have sworn there was nothing to notice.

The easy mistake is to chase novelty for its own sake — to read more, subscribe to more, scroll more. But most of what's actually useful has already passed through you once. It's sitting in the undergrowth. It's waiting to be recognized.

See also: On Kahneman's System 2.