"Most of my time, energy and other resources I use to nurture my projects"
About this Quote
There is a quietly revealing hierarchy embedded in Cohen's phrasing: time comes first, then energy, then the catch-all "other resources". It's the language of someone who lives inside a newsroom (or a newsroom-adjacent hustle) where attention is the real currency and everything else is budgeted around it. By stacking the terms this way, he frames work not as inspiration but as allocation. The self is a ledger.
"Nurture" is the key tell. Journalists rarely describe their output with the tender vocabulary of parenting or gardening unless they're trying to correct a stereotype: that journalism is purely reactive, parasitic, always chasing the next outrage cycle. Cohen is staking a claim for intentionality. Projects aren't "assigned" or "produced"; they're cultivated over time, protected from distraction, given room to grow into something with shape and consequence. The word also flatters the labor. It suggests care rather than grind, devotion rather than mere ambition.
The subtext, though, has an edge: this is a polite boundary-setting statement. "Most of my time" implicitly means not your emails, not your coffee chats, not the performative networking that modern media often demands. It's an explanation that doubles as an excuse and a philosophy, the kind of sentence you use when you know your priorities can read as selfish but you want them to sound principled.
Contextually, it's a very 21st-century professional creed: in an attention economy where journalists are pushed to be brands, Cohen emphasizes craft. The posture is less "I have a busy schedule" than "I choose what my life is for."
"Nurture" is the key tell. Journalists rarely describe their output with the tender vocabulary of parenting or gardening unless they're trying to correct a stereotype: that journalism is purely reactive, parasitic, always chasing the next outrage cycle. Cohen is staking a claim for intentionality. Projects aren't "assigned" or "produced"; they're cultivated over time, protected from distraction, given room to grow into something with shape and consequence. The word also flatters the labor. It suggests care rather than grind, devotion rather than mere ambition.
The subtext, though, has an edge: this is a polite boundary-setting statement. "Most of my time" implicitly means not your emails, not your coffee chats, not the performative networking that modern media often demands. It's an explanation that doubles as an excuse and a philosophy, the kind of sentence you use when you know your priorities can read as selfish but you want them to sound principled.
Contextually, it's a very 21st-century professional creed: in an attention economy where journalists are pushed to be brands, Cohen emphasizes craft. The posture is less "I have a busy schedule" than "I choose what my life is for."
Quote Details
| Topic | Work Ethic |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Benjamin
Add to List



