There’s something almost mythic about the person who stays up long after everyone else has gone to sleep — driven by something that won’t let them rest. ‘Burning the midnight oil’ is one of the most evocative expressions in English, and it holds a secret about devotion, craft, and what we’re willing to give to the things we love.

Some of the best things in life arrived when we weren’t looking for them — a song, a book, a person, a turning point. There’s a gorgeous word for that. And its backstory is almost as magical as the thing it describes.

It’s one of those phrases that gets tossed around in boardrooms and TED talks — but a true paradigm shift is one of the most disorienting, liberating, and rare intellectual experiences a human being can have. Let’s find out what it really means — and why it matters deeply.