Category: Creativity
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The architect and the assignment
An architect takes in their latest assignment: to rescue a wealthy client’s plans gone wrong. The client has high hopes for it, and believes it has the potential to be a landmark and a part of their legacy. The main problem is there is very little time. She has two weeks to do it. In…
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There is no failure
When Virgil Abloh was planning his lecture at RISD, he decided that he was going to make a product on campus and that would be the subject of his talk. He would need to take this assignment in between all of his other prior commitments, such as leading his self-initiated fashion label Off White. He…
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The secret isn’t in the recipe
An apprentice is sick of his job at a high end restaurant. It pays poorly, he’s stuck doing the menial tasks, and the head chefs don’t give him any recognition or affirmation. A manager at a rival restaurant approaches him with a deal. If the apprentice steals the restaurant’s recipes, the manager will give him…
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When overdelivering fails
There’s a book entitled, “Overpromise and overdeliver.” The title is a good principle generally. As James Altucher explains, “Over-promise sets you apart from the people who under-promise. Over-deliver sets you apart from people who just delivered.” The principle breaks when overpromise or overdelivery puts you in a position to fail to deliver entirely. If it…
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New Material
My friend Hamza and I started a show entitled New Material. We discuss creativity and productivity, through the lenses of business and art. It’s been a great opportunity for me to learn firsthand the intricacies of recording and publishing a podcast. I’m not entirely unfamiliar with it—I developed, managed, and launched the first season of…
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Over and over
“Every novelist spends their life writing the same story over and over,” Danielle Chelosky says in an interview with The Creative Independent. “My subject matter doesn’t vary so much from book to book. Just the surface does. The settings, etc. I tend to write the same book over and over, or at least, I take…
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Open up about your problems
When Ryan Leslie lost his million dollar court case in 2013, the government froze his bank accounts. He found this out when his payment for a breakfast sandwich at his local bodega was declined. In order for him to feel like he could retain control of his finances, he started doing business through a decentralized…
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Shrigley’s quantities
David Shrigley makes lists of phrases (e.g., “man being mauled by a lion”), and then he draws 30–40 of them per day. Sometimes he’ll change the phrase (e.g., “man being mauled by a horse”). Each drawing is different, and he only does each drawing once. He discards the majority of them, by his estimate it’s…
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Weirdly Brilliant
When my friend Jason told me he would write a book in 30 days, I was interested in following along. Was it possible for someone to make a book worth reading in 30 days? I recently found out when I received a copy of his book, Weirdly Brilliant. Jason really leaned into the strengths of…