Category: Creativity
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Making art is a small part of the job
DJ Khaled is an artist, and a very popular one at that. He doesn’t sing, rap, or make the beat. He makes songs by finding good instrumental tracks and hiring other artists to record over it. Some people—maybe a lot of them—take this to mean that he doesn’t make music. So what does he actually…
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The desire paths of your mind
When you walk off the sidewalk or paved ground, you contribute to a desire path. The more people that do this, the clearer the path that emerges. Here’s an image of a desire path: Apply this metaphor to your mind. Imagine that your mind was a town that you have designed with a lot of…
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Artists make New Work
On a visit to the MoMA PSOne, I saw a mural that said, “Artists make New Work.” The pink typography was set on forest green. I loved it. Then I looked closer, and I saw that it actually said, “Artists Make New York.” I liked my hallucinated version more.
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Studying, in an age of instant knowledge
If you want to drive one of London’s black cabs, you’ll need to pass a test called The Knowledge. It usually requires studying for 3 to 4 years. Nowadays, you have another option: an app like Waze or Google Maps can help guide you around London. Once an app like Uber onboards you as a…
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Questions to assess your project’s momentum
When you say yes to a project, you’re also saying no to something else. If a project isn’t showing momentum, consider quitting it to make space for something new. Here are some questions you can ask yourself: What resources are you putting in to keep a project alive? The fewer the resources, the easier it…
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Over 2 million people have bought Tim Ferriss’s book, The 4 Hour Workweek. Let’s say the goal of the book was to set the reader up to create a lifestyle where they don’t need to find a job. While they might need to work more than four hours, success means they’ve designed their lives for…