Category: Creator Confidential
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Just one tooth
There’s a classic idea that the key to flossing regularly is to floss just one tooth. The key his this: it’s much easier to show up every day if you can reduce the task down to something so small and simple that it requires next to no effort. In Creative Doing, I share a prompt,…
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To succeed in the age of A.I., build your capacity for longcuts
A couple of years ago, my friend Nik Göke wrote a really nice piece at his blog, “Sometimes, the Work Is Easier Than the Workaround.” In the intro, he writes about trying to find a fast, technical, shortcut to scrape a bunch of text online: The tool was pretty technical, so it took a while…
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If you do the thing, then you can keep the job title
When Busayo Olupona was just starting up her fashion label—many years before it was stocked at outlets like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom—she had quit her job and practically ran out of money. Many stories, sadly, end up that way; Busayo’s didn’t. She says her mentor Mercedes Gonzalez would hold her accountable for making a…
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The consistency edge
Replit runs its own 100 days of code challenge. Recently Paul Graham shared the stats on how many people complete the challenge: What if, simply by committing and showing up 100 times—around 15 mins, sometimes 45 mins, per day—you did something that 99% of people don’t do? This type of daily challenge is a great…
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To move forward through rejection, take a passion stance
An aspiring comedian completes a set to applause. They notice an established comedian watching and strike up a conversation. The aspiring comedian asks, “Do you think I’m going to make it?” The established comedian says, “No.” It’s not that the established comedian doesn’t want the aspiring one to make it; they simply know that if…
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“You decide”
The world produces waves.Surf or down.You decide.Virgil© 2017 Virgil Abloh’s message is the first entry in Hans Ulrich Obrist’s compilation of notes from artists, Remember to Dream!. (On compiling, on books about people.) It was also a billboard: Via Sole Retriever and Ovrundr
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An editor’s retrospective
In the 10th anniversary issue of Port (published a couple of years back), editor-in-chief Dan Crowe looks back on the launch issue and original format. It’s a fun, light, and very visual retrospective into some of the sections that worked for the magazine from: There are lots of great details here—particularly the bottom left corner,…
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Authors write
If you set out to be an author, the key part of your job is to write your own opinions, referencing others for confirmation. If you want to write books, the key part of your job is to research and write books. Here are other parts of the job: While the other parts of the…
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How many doors can you open?
Before Jann Mardenborough became a professional racecar driver, he was obsessively driving in the Gran Turismo simulator on PlayStation. Then, he came across GT Academy, a program that would train PlayStation racing gamers to become professional racing drivers. This tournament was extremely competitive; millions of people would apply to join GT Academy. You can practically…
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What does success mean to you, now?
You’ve probably changed a lot this year. Certainly in the past few. Does your definition of success keep up with where you are now, or where you want to go in the future? If you’re making a professional pivot, or you’re turning a company around—in other words, changing the course of your work or life…