Category: Creator Confidential
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Easy, boring, and obvious
When an idea or task is boring, obvious, and easy to you, you might want to dismiss it. It feels low effort, or even effortless. But just because it comes naturally to you, doesn’t mean it does for everyone else. You may have stumbled into your core strengths—a zone of genius that other people want…
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Feedback vs. validation
Imagine you bump into someone you idolize. You muster up the courage to introduce yourself and talk a bit about your work. They offer to have a look and give you feedback. You accept. You were hoping they would love it, but they only offer critical comments. It’s not in a mean spirit, but the…
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Negative capability
A few months ago, I’d set a deadline for myself to finish a new book by Halloween. I’m working as hard and consistently as I can on the book, but that deadline is not going to happen. I could have shipped the incomplete manuscript as it is, Virgil Abloh style, but I decided against that.…
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Out of the comfort zone
I recently started a podcast called New Material with my friend Hamza Khan. It’s been an incredibly energizing project, and has stretched my creative abilities in all sorts of ways I couldn’t have imagined. Even though I write here every day, I mostly stay in my comfort zone. Without thinking too much about it, I…
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A reminder
The artist who created Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson, wrote a beautiful commencement speech for Kenyon College. Here’s an excerpt from it (emphasis added): But having an enviable career is one thing, and being a happy person is another. Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In…
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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…