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Start smaller, cheaper, faster
An idea comes to you. Most people would stop here and let it go, but you know ideas are elusive; they depart once they think they’re not needed, and they’ll find someone else to breathe life into them. So you start looking into making it happen. You quickly realize it’s uncomfortably expensive to make the…
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What I discussed at Interintellect
I visited Interintellect today and discussed Creative Doing in a session hosted by Jason Shen. Here’s some of what we talked about! It was a lot of fun, and I’d love to do more of these. If you know anyone who’d be interested, please feel free to contact me or to leave a comment at…
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Outer scorecard, or inner scorecard
Make something to sell, or make something you like. Write something to get attention, or write something to express yourself. Care about the outcome, or care about the output. Focus on the future, or focus on the present. Serve your ego, or serve a person. Appear like you’re winning, or be happy with what you…
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1.5 hours with In the Air, on the Ground, under the Sea
Professor Jennifer Roberts, who teaches History of Art and Architecture at Harvard, has an exercise: spend three hours with a piece of artwork. Yesterday, I spent 1.5 hours with this one entitled, In the Air, on the Ground, under the Sea by Drawing Architecture Studio. It was incredibly rewarding. If you really like something or…
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The Doing Thinking Flywheel
A few days ago, I tweeted a quote from Austrian American scientist Heinz von Foerster, “If you want to think differently, first learn to act differently.” Foerster was also known as a pioneer in the field of cybernetics, which investigates communications and automatic control systems in machines and living beings. I’d included this in my…
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“A luxury brand is a real and living person”
Jean-Noël Kapferer and Vincent Bastien write in The Luxury Strategy: “It was founded by a person, often the person whose name it bears, and contributes in some way to that person’s survival after death (Coco Chanel, Hilton Hotels, Guerlain). You can provide it with a more or less mythical ancestor (Dom Pérignon, Dom Ruinart, Veuve…
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100+ days of writing every day
Technically, it’s been 200+ days. I won’t count the first 100, because I missed some of them. The next 100 were a lot smoother and more consistent. It’s been a lot of fun, and I plan on doing this moving forward. It works for me. I was going to write a big, long, post about…
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I’m visiting Interintellect!
I’m doing a Supersalon with Interintellect, hosted by my friend startup veteran Jason Shen. If you like what you’re seeing with Creative Doing, come through! Thursday, September 8, 9pm et/6pm pt If you want to check out a preview of the book, Interintellect posted an excerpt here, and Every previously published an excerpt here.
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Grass is greener syndrome
I originally heard the phrase, “Grass is greener syndrome,” from my friend Peter Kang, when I talked to him about this tweet: It’s easy to want to pick something new to do—a different ladder to climb, a different game, a new project or venture—because it seems easier. Better. More rewarding. Smarter. That’s why we want…
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Cultivating honesty
One nice thing about posting every day is there’s no time to be dishonest or inauthentic. If you have fewer than 15 minutes, you can’t dawdle. You can’t tinker around, or worry about your legacy, or how you’ll come off to your reader. Every minute you spend not writing is a chance you risk not…