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Start with you
People don’t buy what you think they want, they buy what you want. When David Chang started Momofuku’s Noodle Bar, it nearly fell apart because he let himself get pulled in “every direction but the most important one.” The food. He held back on the direction of the food, trying to meet what the market…
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What to Do When Your Work Won’t Sell Itself
Great work does not sell itself. Honestly, I don’t think it ever really did. I’ll acknowledge there was a time when curators were more trusted than they are now. However, many critic’s tastes have been questionable. Worse yet, not everybody had access to a curator’s attention. A curator can not promote what they don’t see…
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What I Wish I Knew About Quoting Other People In My Writing
Recently, I read a passage from someone working in psychology which said, “Every time I want to make a point, my brain immediately asks, ‘Is there a widely-cited, randomized controlled test study to support that?’” If there wasn’t, they would decide not to pursue the idea any further. I can relate, all too well. This…
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Don’t Just Learn from the Past. Learn from the Future, too
Strategic thinking and tactical execution is one of the best skill combinations for anyone looking to step up their career. In particular, being able to think strategically is the key to adding more value to a company, and higher leverage in compensation. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably developed a strong competency for tactics, and…
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The Ultimate Guide to the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Setting goals sounds simple. When a person sets a goal, they probably come across the SMART methodology—Specific, Measurable, Assignable (changed into “Attainable”), Realistic, and Time-related. Yet the nuance that comes with this makes goal-setting extremely complicated. For example, the terms, “Attainable,” and “Realistic,” require not only judgment of the past and the future, as well…
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The Simple Truth Behind Successful Creative Projects: They Start Small
Sometime after the Tiger King frenzy, and long before the Squid Game one, I happily watched two seasons of Fleabag (amongst what feels like dozens of other shows). For me, experiencing art is only one half of the joy. Learning about the creative process is the other. In this case, I was excited to learn…
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Unlearning Is an Underrated Skill
Six years ago, product designer Andrei Herasimchuk wrote of an earlier time when he learned the wrong lesson during his career at Adobe. Early into his career as a designer, he had built a prototype over the weekend and a few days into his workweek. One of the product managers, who had worked at Adobe…
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You Become What You Write About
No matter how fast digital software evolves, there are some habits and objects ground in the physical world that draw me towards them. One of these is physical notebooks, usually a Moleskine. I’ve filled out three of them the past couple of years, and brought a fourth half-filled with me halfway across the world. It…
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How to Take Your Career to the Next Level with Notes
It was only yesterday when I needed to make a minor decision I had been stuck on for a week. The situation didn’t require a friend or advisor’s advice, precious time I’d prefer to save for something of greater gravity. Instead, I consulted a set of notes I’d taken on making decisions, which took me…
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Digital’s quieter half has been doing its work this whole time
While far from a successful case study, I’ll never forget stumbling across multiple copies of Airbnb’s discontinued Pineapple travel magazine in the back corner of Bouwerie Iconic Magazines in New York City. Of course, I recalled the powerful first impression Pineapple’s stories, layouts, and photography made on me—a jog through my inbox lets me know…