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Early rejections
In his paper on Self-Efficacy, psychologist Albert Bandura writes: “In his delightful book, titled, Rejection, John White provides vivid testimony, that the striking characteristic of people who have achieved eminence in their fields is an inextinguishable sense of personal efficacy and a firm belief in the worth of what they are doing. This resilient self-belief…
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The cost of a free lunch
In front of the townhouse, there were two drawers, one stacked on top of the other, wrapped with bright, cartoon, decals. You couldn’t miss it. As if anticipating the question as you passed by, there was a piece of paper confirming, “Free.” When I was a child, I constantly heard the phrase, “There is no…
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What I talk about when I talk about doing
I’m still thinking through a piece I read at Strange Loop Canon, in which Rohit Krishnan writes that thinkers do and doers think, but there’s still a macroscopic difference between the results that thinkers and doers actually produce: One place we see this is where there is a ton of conversation around the difference between…
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The story of Creative Doing, at Human Parts
Creative Doing just launched, which means I’m knee deep in promoting it. I plan to write more about the process—how I’m thinking about it, campaigns and always on, and what the goal really is. My fiancée made a great suggestion, which was to tell the story about why I wrote this new book about creativity. …
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Permission to ship
It’s one day until I ship something new. 3 things on my mind, in the hopes that each balances the other two out: 1. “For 2 frickin’ years, I thought it’s too early to release my app because it’s clunky, buggy, it’s missing features, blah, blah, blah. No one would ever use it, right? I…
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You choose your game, then your game chooses you
This is part 3 in a series. You can start here, or with part 1 or part 2. When I was a kid a couple of friends and I decided to pretend to run a movie theater at the daycare we attended. We would roll up A4 papers diagonally to create popcorn containers, make signs…
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The trap and the truth
“What are your choices, if someone puts a gun to your head?” This is a question posed by senior partner Harvey Spector to his protege Mike Ross, two protagonists in Suits. Ross is explaining how a rival executive had coerced him to do something against Spector’s interest. “You do what they say, or they shoot…
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Creativity, for fun and profit
There’s a lot of material out there about creativity for profit, and creativity for fun, but less about how to actually combine both. It seems as though everything that makes creativity profitable makes it less fun—and vice versa. So I want to write about this, because making money can be very fun as well. Part…
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A new pair of glasses
In a delightful new essay, Derek Sivers makes the case that travel is best with young children. One of his points is the childlike sense of openness: Your child has no prejudices. This is my favorite part. I often go to places I’m biased against. Seeing them through my child’s unbiased perception, and interacting with…
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The non-essentials
Oliver Burkeman writes in The Imperfectionist: “In the strongest sense of the word “need”, you don’t really need to become more focused, or realise your creative potential, or be more patient with your kids. You wouldn’t spontaneously combust, or cause others to die, or be judged the moral equal of Vladimir Putin, if you never…