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Showing up vs. disappearing
Anna Gat writes: I’ve been telling people that your number one job is to not disappear. It’s maddeningly easy to disappear, the stage trapdoor remains open. I’ve been repeating it with wild gestures, whenever someone breaks up with their famous cofounder, I’ve been waxing ex cathedra, when friends leave buzzing cities, upscale jobs: Do not…
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“How do you work past self doubt?”
u/blinkycake writes: I have a talent for art and a desire to start a creative career of my own making, but feel like I’m being held back by doubts about creative careers. I’m about to be 35 and want to start a creative career in art (freelance illustration and painting) and I’m haunted by the…
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Assumptions and big decisions
Patrick McKenzie says to Tyler Cowen: I had gone to university at Washington University in St Louis to study computer science. I was worried because the Wall Street Journal said the dot com bust means that engineering employment will cease in the United States of America. All future engineers will be hired in China or…
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Intelligence, energy, and integrity
In Working Together, Michael Eisner and Aaron Cohen share the traits that Warren Buffett looks for in a partner: “You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two. I tell them, ‘Everyone here has…
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Just write
“I don’t get inspired to write. I just write.” Salman Rushdie (via Backable by Suneel Gupta)
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To earn an opportunity, steer into the concerns
In Backable, Suneel Gupta recalls a time when he was seeking funding for his startup Rise. He’d recently met Reid Hoffman and sought his advice: When Rise was being rejected by investors, Hoffman shared one of the keys to his success in the pitch room. “There will be one to three issues that are potentially…
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5 minutes
In Springfield Confidential Mike Reiss and Mathew Klickstein write: Matt Groening definitely created the Simpsons, and the story of how he did it is truly unbelievable. Matt was a Los Angeles underground cartoonist when he was called in for a meeting at The Tracey Ullman Show. The series had one-minute animated bumpers (as well as…
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Creativity and data
In Nightingale, the journal of the Data Visualization Society, Victor Muñoz discusses applying my post on the four stage creative process to his data physicalization project. I really appreciated Victor’s post, which was a demonstration in how widely creativity is applied. (Other parts I liked: The journey involves Figma, a daily creative operation, and is…
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To find a good position, list out every possible criticism and craft the narrative
I was discussing a recent draft of my next manuscript with my friend and colleague Rahul, and he mentioned Nikita Bier’s tweet: You could replace “your product,” with your work, or your career path, or anything really, and this statement still holds true. When it comes to repositioning, an emotion like doubt comes in extremely…
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Audio and alter egos
When you want to change the way you talk to yourself—your self-talk—one interesting step is to listen to someone else talk, on repeat. For example, Seth Godin talks about how he changed his own negative self-talk by listening to Zig Ziglar tapes, for three hours a day, for three years. Similarly—but slightly different—Cathy Park Hong…