You’ve got to apply power to the throttle, and you’ve got to start rolling down the runway. This will take fuel; this will make you tired; this will add risks to your day. But once you achieve flight speed, you’ll see the Earth fall away beneath you, and you’ll finally be headed somewhere.
Read MoreWHAT A DAY FOR A DAYDREAM
Daydreams generally mean that you’ve suspended concerted effort for a moment, that you’re awake but dreaming. Amid the churn and bustle and actual competition for viable neurons these days, I find that suspending conscious effort for a few minutes is a rare thing. How bizarre: I have to consciously work at keeping my brain from working!
Read MoreTHE SOUNDS WE HEAR
Don’t just be an accountant: be an elegant, insightful, artful one. Don’t simply restock the shelves at the grocery store: find subtle, nuanced ways to think about what you’re doing and then do it well. Mundane jobs are not without the potential for elegant expressions. Perception is the first part of understanding something, and transformation of those perceptions is the work of authentic creativity.
Read MoreINVISIBILIA
The implications of the physical world are more important than the constructions we build in it.
Read MoreMAKING THE WORLD REAL
We make the world real only by noticing the details around us. When we don’t notice, or worse, when we don’t really care to notice, we capitulate a measure of our own solidity and relevance. When we capitulate our own relevance in the world we cease to be able to do things we’ve never done before. And when we stop doing new things, we stop being creative
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You have to be in the world to experience the world. But one you're there, you can still miss it if you're not paying attention.
OUTSIDE THE PAGES OF A BOOK
You have to be in the world to experience the world. But one you're there, you can still miss it if you're not paying attention.
Read MoreMY COMPUTER KILLED MY POEM
We write poems because we feel blood in our veins. We write poems because we see beautiful people in the world and feel our hearts beat. We write poems to convince us that we’re actually able to take the wrongs of the world and solve them by speaking truths to power.
Read MorePORTMANTEAU
If you want to make new things, you need to know the history of field in which you’re working. A working knowledge of the past gives you tools to function in the present. Woody Allen couldn’t exist without Groucho Marx knocking ash from his cigar. The Tesla couldn’t exist without the Prius silently pulling out of the garage.
Read MorePREPARATION
Preparation is all about learning how to listen to our senses to figure out what we want to do, and then asking them to step aside for a while so that we can think clearly. Preparation is the difference between practice and improvisation. Preparation is the invisible shield held by pros.
Read MoreNOT GOING QUIETLY
Get out of bed. Make something new. Make it extraordinary. Share it with the world. All you've got is the act of doing it, and you do it because you have to. The alternative is no alternative at all.
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