creativity
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Make culture, don’t just consume it
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1 min read
Consumption is a conduit to creativity. Reading and curation inspire us to reproduce our thoughts and ideas to others. The problem is, most people eat the news for entertainment’s sake. Scrolling through Facebook and Instagram are passive experiences, doing more to keep us in our seat rather than encouraging us to get out of it.…
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Creating a life of constant surprises
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2 min read
Every blogger wants to be an author. Every Instagrammer seeks to be a photographer. Every kid that plays FIFA wants to be Leo Messi. The path to professionalism in real life is arduous and unlikely. Success takes a lot of talent, excitement, and some luck. But at least we can use web platforms as launch…
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Mental clarity begins in cleaning out the basement
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1 min read
The basement gets a bad rap. It’s the relegation zone. It’s a mess, with cobwebs on the door handles and mountains of dust building in the corners. There may be mysterious sounds and unidentifiable creatures living in the cracks. But the basement also presents the biggest opportunity to turn disorder into something presentable. When you…
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From your mouth
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2 min read
Words signify a consciousness, of which a newborn or pet can only hear. The baby goes on to break a word up into its individual sounds, eventually coalescing into a communicative language of memes while your dog relies on its own form of internal narrative. There is some form of mental awareness in all creatures.…
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Don’t hold that thought 💬✒️
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1 min read
When in doubt, speak up. Talking is a tool for excavating thoughts—microphone in hand or not. It’s only after the speaking occurs do the words begin to flow. The same goes for writing. One doesn’t need an audience in order to do it. The movement of the pen gears the brain into motion so that…
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Reexamining the Kiss Principle
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1 min read
“Keep it simple and stupid.” That was the acronym coined by aircraft engineer Clarence Johnson during the early 1930s. He proposed the “H” style tail for airplanes which helped stabilize flight. Keeping it simple is always easier said than done. What may appear visually simple, took a deduction of complex details. We don’t get to…
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It’s never too late to do something incredible
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1 min read
Everything good takes time. We have to get comfortable with the idea that the work worth doing almost always never comes to fruition immediately. Our craft is also likely to be misunderstood for long periods. There will be periods of self-doubt and chapters of confusion, all signals that the muse wants us to keep going.…
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‘Good work only comes through revision’
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1 min read
After a lifetime of hounding authors for advice, I’ve heard three truths from every mouth: (1) Writing is painful— it’s ‘fun’ only for novices, the very young, and hacks; (2) other than a few instances of luck, good work only comes through revision; (3) the best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before…
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Chaos and structure
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1 min read
There’s beauty in chaos — when the outcome is limitless, ripe with multiple interpretations. Thus is nature. It is structure that intends to display meaning. The mind stops guessing at identification, shielded with the brain’s umbrella from the books of rain. Certain things require definition Stairs need to be intuitive enough to walk and up…
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Why Leonardo da Vinci wrote backward
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1 min read
Leonardo da Vinci wrote backward (mirror writing) because he didn’t want others stealing his ideas. Writes Da Vinci biographer Rachel A. Koestler-Grack: “The observations in his notebooks were written in such a way that they could be read only by holding the books up to a mirror.” But did a genius who combined art and…
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Doing something is better than doing nothing
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2 min read
A lot of people never start because of the fear of imperfection. But when it comes to creating, something is better than nothing. That something could be as little as a blog post — private or public — a diary entry, a podcast, a simple doodle, or if you prefer to speak through images, an…
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Open to detours
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1 min read
Open to detours, fixated with the wrath of curiosity. The single-minded goal-setter scrounges for practice. In theory, doggedness is the least path of resistance. Like sheep, we’re a magnet for jumping through hoops. But we can’t afford to put the right brain to sleep. Quiescent until unmoored from reality, the maker begs to turn pipe…