inspiration
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Working backward
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1 min read
We all know what we want. Our main challenge is in getting there. If we take our end-destination in mind and outline the steps to reach it by working backward, the goal suddenly becomes less intimidating. The only way to “control” the future is to steady our mentality and take immediate action. Making progress requires…
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If you’re struggling to get started, do it badly
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2 min read
“Work finally begins when the fear of doing nothing exceeds the fear of doing it badly,” advises the author Alain de Botton. Perfection is the antithesis of inspiration — it prevents you from getting started. The trick to getting going is to do it badly. To do that, one must be intentionally messy. The art of…
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A panoply of tools
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2 min read
What’s the primary device that unlocks your creativity — the camera, a pen, or the paintbrush? These tools are our passport to freedom. So photographers speak through photos, writers communicate in text, cartoonists draw, etc. “We become what we behold,” Marshall McLuhan said, “We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.” Our vocation shapes our…
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Mind over matter, what’s the matter with your mind?
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1 min read
Sí, se puede. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Trying is a passport to freedom. You can do it, contrary to your negative internal dialogue. Mindset is everything. As is practice. Showing up consistently matters, and reflects in the quality of the work. Discipline equals freedom — now that’s a bumper sticker! Guess, what?…
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Inspiration is a myth
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1 min read
All the inspiration exists and is equally distributed. But the ubiquity of motivational quotes and rags to riches biographies can be sheer fodder. Instead of doing the work, we get caught in the cycle of disattention. The role of the artist is the create a reality for themselves. We can’t expect to copy and paste…
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Abraham Lincoln on writing
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1 min read
“Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind, through the eye— is the great invention of the world.” Abraham Lincoln
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‘We must be ignorant of what we are looking for…’
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1 min read
“We must be ignorant of what we are looking for, or we would not go looking for it.” Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (Amazon)
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Confronting reality 👀
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2 min read
Goal setting is like game setting. You start at level 1 and graduate into unforeseen directions. If you’re lucky, you’ll ping-pong forward, making leaps and bounds. But more often than not, declaring your ambitions acts as a compass, guiding you with mere suggestions on how to proceed. Like a magnet, the lighthouse tugs you into its…
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Feeling like a failure
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1 min read
There’s a reason why we always feel like a failure: We’re better off than ever. With the Internet at our fingertips, it feels like we can all get ahead but mostly all we do is fritter time away in the cesspool of news. Even when we make something, it adds to the millions of other…
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The big picture view
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1 min read
Everything is a work in progress. From your health to relationships, to making art, the finish line remains elusive because we’re always preserving the status quo or making things better. Even democracy is a work in progress. En Media Res — That’s Latin for being in the middle of the action. If inertia is the…
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How to close the gap between near and far
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1 min read
The basis for life is all interpretation, an internal chatter that either zaps positive momentum or dwells on negativity and drains the well. For starters, your attitude should weave together what optimizes you rather than what conflicts with the experience of inner freedom. For example, instead of looking at your day job as a means…
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How to keep the good, going
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2 min read
What goes up must come down. Complacency eventually turns into panic. Once the stream of contentedness kicks in, progress stymies. The will to compete and improve wanes. Expectations which set the tone of achievement, fall at the wayside. Motivation is a wonder drug. As Brian Eno said, “Everything good comes from enthusiasm.” The urge to…