Tag: new year

The only order is disorder. Here’s a list of notes I’ve recorded on my phone throughout the year.

100 Facts of Life (2013)

1. Confidence is faith backward.  Believe in the unseen.
2. Preparation creates more opportunities for success.
3. Ruthless consistency, everyday shipping, practice; these are the fundamental actions that keep one prepared.
4. Going slower does not necessarily mean better work.
5. Always better to do it now or make plans now.  Now is the only time there is.
6. Creativity is just mashing what you know, what you want to know, what you’ve experienced, and what you want to experience, all together.
7. Attention takes effort. Of course, real honest interest makes it easier.
8. Know what you like.
9. Believe in and execute based on what you know today but leave the door open to alternative ways of thinking.
10. Trying can be a half-assed form of doing.
11. Listen but don’t believe everything you’re told.
12. Learning sticks because of doing.
13. Not deciding is deciding. Pick a direction; be ok with being wrong.
14. Express yourself in every which way. Impressing is for conformists and cowards.
15. Show some emotion.
16. Happiness is ultimately a choice.
17. Believe in a mission, even if it’s still waiting to be discovered.
18. Think for yourself > Express your thoughts to others > Mash up their feedback > Repeat and then execute as a team.
19. You’re not weird enough, yet.
20. Social media is an unfettered mind casting diary with private intentions.
21. Silence is an attention getter.
22. Introverts are social when they want to be.
23. You don’t need a 3D printer to start creating. Starting with what you have is real DIY.
24. Don’t get caught up in inspiration and motivation: sweat is equity.
25. There’s no plan. Be prepared to think and improvise on your feet.
26. Mean people still suck.
27. Cheaters never win.
28. Don’t crack an egg too hard or too soft. There’s harmony in just the right amount of effort.
29. The best ideas come in random moments, like when you’re in the shower, walking, or letting your mind wander.  A relaxed mind discovers.
30. If you want to remember more easily, create associations and funny visuals.
31. Never believe a smiling Texan.
32. Mean people REALLY do suck.
33. People criticize what they don’t do themselves.
34. Edited images go on Instagram; raw images belong on Flickr. Balanced images get VSCOed.
35. The main reason to meditate is to do absolutely nothing. Meditation is the practice from distraction.
36. Risk works like a muscle. The more you work it, the stronger it gets.
37. Humans are computers with a conscience released from the prison of predictability.  What answers?
38. A good chair is keen to working your butt off.
39. Nothing is perfect. Everything is a result.
40. Figuring it out is at least a decision.  Any hesitation is an excuse of confusion.
41. One simple tenet: do it or regret it.
42. Sometimes you capture some bad photographs. That’s part of the process; keep the good ones and delete the rest.
43. If the individual acts, then the group follows.
44. Understanding the correlation between things is the basis for connecting different things.
45. Stop trying to tell people to follow their passion.  Do the work, exclude the mindless and challenging tasks, and try to excel more in what you enjoy.
46. Be the person in your Tweets.
47. Look a poor man in the eyes and he’ll probably ask you for money.  Giving is free.
48. Once you stop trying to impress people, you can do whatever you want. Freedom emerges from constraint.
49. Silence gets incredible attention.
50. The cubicle was once called “the action of office.” Yup!
51. Is vision creativity? The last time I checked you had to do something about it.
52. “I’m working on something” = “I’m working on something nobody believes in…yet.”
53. Reading obituaries are more inspirational than depressing.
54. Waiting most likely means you’re less likely ever to do it.
55. Whenever you think you can’t, you can.  You just need to trick your mind into warming up first.
56. Everyone can write and share images today, but only the good ones live on forever.
57. A lot of answers emerge from a simple set of questions:  ”Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?”
58. When you break the rules or deviate, people start following you.
59. Smartness is not determined by how much you have to say.
60. Have contradictions but always decide.
61. Innovation usually comes from young people since that’s when curiosity and energy to do the impossible is fun.
62. Go outside to go out-side, to leave the mundane and unnatural indoors.
63. No true artist or marketer goes without contradictions. The battle of integrity and sales is always on the line.
64. With endless mobile film, sometimes taking photos feels like fishing. Most of the time you get nothing, but sometimes you get a gem.
65. Yes, it’s possible to grow up in NYC and still be ignorant.  Now move it.
66. Good copy puts that extra sting into the photo.
67. People who fear being fired either do their job or love their job so much they’re afraid of losing it.
68. Writing is like rapping with your fingers. So rhyme daily.
69. If you speak with honesty, it’s much easier to talk.
70. There’s no excuse for misinterpreting someone’s face.  Everyone has an online profile.
71. Work should compliment your side projects.
72. Getting to work early fuels confidence. We have time to think and get organized before the rush.
73. Apps make everyone right brained.
74. You always want what you don’t have, particularly if that want denies you.
75. A good idea is a good idea; it just might not be the right time.  But ideas are mostly fungible.
76. Teaching is learning to clarify your own thoughts.
77. We’re all trapped in the reality of doing rather than daydreaming. We should be more impractical.
78. Doubters are more open to things. But excess doubt is worrying. And worrying is the enemy of action.
79. You need to think about something a lot, rest, and then let it happen.
80. All right, you ready? “Nope.” Exactly, just go and figure it out later.
81. The best gifts are those you wanted for yourself.
82. The more writing you do, the more you have to choose from; same goes with taking pictures.
83. The best conversation is the one that’s already done.
84. Americans think convenience first which often leads to shortcuts.  Live to learn and earn the fundamentals.
85. Every action has a reaction.
86. When in doubt, exaggerate the doubt more until you become bored with the thought or can laugh at it.
87. Don’t run away from “hell yes!”
88. Arbitrary deadlines are the only way to make less than important decisions.
89. If you can’t remember something it’s because you can’t see the bigger picture. Memory is holistic, memorization is rote.
90. The more you accept about yourself, the more your life becomes enjoyable. Embrace your vices. Peace > stress.
91. If the key to life is acceptance and advancement, unhappiness falls in between.
92. People talk about quitting coffee like they do social media and then they just come right back.
93. Blogging is a palette.  It can also make a deadly resume.
94. Big ideas emerge from connecting stems of thought.
95. Coffee and alcohol are viable idea generators but so too is a pragmatic razor.
96. First drafts relieve stress while reminding you how much work you have to go.
97. Exercise and making things multiply stamina and creativity.  More equals more.
98. Complexity is what makes it work. Embrace the dialectic.
99. Give examples over theories, work and practice over untouched ideas.
100. As Spike Lee says, “Do the right thing.”

Tempus fugit.

Bombtune (cue the music)

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