Category: Thoughts

This little gem can literally come from anywhere. When you’re stuck, take a break.

Take a walk.

Take a breath.

Let inspiration find you. Which it will, if you give yourself time to listen.

We maintain an extraordinary amount of beliefs based on the Industrial Revolution. How work should be done. What capitalism looks like. How to be productive.

We’ve moved past when that is a reasonable comparison not once, not twice, but at least three times.

First, with assembly systems. Thank you Mr. Ford. Next, the growth of knowledge work. This was a move away from physical products and more into services and creation. Marketing, entertainment, and even education underwent changes.

How do you measure how productive a marketer is? It isn’t by the number of words that could be put into press. And a reasonably well-thought-out campaign could equal an astronomical return, though maybe took two days to develop.

And now, we’re in the post-knowledge-work economy. What it could look like is still shaping up.

Been collaborating on a low-budget film, and it’s interesting to watch creatives problem-solve with limited resources.

It seems that limitations can spark new ideas.

Maybe try to set creative constraints in your own work. You could try a new artistic medium altogether, or limit the the scope of the project.

The results may surprise you.

When you’re making something, it doesn’t have to better than everything else on the market.

It just needs to find the audience that likes it more than they alternatives.

It’s your job to make sure it’s good enough that you’d enjoy it.

I’ve mentioned before refiling the well What this means is, recharge!

Explore new things. Visit museums, read outside your usual genre, or take a class on something you find interesting.

See where it takes you.

Even now, in my adulthood, I’m amazed at how much I learn each and every day.

What I’ve realized is that once you stop learning, you’ve stopped growing.

The internet provides an incalculable resource for research and discovery. The cost, sometimes, is that we check our work before, during, and after, even in instances where it isn’t needed.

Trust your gut and create, then refine. You can look online at that point.

It’s come to the point where I’m more anti-social media than for it. Is there value in connection? Absolutely.

Is there danger in chasing that connection, especially via social media?

Absolutely.

The rush of the illusion isn’t worth the mental strain.

The onslaught of mental health issues among social media users seems to be evidence of such.

This is a constant struggle. In fact, I’m certain that I’ve posted these exact words in this blog before…

Making progress is a slow, tedious process. Baby steps. Each day, baby steps. If you can do more, then go for it.

But don’t force it. Don’t risk burn out. The world is waiting for what you bring to the table.

I was conversing with a collaborator, and he was frustrated over problems in his team. The discussion centered around issues being raised without any solutions presented.

His stance is, “Don’t bring me problems without solutions.”

Then this little nugget came into my life – No solutions. Only trade-offs.

I take it to mean that problems are perceived, not inherent. And there isn’t a way to solve one of them. Rather, it’s deciding on a course based on the merits of each possible path.