Thomas Edison on Doing The Work
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison
Stephen Pressfield on choosing new projects
“I always want to do something that number one I love – that just seizes me, rather than try to second-guess the marketplace…
…I’m definitely a believer that you have to be as fearless as you can be. Usually the projects that work out best for me are the ones that I think to myself no one in the world is going to be interested in this except me. I’m starting a new one now, which I’m not going to tell you about, but I have that exact feeling, that I must be crazy to do this because no one will care about it but me. But I’m interested in it and so I’m doing it.”
Stephen Pressfield on creating and the dark side
“And it almost gets to a spiritual level, where it’s just part of the human condition. Simply put, there are dark forces in religions and views of the world that stop us from ascending to higher levels and stops the higher level from communicating with us. The ancient rabbis and monks and Zen masters recognized that as just a part of life. In America, we’re in this “Go, go, go” power positive thinking society, that we think there’s no such thing as evil or that we can overcome it by the proper social program or going to the right school, etc. But George Lucas was right: The dark force is there. And we have to fight it in ourselves everyday. It’s always there, just like gravity, and it’s always keeping us from being able to fly. Resistance is the same.”
John Cage on never having a job
“You know, I do know how to prepare for old age. Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age.”
~ John Cage via Milton Glaser
Abraham Verghese on the Key to Your Happiness
“The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don’t. If you keep saying your slippers aren’t yours, then you’ll die searching, you’ll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.”
Abraham Verghese via @aaron_eddy & Dave Morin
So Hungry About Design
I recently tweeted: I am so hungry these days to learn more about good design…
Then a friend tweeted back: What kind of good design?
This post is sort of a free-flow answer to that question. I could try to organize it, but I don’t have time for that… er… I mean… this is really well thought out art!
Recently I’ve undergone a bit of a re-evaluation of my stuff, my stuff I do for a living, my direction, my center/core, my reason to be, my way to be reasoning. (more…)
Milton Glaser on certainty
“One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.”
Milton Glaser – Ten Things He Has Learned
- You can only work for people that you like.
- If you have a choice [never have a job](https://chasereeves.net/2011/john-cage-on-never-having-a-job/).
- Some people are toxic avoid them.
- Professionalism is not enough or the good is the enemy of the great.
- Less is not necessarily more.
- Style is not to be trusted.
- How you live changes your brain.
- Doubt is better than certainty.
- On aging.
- Tell the truth.
This article is great, truly. Such class and charisma and home-cooked, ruddy wisdom. Milton Glaser – Ten Things I Have Learned.
Mike Montiero on The Work You Do
“… as a designer, hell, as ANY type of craftsman, you are responsible for what you help to put in the world. You are defined by the clients you take on, and you can only stand as proud as the work you do and its benefit to society entitles you.”
Mike Monteiro on presenting design to clients
“Your job is to explain how what they’re looking at is the best way to achieve their goals.”