Steve Jobs on the only true satisfaction
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs on life, death, heart, intuition
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Seth Godin on business ethics
“The happy theory of business ethics is this: do the right thing and you will also maximize your long-term profit…
The unhappy theory of business ethics is this: you have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit…
It comes down to this: only people can have ethics… You either do work you are proud of, or you work to make the maximum amount of money.”
Pixar’s rules of story
- Empathize with your main character, even if you don’t like all of his/her motivations or qualities. (For example, Woody in Toy Story initially masked his selfish desires as being selfless.)
- Unity of opposites. Each character must have clear goals that oppose each other.
You should have something to say. Not a message, per se, but some perspective, some experiential truth. - Have a key image, almost like a visual logline, to encapsulate the essence of the story; that represents the emotional core on which everything hangs. (For example, Marlin in Finding Nemo, looking over the last remaining fish egg in the nest.)
- Cast actors with an appealing voice, and whom the microphone loves. Test their voice performance with animation to see if it fits.
- Know your world and the rules of it. (Such as in Monsters, Inc.)
- The crux of the story should be on inner, not outer, conflicts. (emphasis added)
- Developing the story is like an archeological dig. Pick a site where you think the story is buried, and keep digging to find it.
- Animation should be interpretive, not realistic.
- “Just say no” to flashbacks. Only tell what’s vital, and tell it linearly.
Consider music as a character to anchor the film. Music is a keeper of the emotional truth.
Don’t know how true this all is. Found it here.
Lawrence Pearsall Jacks on work & play
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”
Stephen Pressfield on The Work of The Rest of Your Life
“Where do our own real thoughts come from? How can we access them? From
what source does our true, authentic self speak?Answering that is the work you and I will do for the rest of our lives.”
Stephen Pressfield in Do The Work
Stephen Pressfield on Conception, Birth & Primal Energy in Creative Work
“Conception occurs at the primal level. I’m not being facetious when I stress, throughout this book, that it is better to be primitive than to be sophisticated, and better to be stupid than to be smart.
The most highly cultured mother gives birth sweating and dislocated and cursing like a sailor. That’s the place we inhabit as artists and innovators. It’s the place we must become comfortable with.
The hospital room may be spotless and sterile, but birth itself will always take place amid chaos, pain, and blood.”
Stephen Pressfield in Do The Work
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.”
Why I Enjoy Marc Maron
I’m not a ‘podcast’ guy, but I do listen to one podcast, always, without missing a beat. It’s called WTF with Marc Maron. Mark Maron’s been a comedian for over 20 years; he came up with folks like Luis CK and Janeane Garofalo in the 80s/90s. He’s been an upper, downer, outter, and recoverer, and he brings a thorough understanding of what it’s like to be f’ked up and “in process”to his interviews and monologues. What I love about this podcast is that you really get to know Marc over time. He exudes sincerity, heart, and the proper amount of cynicism and you get the feeling that he’s really trying to figure his life out, process his family of origins stuff, decode his f*ckd-upness, and change for the better. (more…)
The One Marketing Question You Need To Ask
You want to kick some ass with a product? Want to build a brand that makes money and lasts a long time? Want to build a legacy your kids can inherit? Just discover a true (and good) answer to this one question: Who are you and what do you stand for in the world. (more…)