Be of Use
Most of my
Fantasies are…
To be of use
To be of some hard, simple,
Undeniable use
Like a spindle
Like a candle
Like a horseshoe
Like a corkscrew
To be of use
To be of use.via Austin Kleon
Albert Einstein on Feeling Stupid
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
David Foster Wallace on the Important Kind of Freedom
“The freedom of all to be lords of our own, personal skull-sized kingdoms… alone at the center of all creation.
The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline and being able truly to care about people and to sacrifice for them, over and over in myriad petty, little unsexy ways everyday. That is real freedom.”
Fuck.
There Isn’t Time by John Baldessari
When my son died I learned how flowers in vases don’t last long. So when I found this by John Baldessari it hit hard.
Frank Chimero on Marketing
I don’t expect to reach or change anybody I don’t already know. I realize there’s potential for that, but I don’t expect it.”
This has been rattling around my brain since I’ve heard it. In Fizzle I keep encouraging folks to think small, small, smaller. If you think about women who ride unicycles to work in north portland you can a). find those people easily (there are 10 of them), b). study and serve them well in small and meaningful ways that c). make a serious impact on that crew.
But in our online growing stuff — marketing stuff — for Fizzle and ThinkTraffic and, shit, even this blog, my mind defaults to “i need more people” mode.
Getting in front of new folks.
Making a good impression on them.
Creating an emotional experience with them on the page.
Making it easier and more enjoyable for them to find us.
But when I heard Frank say this I knew it was True™.
We still need to grow (maybe that’s another question to explore), but we can do it more like a family or a neighborhood than a “startup.”
Ray Bradbury on What Your Character Wants
First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him.”
Ray Bradbury
Well, what do you want?
Frank Chimero on the Bounty of Success
I now know that the work doesn’t last—and if it somehow does, it lasting doesn’t have much to do with me. The work went far because other people carried it. Disabusing myself of the idea that I did anything important or special has been really good for me. If the bounty of success is attention, and you feel like you don’t deserve that attention, then you have no responsibility to it. It has no power over you. That frees you up to take risks. If those risks pay off, then great. If they don’t: c’est la vie. At least you’re alive, tried something, and lived a little.”
Wow, what a great read. I have liked Chimero’s words for a while. Hearing some of his story, how he’s processing grief as a creative worker, only makes me a bigger fan. Here’s some other Frank posts I’ve written about.
Robert Browning on Reach
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?”
Shawn Coyle on The Known & Unknown Motivators
We don’t know that we’re searching for something called “self-actualization,” we just find ourselves perplexed by the fact that we have every “need” checked off our list, but still we find ourselves lacking. No matter what we chase as a “want” to solve that emptiness, we’re left unsatisfied. What Steve calls Resistance is a force that pushes us away from the big questions. […]
So stories of depth and meaning are those that progress to this ultimate mystery, this ultimate need. The lead character may consciously desire a want, but it is his unconscious need for self-actualization that pushes him to the limits of human experience. […]
But remember, like their human counterparts, your fictional protagonists will distract themselves in innumerable ways from contending directly with them. They chase wants not needs. And in most instances, they will not consciously understand or reconcile the need to know themselves (who they really are) until the very end of the story.”
I love studying story so much because it a) helps me understand my own motivations, needs, and wants, b) helps me understand people in general better, and c) helps me make things and communicate about those things in better ways, ways that resonate harder.
Ben Sidran on Perfection
What is perfect? Perfect is just your pathetic attempt to hide inside technology.”