…when you’re a kid, everything seems possible. When you think about doing something, the time between thinking about doing it and actually doing it is usually very brief. You say, “Hey, what if I do that?” and then you’re doing it. As an adult, you think, “I want to do this thing,” or, “I want to make something.” Then you start gathering resources and devising a plan, but then you get tired because you’re old and want to lay down. ”
One of the things you’re supposed to work out some time in your adolescence is that though you’re the star of your own life, you’re not the star of anyone else’s. Some companies never work this out.”
When I say ‘artificial,’ I mean crafted with deliberate artistic intention so as to produce an emotional, moral, and aesthetic response in the reader.”
Goddamn it, FEELING is what I like in art, not CRAFTINESS and the hiding of feelings.”
‘God made a single sheet of foolscap to be exactly the right length to hold the outline of an entire novel.’ (foolscap is 8.5 x 14 inch legal paper)
[…]
Outline the sucker.
Break it down to its fundamentals.
Identify its theme.
Do it on one page. Do it without preciousness. Do it now.
Don’t start the actual writing until you know where you’re going and what you’re trying to accomplish.”
I think for the first time I just read a thing and knew full well it was going to change the way I worked forever.
This tip has that “ugh, duh! goddamit, of course” quality; like something in me already knew it was true, I just needed someone to articulate it for me.
As I’m in the middle of creating a large and {hopefully) important course for business builders, this tip is about 4 days late.
But I’ll be prepared for next time. (I’ll try that one and go for these if I like it more than using blank printer paper).
One piece of paper… hand written. Duh!
I’ve suffered most of my life from chronic concentration problems and different flavors of mental restlessness, so I have a substantial history of what I call ‘”‘critical encoding errors.’ I’m attracted to this stuff like a drunk preacher is to the pulpit; explaining it to others — inasmuch as my modest skills allow — becomes a way for me to internalize some of the processes as well as better understand why they work in my own head.
As to where I get my material, virtually everything on my site is stolen uncredited from friends and strangers who are too polite to call out my larceny.”
This interview is a great reminder of how much Merlin captured my attention at that tender time of my first project management position. He bamboozled me with the mix of wit and jargon and “holy shit that’s useful”-ness. Still does.
Our greeting: a double thumbs-up. Our credo: ‘Be More Awesome.’ Our lifestyle: ‘Maximum Fun.’ Throw caution to the wind, friend, and live The New Sincerity.”
via Frank Chimero
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you.”
Steve Jobs
“The only barrier to entry is how interesting you are.”