Noticing Things
If you can see the differences can you see the similarities?
What do we know? What do we see?
There is a difference between hoping and seeing.
Adults see difficulty, children see.
New is often seeing old for the first time.
Discover uncommon insights.
See the details in plain sight.
Details
Small details are not overly apparent.
It is within the little details I find most interest.
The details themselves are not important.
Thinking about details is where we discover.
Observe, decode, and understand the details.
Skill comes from rehearing the details.
Combinations
Combine what exists to create something new.
Connect past creations.
Combine disparate.
Combine other people’s ideas and observations with your own.
Connecting what you have creates a unique form.
Original Copies
Originality does not appear out of thin air.
It is collected, compiled, connected and copied.
In order to be original you must be confident in copying.
It is easy to copy.
It is difficult to turn the copy into an original.
When you copy long enough, the style becomes your own.
When you forget enough of the original story it transforms into your own.
The great ones rely on great ones.
Copies of words and ideas exist, how we arrange them is originality.
What I Like Best
In order to improve there must be practice.
That practice must me focused, varied and evolving.
Practicality versus Playful
It is never practical. It is practicable.
Do it for fun first.
Train to play.
The Opposite
Why does it sound complicated?
What is the opposite?
The answer is extreme.
Go in the other direction.
Flip everything: the tortoise and the hare, fast and slow, easy and complex.
It is in the middle of the road where we get hit.
Inspiration and Work
Inspiration is not difficult. It depends on work.
A collection of thoughts will not do the work for you.
Unfortunately, inspiration does not do the work for you.
Even if magical, pleasurable, and exciting at times, it is work.
Fire inspiration, the lazy bastard.
Get Close to the Source
The search for mastery begins with willing to know nothing.
Mastery is simplifying through practice.
Become intensely interested beyond your boundaries.
Appreciating discoveries as intersections along a path.
Notice imbalance.
The freedom to create is directly related to a comprehension of the basics and a mastery of the skills.
Mastery is a search for not knowing.
Personal Style
Style leads, trends follow.
Pay attention to our observations.
Observe what exists, ask why and how?
Style develops with repetition and pursuit of understanding.
Obsession is structure and minutia that we can get lost in.
Work through the absurd.
Notice the distractions.
Collect knowledge to create style.
Creative Circles
Ingenuity feeds creativity.
Creativity needs courage.
Creativity comes from the combination of happy and crazy.
Constraints catalyze creativity.
It is the flaws that force creativity.
Creativity is not about making something new out of thin air. It is finding the thin air amidst all that exists.
Creativity connects.
Creativity is ingenuity with a sense of humor.
Ideas
Every idea is open.
Ideas come from anywhere, make them your own.
Where you go for ideas has a direct influence on their quality and development.
Working with the ideas of what is known and not known limits exploration.
Expose yourself to old ideas and you will find new connections.
About the Author
