humble or scared
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Leveraging Scarcity
A sense of scarcity narrows our focus and compels us to act with unusual intentionality. Take a simple example: you’re driving along and suddenly notice that you’re hitting red on your petrol gauge. In fact, you’ve been particularly lax and it’s worse; you’re right at the bottom of the lower bound of the petrol gauge.…
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Aphorism 27
To deepen relationships, solve problems and engage in challenging tasks together. To weaken relationships, focus on the trivial. The Thoughts of Others “Greatness and near-sightedness are incompatible. Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one’s sights and pushing towards the horizon.” – Daniel Pink
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On Not Being Yourself
It’s common advice to ‘just be yourself’. And yet, the fact it’s commonly peddled as advice implies that’s it’s not easy to pull off. But maybe it’s too easy to pull off… Isn’t ‘yourself’ simply the most frequent version of you that shows up in the world? More likely, we’re being ourselves all the time,…
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Aphorism 26
People are more interested in your art when it makes them feel important. The Thoughts of Others “If you just try to make good things, you’ll inevitably do it in a distinctive way. Michelangelo was not trying to paint like Michelangelo. He was just trying to paint well; he couldn’t help painting like Michelangelo.” –…
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Basking in the Sunshine of Doubt
Doubt has negative connotations, but what would we be without it? At the very least, it is a sign that we are not inert. It goes hand in hand with adventure. As far as I can tell, those who try to exorcise all doubt are the ones who end up stranded. Which made me wonder;…
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Lessons From Photography
I recently started making a running list of lessons derived from my six year and counting flirtation with photography. Lessons which I feel also translate to other domains and areas of life. After all, when one is out and about photographing, is it that different to hunter-gatherer behaviour? The Thoughts of Others “To get unusual…
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The Limbo of Seeking
The deluge of information available in today’s world not only tempts us to seek perfection, but makes it seem achievable, to the point that one can easily end up in a limbo of seeking. But progress is rarely about being perfect. It’s got more to do with having the courage to adopt an imperfect stance,…
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Dreaming of Elephants
Largely unknown artists often forsake the benefits & leverage that come with being small. Agility. Optionality. Less accountability to power. It’s easy to waste these edges by trying to mould ourselves to the demands and standards of industry – the world of scale and other people’s rules. We dream of elephants, seduced by the notion…
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Aphorism 25
It’s not a true bond until you’ve fallen out with the person in an unfamiliar city. The Thoughts of Others “The best leaders have a strong component of unorthodoxy in their characters. Instead of resisting innovation, they symbolise it.” – David Ogilvy
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‘All or Nothing’ is Usually ‘Nothing’
I noticed an absurdity in my behaviour. In seeking to block off a perfect three hours a day with the sole purpose of writing songs, I’d end up writing less frequently than if I just committed to a relatively easy half an hour a day. This is the fundamental problem with an ‘all or nothing…