Rearrange and remix. That’s how nature grows. A cow is rearranged grass. All the atoms get reused. Every time you hear a song, watch a show, or read an idea, think of how you’d change it or combine it with something else. Keep your tools handy to rearrange, remix, and edit what you encounter. Then share your alterations.

Forget the view outside your window. Focus on the view inside your head. Instead of bringing the world in to your mind, bring your mind out to the world.

If you are proud of what you made, it was a success. The less you please everyone else, the more you please your fans. Real success comes not from the crowd, but from feeling proud.

Separate creation and release. When you’ve finished a work, wait a while before you release it to the world. By then, you’re on to something new. The public comments won’t affect you, since they will be about your past work.

People aren’t used to someone being sincerely interested, so they’ll need some coaxing to continue. But never try to fix them. When someone tells you what’s broken, they want you to love the brokenness, not try to eliminate it.

Love is a combination of attention, appreciation, and empathy.

Let go of your expertise. You built that boat to cross that river, so leave it there. Don’t drag it along with you. The timid cling to achievements. The wise keep their hands free.

Doing what you’ve always done is bad for your brain. If you don’t change, you’ll age faster and get stuck. The way to live is to regularly reinvent yourself. Every year or two, change your job and move somewhere new. Change the way you eat, look, and talk. Change your preferences, opinions, and usual responses. Try the opposite of before.

Your past is not your future. Whatever happened before has nothing at all to do with what happens next. There is no consistency.