Authenticity
What does it mean for something to be 'authentic'?
Keely Adler and
Authenticity
“It seems to me,” the puppeteer Jim Henson (The Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, etc.) said, “that each of us expressing our own originality is the essence of our art and professionalism.” Don’t hide it. Embrace it. Express it. Manifest it through your discipline. Say it out loud
instead of asking:
how can i be more like them?
ask:
how can i be more like me?
how many versions of me do i occupy? where do they live? how do they grow? what will they bloom into? what rituals do they practice? how do they... See more
Compulsion. I think about that word a lot. I believe that all of us, carelessly walking about planet earth, are intrinsically compelled to do something . It’s in our nature, in the shape of our soul. To excel, to truly be the best, I think it’s crucial to spend time thinking about what that is. Because if you do something other than that, you’re... See more
Dan Shipper • How David Perell Uses ChatGPT as a Creative Partner
the path to excellence is aligning what you do with who you are. Lean in, or better still, dive in, headfirst. The first step is to look inward and think deeply about who you are and what you’re made to do.
Just before he stepped down as CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos wrote his final shareholder letter. He closed it out with a section he titled, “Differentiation is Survival and the Universe Wants You to be Typical.”
He prefaced his own thoughts with a quote from The Blind Watchmaker, “if living things [don’t] work actively to... See more
Patrick OShaughnessyx.comA big breakthrough for me – life as a whole – came when I figured out that making solid progress on creative work, and enjoying the process rather than hating it, is in large part a matter of being willing to be who you actually are.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is... See more