Build Something Beautiful
The craft of building great things
Yoshio Goto and
Build Something Beautiful
Our choice of the particular work we do depends on the whole context of our life and society and current needs, of course; but there is also just a general orientation that emerges out of almost any set of accumulated experiences of doing something useful, particularly as part of a coordinated exchange with others. And there is profound, life-giving value in even the seemingly mundane ways we apply our minds and direct our focused efforts toward purposeful ends that matter to us. This could be as complex as building an entire company, or it could be as simple as flipping burgers at a restaurant. It could also be volunteering at a shelter, if we make a serious and sustained project of it.
“I think that may be the highest purpose of any work of art, to inspire someone else to save themselves through art. Creating creates creators.”
― Jeff Tweedy, Let's Go (So We Can Get Back)
Craft is the new "growth hack".
Investing in craft, means you invest in quality of the experience, and that benefits in all of areas of the business.
People talk about you. People want your product. Sales is easier. You create customer champions. Retention is higher.
One of the things I’ve discovered with buildings, particularly your so-called “high-road buildings” is they can become more amazing as time goes on. As that process proceeds, they are buildings that come to be loved. And once they’re loved, they’re safe, by and large. So the quality of mastery can be in the quality of the materials and crafting of a thing that invites that kind of caring, that will keep the thing going.
Calm technology
dirt.fyi
fascinating conversation with Daylight Computer founder:
How do we bring evolutionary harmony? […] Evolutionary mismatch is redefining the way a human is built and that a lot of these vulnerabilities and unhealthy behaviors and the path of least resistance not often being aligned with our intention, is not necessarily a bug, it’s a feature.
Daisy is talking:
In my world, I’ve seen the retreat to tangible things more in categories like print books, print magazines, and stuff like perfume, things that can’t be replicated digitally.
I think people just want things that they can hold and touch, honestly, and that’s a natural impulse, but I don’t know, I think hardware is just a reflection of our relationship to objects generally, I don’t think it’s a special category.
My notes from Hackers & Painters by Paul Graham:
The way to create something beautiful is often to make subtle tweaks to something that already exists, or to combine existing ideas in a slightly new way.
There are only two things you have to know about business: build something users love, and make more than you spend. If you get these two ri... See more
An hour on Bets
Brie set a 60-minute timer to answer the question “how can startups maintain a culture of innovation without losing focus on the core?” “Innovation is less an act of intellect than an act of will” –Joseph Schumpeter, economist What is a bet? A bet is something the company wants to accelerate p...
docs.google.com
On balancing focus with flare