Michael Brooks
@michael
Michael Brooks
Stuck on a problem you can’t solve? Go bigger. Expand it. Make it giant. Do not try to contain it, or simplify it, or reduce it. Make it so large that you can begin to see a new pattern. Solve the larger problem and the smaller one will get solved along the way.
Brian Collins • 101 Design Rules
This sounds horrifying, but I suspect that's exactly why I haven't tried it.
Here are some other techniques people use to access and maintain the zone:
- Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read
Henrik Karlsson • Notes | Substack
almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not... See more
JamesClear.com • "2005 Stanford Commencement Address"
Repair and remain sounds simple because it is. But simple is not the same as easy. “For better, for worse,” we say, and everyone likes to stay when it’s the better.
Kurt Armstrong • Repair and Remain
Never take an unpaid internship. Ever. It is unethical to be offered one, and in many places, it is illegal. But more importantly, what kind of people would refuse to pay you? Oh yeah, really shitty people.
Brian Collins • 101 Design Rules
Life/Career advice: Don’t tie your identity to something that can be taken away from you.
Ryan Hawk • Episode #464: Polina Pompliano – Profiles Of The World’s Greatest Performers, Makers vs. Managers, & Building Trust Through Consistency
