Michael Brooks
@michael
Michael Brooks
“Sometimes life feels a certain way that we call “absurd”: nothing matters, all efforts are for naught, everything seems random and perverse, positive intention is perpetually thwarted. This stance communicates darkness and edginess, which can feel like wisdom. But we don’t live as if life is absurd; we live as if it has meaning and makes sense. We
... See moreTimbre is that unique sound quality of an instrument bestowed by the wood or metal chosen. Articles have timbre too. Writers imbue their creations with subtitles, comma choices, and inflections that bear their unique signature.
An easy way to increase the size of that signature is to pack your subtitles with opinion . Rather than simply use them to... See more
An easy way to increase the size of that signature is to pack your subtitles with opinion . Rather than simply use them to... See more
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Always begin in mythology. It’s good fuel. Fables and fantasy don’t age or grow stale for one reason: They are a step into a dimension beyond the reach of time itself. Build with them.
Brian Collins • 101 Design Rules
Classics are classics for a reason.
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
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
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
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.
We all live multiple lives in one, and our sense of self continuously dies in the process. So when you feel some fundamental changes occurring within you (i.e. feeling disconnected from certain friends, being discontent with a job you’ve historically enjoyed, questioning your faith, etc.), don’t be too afraid.
