Here’s a good example of the point I was trying to illustrate in my last post, from The 40-30-30 Rule: Why Risk Is Worth It.
Only by trying something new, struggling, learning, and then trying again do we improve our performance. It’s a simple matter of acclimating to unchartered territory.
A hat tip to @joshr for tweeting the article.
I recently stumbled upon this talk on the excellent TED site: Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity.
In the talk, Sir Ken Robinson discusses how we ‘unlearn’ creativity by becoming scared to fail. Coincidentally, I found myself thinking something like that a few days prior to watching the talk. I realised that I was scared to do anything that was ‘sub-standard’ and this was prohibiting me from practicing and developing new skills.
As the old adage goes, though, ‘don’t run before you can walk’, and this is something I keep having to remind myself.
I see other people doing fantastic work and take great inspiration from what other people create, but I also feel disheartened to know that I can’t produce what they do. I have come to accept that I don’t have to follow other people’s approaches. Creativity is about doing things for yourself in a way that pleases you.
Oft-imitated Illustrator/doodler Jon Burgerman summed it up quite nicely in a recent issue of Computer Arts magazine.
“Maybe there is some sort of doodle style, but the way I draw is just the way that I draw… I always assumed that I drew in a very bad way.”
If you try to imitate others from the off, you will only end up frustrated. Just do what makes you happy and keep doing it.
"France and England are like an old married couple who often think of killing each other, but would never dream of divorcing." — Former Europe minister Denis MacShane
Incroyable, but true … France’s 1956 bid to unite with Britain — Guardian Unlimited
I spotted this one in an A List Apart article:
Perfection is not when there’s nothing to add, but when there’s nothing to take away — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Something to apply to recording those demos, methinks!
I woke up this morning to the sad news that Steve Irwin had been killed in an accident with a stingray while filming near the Barrier Reef in Australia. At first it sounded like he’d taken one too many chances with the ‘dangerous’ creatures he campaigned to protect and help people understand, but it actually sounds like a real freak incident—there are only two other reported human deaths to a stingray in Australia, the latest in 1945.
There are plenty of people I admire, but Steve was a real hero to me, as an incredibly entertaining and enthusiastic person, but also for the fact that he seemed to take the best from everything.
At least he died doing what he loved the most, and in his home country. This quote from crocodilehunter.com by his producer, John Stainton, makes a nice summary:
His producer and closest friend, John Stainton said on Croc One today,
“The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest Dads on the planet. He died doing what he loves best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. Crocs Rule!”
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5313078.stm
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