Awhile back I heard another creator use a phrase I’d never heard before. Someone asked him whether a project he’d been working on was fun, and he said “Ehh… it’s Type 2 Fun.” I wasn’t familiar with the term, so I did some Googling. It turns out, not all fun is created equal. In fact, there are three types of fun: Type 1 Fun is enjoyable in the moment, and it’s also enjoyable in retrospect. Think hanging out with your friends, taking a peaceful stroll through a park, or playing your favorite...
11 days ago • 2 min read
There is a quote that is often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt that says: “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.” I’ve noticed something similar when it comes to creators and tools. Small-minded creators talk about new tools as all-or-nothing. Average creators ignore new tools until it’s too late. Great creators focus on the possibilities that new tools unlock. I’m old enough to have seen this play out several different times in my life. Whether...
18 days ago • 2 min read
A friend recently asked me a question I haven’t been able to stop thinking about: Why do some people take action on their ideas and others don’t? Some people, when they come up with a new idea, just dive right in. They start trying things, making mistakes, and figuring it out. They’re biased towards action. But other people, in the same situation, bury their idea. They ignore it, try to pretend it doesn’t exist, or talk themselves out of giving it a shot. Why is that? I told my friend it’s...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
When it comes to launching your ideas into the world, there’s one barrier that stops a lot of people. A reader recently summed it up this way: “I guess my biggest obstacle is that I don’t feel my ideas are unique. Someone else has already thought of it and started doing something with it… so my efforts will be a waste of time.” I’ll be honest: I’ve felt this many times myself. I’ll come up with a new idea, get really excited about it, and then become disappointed when I find out that someone...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
I was recently reading a book about the artist Tom Sachs, and I came across an interesting anecdote: when Tom Sachs needs a creative pick-me-up, he will make a lamp. A lamp, Tom says, is simple: a matter of running voltage to a bulb. But outside of those constraints, a lamp can be anything you want it to be. Tom has made desk lamps, wall lamps, and reading lamps out of every material you can imagine. Tom calls this an act of “creative procrastination”. He says it can sometimes be overwhelming...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Last week, in honor of my 40th birthday, I asked people to share a little wisdom with me. I received so many incredible responses (representing over 4000 years of collective life experience!), and I noticed something interesting. When I asked “What's one thing you miss about being younger?”, people said they missed the sense of possibility they used to have. They missed how they used to feel like the world was their oyster, like anything was possible. They missed doing things just for the...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Recently, an interview with the founder of Suno AI has been making its way around the internet. Suno is that company that lets you say “Write me a 90s country song about a grilled cheese sandwich” and it’ll just…. do it. In the interview, the founder says: “It’s not really enjoyable to make music now. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of practice. You need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the...
2 months ago • 2 min read
A while back, I started asking every new email subscriber a single question at the end of their “welcome to the newsletter” email: What's the biggest obstacle keeping you from chasing your ideas right now? I’ve gotten a variety of responses. People share super-specific circumstances, limiting beliefs, fears of rejection… but there’s one response that comes up time and time again: “I don’t have enough time to pursue my ideas.” On one hand, I hear you. I’ve got a wife and four kids (all of whom...
2 months ago • 3 min read
A few years ago I was speaking at a big event in Orlando. The room was massive, the stage was incredible, and I got to share the lineup with two of my friends. But there was a problem. When my first friend came offstage, he seemed rattled. “That was rough.” he said. I honestly didn’t know what he was talking about. I told him I thought he’d done a great job, and that the audience loved it. But he didn’t seem convinced. The next day, it was my turn to speak. I got up onstage, launched into my...
3 months ago • 3 min read