11 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2015
    1. a universal idea executed simply, with an element of play, nostalgia or beauty.
    1. At first you will probably have to work nights and weekends, and make certain sacrifices. But eventually, if you do that thing prolifically and beautifully, you will become known as a person who does that thing prolifically and beautifully.

      Would never have thought to tie this to reputation, but very true.

    1. “If you imitate a person you admire, the best you can possibly hope for is to become a bad imitation of the person you admire. What you need to do instead is to locate the same level of inventiveness as the person you admire, and apply it to a new domain.” If you need to copy, copy precisely what you need, do something new with it, make it your own, and move on.

      beautiful

    1. The opposite of city ideas are “natural ideas”, which account for the big leaps forward and often appear to come from nowhere. These ideas come from nature, solitude, and meditation. They’re less concerned with how the world is, and more with how the world could and should be.

      As a wanna-be contrarian (I realize the irony) I like the idea of natural ideas. The authors biases surface in this comment. There are an infinite number of sources for natural ideas.

    2. They look at what everyone else is doing, and try to figure out how to apply what they see to their own particular endeavor. These conferences lead to what I call “city ideas”

      haha, I like it!

    1. because mystery is what they don’t understand and what they don’t understand scares them

      It's ironic that the author has to explain their perspective, falling into the same trap as the perspective they condemn.

    1. remember Baz’s advice—beginners strive for the easy Wowww!, while masters seek the more difficult Wowww...

      i do like this

    1. you try to run out ahead of society and look back at it so you can get a better view of it and try to say something about it. But as everything started moving faster, it became harder to run out ahead, and I suddenly had to try to understand things from within

      A really eloquent analogy of how life can feel sometimes. I haven't felt this way in a while thankfully.

    1. people's behavior is largely influenced by the context in which they live. People who live near a ski slope are more likely to ski

      I've thought about this before. Steve Martin credits growing up near disney land for being a actor/comedian/performer.

      So it would seem, it is in our best interest to migrate towards that which attracts our greatest interest and attention. Getting as close to the flame as possible, tipping the odds in our favor. The biggest gap in this theory is the lack of serendipity.