I love magic tricks. A great illusion puts a bit of ambiguity back into my world – a world that is far too black and white. The world likes to be clear cut and simple. But it isn’t. The world is filled with mystery and contradiction. It’s filled with ambiguity.
Wonder and curiosity happen in ambiguity. Wonder and curiosity are foundational to creativity. Read more…
How many books do you own that you’ve only half read? Check your bookcase. I’ll wait.
Did you know most people don’t get past page 18 in the books they buy? They lose interest. And many of these books are amazing books – best sellers. That’s why people buy them. But those first 18 pages lost the reader’s attention.
It doesn’t matter if the story was incredible – life changing. The reader will never experience it because the writer lost the reader’s attention. Read more…
As you get better at and learn more about art, you come to a fork in the road. There are now three paths to traverse. They are:
Criticism
Most “artists” choose this path. Instead of creating, they turn into the critics. They know enough art to consider themselves experts. So instead of creating they analyze and dissect other people’s art. Read more…
I’m a people pleaser. I fight it like crazy. But I love it when people like me. It’s pitiful. I know.
So I’m about to launch an online magazine. I have about 800 subscribers so far. But the other day, I saw two people unsubscribed. They unsubscribed! I hadn’t even posted anything yet and people already didn’t like me?! It hurt.
I tried to shake it off. I can’t let two people wreck my joy. Eight hundred people “like me”…two people don’t. Doesn’t it seem like disapproval is exponentially louder than approval?
Remember. Not everyone will love you. Read more…
How do you know what you can excel at? The other day I told you how important it is to pursue the right skills. You want to choose something that lets you escape “average”. Ask yourself these five questions to guide yourself to the right pursuits.
1. What “common sense” do you have that seems to escape other people? Much of your “common sense” knowledge isn’t actually common sense. If you’re consistently noticing things that others don’t see, that’s probably a result of your skills or aptitude in a certain area. Read more…
Yesterday we talked about the bell curve of skill. Once you’ve reached an area of excellence you must be vigilant. You’ll constantly get sucked back to “average” if you aren’t careful. This is why.
Even though you’ve escaped the realm of average, the people who surround you haven’t. They still occupy average and below average. And that’s ok. They should be good at what they’re good at.
Unfortunately, people have strong opinions. It seems they have the strongest opinions about things that they aren’t good at. And your friends, family and acquaintances will be quick to verbalized their criticisms and ideas. It’s tempting to rely heavily on their advice. Read more…
There are a lot of average people in the world. And “average” has a massive gravitational pull. If you aren’t careful you will easily be pulled back to “average”.
Imagine every skill and talent has its own bell curve. It looks like a sloping mountain. The two extreme ends are very thinly populated. The center section is big. The center section is the bulk of the world. The center section is the average. Read more…
I ran sound for a women’s event last week. I was the only guy in the room. The pinnacle of awkwardness was during the pajama fashion show at the end. Even some of the ladies felt awkward. And their glances back at the booth tripled my already massive discomfort. But the night was all worth it for one moment.
A very precious (I don’t normally use that word) girl got on stage to share her testimony. She was far from God and hated the Church. She wanted nothing to do with Christians. But she wanted her babies to be raised in church. So she hopped on Google to find a local church. “I swear the Summit Church was the only church on Google.” She came. She met with God. She fell in love. Read more…
Moneyball. The Oakland A’s need to turnaround a losing roster. The use a mathematical formula to revolutionize their team and, ultimately, the game.
Baseball had become about All Stars. All the scouts were looking for the magic formula that would win them games. There was a mystical air to the game. Baseball was about one thing and nobody could see anything different. There was no other way to do baseball.
But Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill (or their characters) changed the game. They thought differently. They actually broke the rules with formulas. Read more…