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8/ Practitioners see their craft in nuanced, sophisticated ways. They live at the frontier. Look at a painting with an artist — they see differently. Listen to music with a musician — they hear differently. Learn about a book with a writer — they read differently.
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9/ Flow states are the holy grail of productivity. To achieve flow, we need a proper skill-challenge ratio. Skill: Yin (Order) Challenge: Yang (Chaos) Flow happens when we pursue goals that are a little bit tougher than what we can easily accomplish.
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10/ Action and perception require a goal. Through that goal, we orient ourselves — towards quality. We only focus on a small fraction of what we see. We see the world through the lens of ever-evolving goals.
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11/ All living systems do this. By capturing and storing information, they move towards “negative entropy.” They use information to harvest energy and evade equilibrium. Even simple bacteria move with “purpose” toward sources of heat and nutrition. Incredible.
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12/ Creators are seized by their interests. Our interests double as a compass that we use to navigate the world. The feeling evolved to help humans move through uncertain environments.
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14/ Dedication begins with doubt. To quote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: “You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in.” Guaranteed outcomes yield no new knowledge. Creative excellence begins with a tolerance of uncertainty.
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15/ Great ideas pre-exist in the abstract. Creativity always comes as a surprise. It’s defined by its unexpected character. Creativity is what you don’t expect. Concrete order emerging out of abstract chaos.
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16/ The seeds of creativity are found at the border of Yin and Yang. Between order and chaos. Between known and unknown. Between certainty and uncertainty. Beyond that, the way cannot be described.
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