Dangerous Compliments #2
As a person who creates, you’re bound to get feedback. Both good and bad. But over the years I found that there’s a type of feedback that falls in a gray area between these two extremes. They’re called compliments. Although they’re usually well meaning, some can be deadly to one’s sense of self and productivity. Over the next several blogs, I want to delve into dangerous compliments that can kill creativity, how to spot them and what to do with them. You can read the previous post here. Here’s #2: “Only someone like you could do something like that.” Why you may hear this: It’s sexier than saying “You’re weird.”…
Dangerous Compliments #1
As a person who creates, you’re bound to get feedback. Both good and bad. But over the years I found that there’s a type of feedback that falls in a gray area between these two extremes. They’re called compliments. Although they’re usually well meaning, some can be deadly to one’s sense of self and productivity. Over the next several blogs, I want to delve into dangerous compliments that can kill creativity, how to spot them and what to do with them. Here’s #1: “You’re so lucky” Why you may hear this: It’s sexier than saying “You’ve worked hard” How to reply: Smile When it comes to the arts, for some…
Lessons
It’s Teacher’s Day in the US and it got me thinking about school, which got me thinking about the School of Hard Knocks (SHK). I realized it’s a school that most people never graduate from and that’s all right because we’re not supposed to. I’m writing this post for myself, as much as for you, because I’ve been knocked down more times than I can count. Graduation is a time of transition. However, learning—if you’re lucky—never stops. At different points in our lives (or in my case, consistently) you may find yourself in the SHK again. I’m not going to talk about getting knocked down and standing up again.
Water, water everywhere
In my previous blog, I mentioned the danger of success stories. I believe they can, at times, be dangerous rather than motivational because we always know the outcome. We don’t like to focus on failure, but understanding its role in creativity is just as important. So with that in mind, let’s focus on a movie that was a disaster. Arguably the biggest disaster movie of all time. This movie involved water. A lot of water. Thousands of gallons of water built in the middle of a massive set. Aside from giving Mother Nature a starring role (and she was a true diva, causing a host of problems) this movie was…
12 Days in April
Forty years ago on April 1st (April Fool’s Day), 1976, Apple was born. Most people know about the founders, the two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak), but few know about Ron. Ronald Wayne was the third partner who designed the company’s logo, drafted the company’s original partnership agreement and wrote the Apple 1 computer user’s manual. But after two weeks, he was done. April 12th he sold his stake for $800. If he’d kept his 10 percent stake it would be worth $63 billion.