The upside of being really busy
Oh, hi friends!
When you’re busy, you're forced to innovate. To consider the things you do and ask, But can they be done differently? Faster? Smarter?
This can seem like cutting corners. But is it? Or are you simply being squeezed into efficiency, or creativity, in a way you never have?
This reminds me of when you need to catch a flight, like, soon. You sure can’t rely on airplane WiFi, so you know you have to get your work done. And you do. You also don’t have time to try on 47 outfits. You pick two shirts you already like and boom—you're done packing.
So if that's how you feel this holiday season—like there’s too much going on all at once—think about what's actually happening: You’re finding new opportunities to get better, faster, smarter, all the while.
Cozy.
Photo by Patrick Miyaoka on Unsplash
“But it’s fair to say that the group around that campfire was generally confident that while Steve, then thirty-two, would likely have a successful career as a cartoonist and filmmaker, his sponge would remain in the pages of that sketchbook...
I’ve thought about that trip and that moment often. How the spark of an idea can become something huge through a combination of hard work, persistence, and creativity, and the ways we were all dreaming and scheming about our own lives at that time. I remember calling Steve a decade later, in 2003. By then he’d made his common kitchen sponge into the hit cartoon and mega brand SpongeBob SquarePants.”
I don’t think I've ever seen a SpongeBob episode, but I loved this personal story about a friendship with the creator Stephen Hillenburg, who sadly died last week. How the spark of an idea can become something huge...
Advice from brilliant playwright and actor Tracy Letts on how to live a creative life.
1. Don’t do anything.
Don’t look at your phone. Just daydream. Stop doing things. Just sit there for half an hour. Pretty soon you'll stop thinking about your problem or your schedule or your failing and your mind will start to wander and you’ll start to daydream. We’ve got so much it’s hard sometimes to clear it out. Don’t fall asleep, don’t meditate.
2. Get out of the way.
And so on, and so forth. Well worth watching.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara