Kurt Vonnegut Advice To Writers →

In preparing for my next piece for As Was Written, I’ve been reading a lot of Kurt Vonnegut lately.

Welcome to the Monkey HouseThanks to his entertaining wit, boundary-less imagination and scattered way of piecing together a narrative, he has overtaken George Orwell as my favorite writer. “Welcome to the Monkey House” is the best collection of short stories I’ve ever read.

I’d like to think that in my writing, I add a bit of humor mixed with an interesting narrative. I tend to gravitate to other writers who do the same. 

Here’s a list of advice Vonnegut wished to pass along to fellow writers, to be better at what they do:

  1. Find a subject you care about
  2. Do not ramble, though
  3. Keep it simple
  4. Have guts to cut
  5. Sound like yourself
  6. Say what you mean
  7. Pity the readers

They’re fairly simple, but infinitely important. “Sound like yourself” especially, since it’s easy to try and write in a different style that isn’t natural. Readers can sense it if they’re used to reading your work. At my events, I read and perform my pieces, so it’s important that as I deliver, I’m not caught stumbling or in a place where I feel awkward telling my story. The audience will know.

Very important advice from a talented professional. Take heed.

Good vs. Great Design →

In this video from LessConf3010, Cameron Moll gives a presentation breaking down “Good vs. Great Design”.

Each main slide he brought up showing examples of what makes the difference between simply producing work to making that work excel, hit me immediately. They seem so simple. He breaks them down in the video, but here they are:

Labor vs. Passion
Reduction vs. Organization
Influence vs. Inspiration
Creative Drive vs. Creative Pause
Solution Refining vs. Problem Defining 

“Influence vs. Inspiration” reminds me of the relationship between older and younger brother. Last week the Washington Post had a great article about newly added quarterback Donovan McNabb discussing the driving force behind his achievements growing up. He, too, had a source of influence that drove him to play sports, in his older brother Sean.

“I was always known as ‘Little Sean,’ ” McNabb says, “and that bothered me.… That’s something that gives you that extra push because you don’t always want to be recognized as 'Little anybody.’ ”

“I always wanted to be better than my brother. I wanted to make a name for myself.”

With a four-year advantage, Sean McNabb was always bigger, cooler, smarter and more athletic. To a young Donovan, his brother wasn’t someone to emulate. He was someone to beat.

Though Sean was his influence growing up, McNabb took that influence and turned it into inspiration – that is, to beat his brother in basketball, and all competitions.

As a part of the people designing for the web, we are all technically in competition with one another. But we are still able to be influenced by those before us, and those currently on the web, setting trends (even if the mere mention of a “trend” would make many designers cringe). The drive to be better than them, and be inspired by their work, in order to create our own “trends” and styles is what will set us apart down the line.

Download the presentation slides on Cameron’s website.

The Willpower Paradox →

My oldest brother, Tommy, and I often have long discussions on productivity, motivation and mental tricks that help turn great ideas into completed projects.

Last year, he talked me into trying “The Secret” approach; that is, using the power of positive thinking to break through subconscious doubts we tend to build in our minds without knowing, as we use phrases like “I might” and “I think” , instead of “I will” and “I know”, when motivating ourselves.

In the first week, my motivation was high, and I’d temporarily brainwashed myself into moving away from my natural tendency to let the mind wander to other pending tasks. In the second week, I slowly turned back to my old ways. I would tell myself “I will do THIS…” but then find myself sliding to a different task once I ran into a wall with that particular primary task.

This article on “The Willpower Paradox” shows an interesting study on just this type of thought-processing, and the findings showed that I wasn’t the only one with this problem of adopting “The Secret” method. 

From bobulate:

“To be willing is to be able.” Or so we have heard. But recent research shows that setting your mind on a goal may be counterproductive:

[The researcher] identified some key traits needed not only for long-term abstinence but for any personal objective, from losing weight to learning to play guitar.

And:

[One group] was basically putting their minds into wondering mode, while the [second group] was asserting themselves and their will. It is the difference between “Will I do this?” and “I will do this.”

The results were provocative. People with wondering minds completed significantly more anagrams than did those with willful minds. In other words, the people who kept their minds open were more goal-directed and more motivated than those who declared their objective to themselves.

The results seem counterintuitive, but:

[T]hose with questioning minds were more intrinsically motivated to change. …. Those who were questioning and wondering were open-minded — and therefore willing to see new possibilities for the days ahead.

As Jonathan Harris so eloquently puts it, guard your secrets, even those that you can only feel and sense, not state clearly to even yourself. Celebrate your lack of plan. Know what you want, but leave the future open.

The difference between whether “I will do this…” and “Will I do this…?” varies for most of us. I tend to fall in the category of the type more like bobulate where it’s not always that bad to not have a full plan and have to-do lists for our to-do lists in order to be effective at work. 

We’re all trying to prevent our $1 million-dollar idea from falling $999,999 short. Learning how we are motivated, consciously and subconsciously, will help guide us in the right direction.