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Some book quotes on simplifying creativity

October 23, 2021

I took Ali Abdaal’s PTYA course and one of the video assignments is called “Quick & Dirty”. If you want to stay on a consistent weekly schedule, sometimes you might need to whip a video together without doing a ton of scripting, shooting a bunch of B-roll, etc.

[footnote]One of the best things in the course was watching him film a video live with mistakes and everything and then seeing that video published in the next couple days. And you’d have to look closely to know that it took less time than some of his other videos.[/footnote]

For this blog, my quick & dirty can be grabbing some quotes and sharing some thoughts.

Process vs. Ideas

From Insanely Simple by Ken Segall:

It boils down to this: When process is king, ideas will never be. It takes only Common Sense to recognize that the more layers you add to a process, the more watered down the final work will become.

Reversing this: when ideas are king, process will never be. That said, without process, I pretty much have a pile of ideas that are in some form from single-line notes to somewhat fleshed out outlines. Way too much in-progress work and way too little finished work.

Last year I was reading The Goal and realized I have way too much work in progress.

Intermediate Packets

Tiago Forte talks about intermediate packets as something successful creatives create whether they’re conscious of it or not. It’s worth looking at your process to see where you might be able to deliberately create intermediate packets.

I use the term “intermediate” because it conveys that any piece of work – a slide, a paragraph, a diagram, a quote – can always become a component in a larger work. And not just one larger work, but multiple ones. 

I might be making too many intermediate packets. I have too many unused packets that are a little too unrefined to be “intermediate”.

  • Books that are highlighted but the highlights are never reviewed
  • Podcast clips that are transcribed but never used
  • Topic and sub-topic outlines that are never reviewed and expanded on

Which, for the millionth time, reminds me of just about the only rule that’s always effective for me…

…Write in the editor

On the Tim Ferriss Show, Seth Godin talks about writing in the editor

If I am in the Typepad editor, I know exactly what my brain needs to feel like and then the writing happens.

He does use WordPress now, but I’m guessing he still writes directly into WordPress.

My current writing setup:

  • MarsEdit
  • RH Timer

UntitledImage

Time’s up.

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Insanely SimpleIntermediate PacketsWrite in the Editor
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