Seed

if someone’s much better than you at something, they probably try much harder. You probably underestimate how much harder they try. I’m not saying that talent isn’t a meaningful differentiator, because it certainly is, but I think people generally underestimate how effort needs to be poured into talent in order to develop it. So much of getting good at anything is just pure labor

“The secret of life is to waste time in ways that you like.” -Jerry Seinfeld

You can be great at design without any natural design talent if you are willing to put in the time and keep your promises. 

Here are 10 rules for any designer just starting out in their career...

...I did all of these and it made a huge difference. 

1. Tell everyone you are a…

Project Life | Gauris Manifesto

Find the medium to extract your maximum value.

Write 
Draw
Code
Talk
Film
Sing
Dance
Joke
Play

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while."

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’”

Beautiful souls recognize beautiful souls. Keep being genuine. Your people will find you.

“Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.”

I think people make the best things when they love the process, when they willingly shoulder the inherent uncertainty and pain that comes with it. It’s almost like a form of prayer: you offer up what you can even though the reward is uncertain. You do it out of love.

It’s natural to desire recognition.


Writers might want to convince readers how good of a writer they are by using complex language.


Designers might want add a few more graphical elements that lack meaning.


Photographers might push their colors unnaturally in editing to stand out.


But what most of us really want is to read and it feel like a natural conversation with a friend, see design with necessity and purpose, and look at images that bring clarity to what is already beautiful.


All great creators are nearly invisible.

My craft hasn't caught up with my talent yet.

it’s healthy to think of yourself as a generalist yet important for others to think of you as a specialist

Try different notes until the noise becomes music. Rearrange until words become language. Sketch until it becomes a picture.


The only way through is by going through.

“Contemplate the price you pay for inaction.”

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Robert A Heinlein