Swagger

Genuine swagger is a form of self love.

A form of self love that comes after overcoming pain, anguish and adversity.

The ability to say, I know I’m not perfect but neither are you.

And this is how I choose to be.

Swagger is something we earn.

Faith

Uncertainty is full of tension.

What if I make the wrong choice? Is it the right thing to do? What if it all falls to shit?

When we’re scared, we procrastinate and make a million excuses to avoid decisions.

But all new paths have the same truth. We have to decide to believe in it first for it to have a chance of working at all.

For the alternative is no decision. And indecision is still a decision.

So I’d take faith over indecision. It’s often the stronger path.

No

In this age of unlimited choice, everything everywhere feels a little like “why not?”

Because - precisely - why not?

But an unlimited supply of why not? entering our work is a sure fire way to make sure everything we create feels vague.

A question worth asking when approaching a creative decision is - is this thing really aligned with what I want to say?

And if the answer is no, then the answer isn’t why not.

It’s fuck no.

Patience

I saw an opiate addict in the emergency department who clearly did not love her self.

She was tearful and became frustrated at the mere thought of opening her mouth.

And I won’t lie, it’s irritating when someone replies to every question with “fuck off”.

But I also know it's hard to know what to say when you feel that broken.

So I silently sat with her for a couple of minutes until she calmed down.

And eventually, she broke out a small “I’m sorry” before she gave me her history.

Patience is fundamentally love. And those that don’t love themselves need it more than others.

Karma

Newtons third law stipulates all forces in the universe occur in equal but oppositely directed pairs.

And I feel this is true for karmic forces too.

When I treat others with kindness and respect, it is naturally what I receive back.

And when I treat others carelessly, I receive the same carelessness in return.

The golden rule is about Karma.

Texture

My wife arranges flowers regularly.

Today, she made a glorious vase filled with white gladioli accented with white gypsophila.

Both flowers are white, but the contrast in texture makes it really pop.

Using contrasting textures in sound also allows a part to pop, making for a mix with more depth.

Texture is a beautiful dimension to play with.

Emotional Labour

Deep automation will soon replace many aspects of human labour.

This is not conjecture, it is already happening across all industrial sectors.

But if there is one thing that AI will struggle to replace, it is real emotional labour.

The ability to care deeply, to empathise on a human level, to bring a sentiment to the table like:

“I’m sorry for your loss - I feel your pain”

Real emotional labour can only come from another living being.

Therapy

For the first time in my life, I’ve decided to reach out to a few therapists.

It’s not that I’ve reached a point of despair, it’s that I recognise there are issues I ought to understand better before it gets worse.

Waiting till things are catastrophically bad to ask for help is a little like waiting for your car to completely break down before taking it to a mechanic.

Which is objectively a fucking stupid idea.

If you’re thinking about it, I say go early.

You’ve got this.

Kindness

“Oh man, you shouldn’t have”.

Kindness is a high leverage act.

Even mere considerations often result in an effect far greater than the effort put in.

And when we consider the asymmetry in perceived value vs. effort it is almost absurd not to choose kindness when we can.

Sure, acts of kindness do go unnoticed and we may feel short changed too.

But someone who habitually practices kindness never goes unnoticed for long.

Deep

The quickest way out of mediocrity is to go one layer deeper than others.

Precisely one layer deeper it freaks out average artists.

Most average artists like to dip their toes in too many things. It’s fairly shallow, barely fresh and driven by boredom.

But when we decide to go deep, deeper than most other people, we get access to a wealth of untouched ideas.

It’s an easier life there than the turbulent surface.

Go deep.

Proud

I think a more helpful definition of finished, lies in the word proud, rather than perfect.

Proud still allows us the humility to say “I know it’s not perfect but I like it”.

But accepting not perfect is the only way to finish an idea.

Be proud, not perfect.

That’s good enough.

Proxy

People don’t want screens. They want a distraction from boredom.

People don’t want certificates. They want a guarantee for success.

People don’t want fancy watches. They want admiration and respect.

The proxy of our desires start to feel like they matter more than their purpose.

But losing sight of purpose is when things starts to feel empty.

Purpose over proxy.

Meaning

Isn’t Lorem Ipsum so beautiful?

Said no one ever.

Because the function of Lorem Ipsum is to fill space without imparting meaning.

There is plenty of musical Lorem Ipsum out there, just to fill space, not to bother you, not to stimulate you.

And like typographers work hard on spacing, kerning and serif, we can go deep on harmony, sound design and technique.

But if an idea is fundamentally meaningless, making it pretty still makes it meaningless.

Which is fine if it’s just to fill space.

Fear

Palpitations are feelings of your heart beating very fast.

It happens when you approach your crush, it happens when you nearly die.

Fear physiologically feels identical to excitement.

And when you feel a little scared about sharing your next piece of work..

You’re onto something exciting.

Weather

I have wondered if weather is the most boring conversation possible.

Unless severe, it lacks tension, drama and excitement.

Except, it’s also a chance to enjoy a small moment to feel it with someone else.

Weather chat is not really about the weather.

It is about a shared feeling.

Steal

Good artists steal all the time. But not how you think they do.

Let’s pretend artists are flowers.

Average artists look at good artists and copy the head. Slap on some petals and hope it sticks.

Good artists look at other good artists and examine their root structure. Then adopt it to theirs, and grow their own flower head.

Here, the more obvious you are about it, the less effective it is.

Stealing like an artist is taking the deeper things.

Limitations

The traditional Japanese Haiku format has exceptionally stringent limitations.

It must 1) be a single stanza with a 5-7-5 syllable structure 2) include a seasonal reference and 3) contain a Kireji phoneme.

We’d think that these constraints really stifle what poets can express through this format.

But it’s precisely these limitations that elevate Haiku poems to the status of national treasure.

Limitations allow us to condense our energy into a format that bangs hard.

If stuck, add another constraint.

Hype

Being remarkable is producing work so good that people literally remark on you.

So when the reality of our latest work does not reach this lofty height, the answer is not to go hype it into remarkable status.

We simply go back and create more because truly remarkable work only happens along a trajectory of creating more.

Remarkable work is mostly hyped by the audience, not a PR machine. Plenty of work only hyped by PR fail.

So if we find ourselves hyping our latest work far more than our audience..

It maybe time to focus our energy back to creating ideas our audience care about too.

Clarity

Here’s the thing about every idea that enters your track.

They are all characters entering a room with something to say.

Aimlessly introducing many different characters in one track often makes the space feel cramped rather than exciting.

So artists with clarity, punch and conviction use fewer ideas but give them more depth, than pile on shallow characters who don’t have much to add to the conversation.

Clarity is giving less more.

Lean

Here are some facts about the leaning tower of Pisa:

⁃ Height: 55.86m

⁃ Weight: 14,500 tonnes

⁃ Steps: 295

⁃ Incline: 3.9 degrees (post restoration)

The main fact that makes this tower notable is its biggest design flaw - the incline from miscalculating the foundation’s stability.

Sometimes, leaning into imperfections makes for the most interesting idea.