DRIVE

The reason I like wearables is because they’re about personal space and communication, communicating not through words but through clothing or touch or heat. We shouldn’t fixate on technology as a thing, but we should think about how we use technology. Technology should be more of something that augments us, not controls us

Defeat your analysis paralysis by moving. Just make a move

The time we have alone, the time we have in walking, the time we have in riding a bicycle — [these] are the most important times for a writer. Escaping from a typewriter is part of the creative process. You have to give your subconscious time to think. Real thinking always occurs on the subconscious level. I never consciously set out to write a certain story. The idea must originate somewhere deep within me and push itself out in its own time. Usually, it begins with associations.

When you are a pretty good designer you are actually infinitely better than no designer at all. It is important to strive to be the best, but oftentimes it seems at the detriment of having any confidence in our own work and abilities, and that confidence can be just as important to creating great work as any amount of skill.

If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time. Start now. Not 20 years from now, not two weeks from now. Now.

…That’s the open secret of learning outside of school. It’s a social act. Learning is something we do together.

…You get to choose your story. If the story you’ve chosen doesn’t get through, it’s up to you to fix that. Pick a story that reflects your work, sure, but also one that resonates with the receiver.

…lots and lots of people are creative when they feel like it, but you are only going to become a professional if you do it when you don’t feel like it. And that emotional waiver is why this is your work and not your hobby

It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.

The problem isn’t that it’s impossible to pick yourself. The problem is that it’s frightening to pick yourself. It’s far easier to put your future into someone else’s hands than it is to slog your way forward, owning the results as you go.

The best possible solutions are often the simplest but not necessarily the most obvious. Good design is finding a solution to a problem. Great design is finding the simplest solution to the same problem.

…What I try to do nowadays with my projects is that whenever I have an idea for a new feature or change into my project, what I feel is going to improve some part of the product. I write it down and forget about it. This way I can see if the same idea keeps popping up, and the more it pops up, the more it’s likely needed, and more likely be implemented.

Stop implementing everything, and only do the absolute essentials of your product for it to work…

If we really want to make sure that we’re in a strong, great, creative, tribe, we need to find people who are different than us, but who complement us. And no, not compliment us but complement us. People who might like our style of shoes and let us know, but people who go way beyond that and help to balance our strengths and weaknesses.

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader, not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.