type-lover:

 Creativity takes courage #type

cadillacranchdressing:

untitled on Flickr.

innod:

Why It’s so Important to Aim to be ‘The Best You’ and Not just ‘The Best’

If you know me much at all you know I have always been a bit of a crazy dreamer.

I mean that literally, like almost every morning I wake up remembering my crazy dream.

Proof: last night I dreamt I had an early copy of a new film by the makers of Napoleon Dynamite, and it was called ‘Bucktooth Willy’ (maybe the name comes from that Adam Sandler skit ‘Tollbooth Willy’?). It’s important to note the hand painted red typography overlaying some sort of photo on the cover was quite tasteful!

Anyway, back to the point, a few nights ago I had a dream where I was in this crazy competition at some sort of outdoor retreat with hundreds, maybe thousands of other people.

The last phase was racing to this room where you picked a table, if you were the first at a table, you got to be #1 at that table of maybe 50 to 100 people. When I entered the room I instantly moved to the table with no one sitting there so I could be a #1.

Seems logical, but when I was telling my wife my dream (lucky her) she pointed out that I had no idea what I was racing for, what I was going to be the #1 of and how ridiculous that is.

That’s when I realized that I had fallen into this terrible thinking, where I didn’t want to do my purpose, I just wanted to do the biggest best thing possible.

I don’t think it’s my real attitude, I just think it’s easy to slip into this way of thinking when you are trying really hard to achieve something.

Envy is a Disabling but Competition is Motivating.
There is almost no substitute for good competition when it comes to creativity. When you are in some sort of creative community (virtual or real life) it is so motivating to see a peer up their game.

When you are surrounded by greatness you almost instantly transform in ways that are unbelievable! However it’s important to monitor who you are competing with and how you are competing. two tips:

1. Compete in Creativity not Success - Seeing someone’s work that is better than your own can be motivating, but dwelling on a creative’s success (clients, awards) can immobilize you.

I think this is about control, you can put in time and get better, but no amount of time and effort can warrant exact rewards (awards, certain clients).

2. Don’t Compare to Creatives very Different to You - Sometimes you can get down about how much better someone else is as something than you (like getting certain types of work, a certain job they have been able to attain, a specific skill), but there is one question that almost instantly deflates this: Is this something they have something that you really want?

When you ask yourself this question, the key word is REALLY, like are you willing to sacrifice sleep for this? Dedicate part of your life to achieving this? If so then do it, if not, shrug it off. (I can’t remember exactly what is written about this, but I first starting thinking about this ‘selective competition’ idea from the book Quitter by Jon Acuff)

Strengths v.s. Weaknesses
Time is limited. If you waste time refining weaknesses that will never actually turn into great strengths, you will miss out at being the best at something. If you aren’t the best at something you can’t succeed. If every person who you encounter is better at something than you and you allow it to derail you from your path you will miss out on being the best you.

What ways have you found to stay focused on being the best you rather than just trying to be the best?

commonvision:

The David Mikow Art Gallery — which opened this fall in the Catonsville home of UMBC political science professor Carolyn Forestiere — will feature an array of “Images in Print,” all created by UMBC alumni and students. The show is co-curated by visual art professors Calvin Custen and Irene Chan, and opens this Friday, December 7, 5-7 p.m.

The work of the following alumni will be shown (all visual arts majors, unless noted):Sandy Chiang ’11, Elizabeth Guidara ’11, polisci, Erin Johnson ’12, Boram Lee ’12, Ka Lai Lou ’11, Brittney Nichols ’12, Sohee Oh ’11, Pat Sedlander ’12, Jenna Ullrich ’10, Laura (Meg) Viar ’11, psychology, Kayla Vlahos ’11, Jessica Voss ’12. A selection of work by the following students will also be displayed: Samantha Warren, Karina Alcazar, Heather Brown, Alexandra Buyalos, Judy Caracofe, Wyatt Jaster, Sharon Kusiak and Jingfei Lu.