Running Down a Dream: Your Road Map to Winning Creative Battles

As I thought through the bad advice I had received, I realized it was because I had gone to someone who was really good at some things, but not the things I was asking about.

Always find the direct route. Look for the shortest path between A—where you are—and B—where you want to be. I tend to fill my problems with unneeded complexity and junk that just takes up space. Most problems don’t need an elaborate solution. Most problems are simple.

So if failure is a natural part of the process that is inescapable, how can I do it better?

From day one, what amazed me about Dan was his constant assumption that there was probably a better way to do what he was doing. He seemed to step into every situation with a confidence to try something, but also realizing it was probably not the exact right thing. One time I asked him about this. “It’s all experiments, Tim. It’s not about me or my

A long time ago I heard Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby and author of Anything You Want, say only three things can drive you. Fortune, Fame, or Freedom. None of them are right or wrong. You can get more than one. However, only one will drive you.

First, for simple tasks—things that have less than five steps to them—I just make a decision and do them the same way every time. My keys go in the same spot every single day. Even if I forget to put them in and find them in my pocket upstairs, I go back downstairs and put them in the silver dish. The simple task system extends to everything with l

Sit down with a pen and paper and start dreaming. If you could wave a magic wand to make everything go perfectly and get everything you want in the next five years, what would that look like? What would you have accomplished? Who would you be? What would it feel like? Put it all down. Even the silly stuff and the stuff you just know will never happ

Here are the steps: Make observations Form a hypothesis Make a prediction Perform an experiment Analyze the results of the experiment Draw a conclusion Report your results Go back to step 1 Tool

Anytime you find yourself doing the same thing over and over, you should create a system around it and start doing it the same way every time.”