ALISON YARD SAID

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a Leader.” – John Quincy Adams”

(Source: workawesome.com, via buddyface)

“Try to absorb and learn everything you can while you’re still there. Don’t overlook the opportunities right in front of your face. Remember the way they are always documenting and pushing forward. Take that with you. And the constant inspiration searching and learning and watching.”

In response to his eldest son Thom’s 1958 letter, in which the teenage boy confesses to have fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan while at boarding school, John Steinbeck’s words couldn’t be more wise. As beautiful as this is, I thought it appropriate to share today, and interesting to think that these words of advise might also apply just as well to good ideas. Maria Popova says these words “should be etched onto the heart and mind of every living, breathing human being.” and I agree.

New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,
Fa

2nd Feb 2012 | Nº 1

“The struggle within projects has been the follow through and the focused attention. Cause, everyone sort of hates their projects. A third of the way in they’ve become demystified. They’re not glamorous. They’re no longer interesting for a period of time. There’s a dip. It’s like taking a run, ya know, after the second mile you wanna stop for a minute. The difference though, with the work that seems to rise to the surface, and stay there, and be seen, is that that original hurdle of boredom or dissatisfaction or wanting to switch gears was overcome and someone saw something all the way through.”

—Andrew Zuckerman

19th Jan 2012 | Nº 1

“If you’re not the least bit nervous before you pick it up, the weight you’re about to lift is too light.”

—Unknown

30th Dec 2011 | Nº 1

Good ideas are good habits.

When I was in school my professor had us read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do (not to mention it’s a really easy and quick read.) It’s been one of those things to really stick with me, even years later. I think two of my biggest insecurities working in this industry have always been the pressure of a blank “canvas” and feeling like I’m just not one of those people that is explosively and randomly creative. I have friends that have cylinders in their brains with spark plugs constantly igniting completely random and original ideas. Out of nowhere. (Kathleen Cunningham, I’m looking at you.) I’m not one of those people at all. I don’t belong at TBWA working on Skittles. Brilliant things don’t just pop into my head. I have to work really hard for ideas. And one thing I’ve learned from reading that book, and honestly believe makes people like me able to be creative, is that we can make creativity a habit. Finding things that trigger our brains to be creative, and using them to harness ideas is completely possible. One of the things I’ve made a habit is when I go to a brainstorm and feel particularly dry of ideas, I grab one of about 5 favorite books I keep sitting on my desk and bring it with me. And while I’m brainstorming I flip through the pictures. Sometimes I flip through so fast that I’m not even consciously registering each picture, but I just need to see something. I’m such a visual person, that having something to look at gets my brain oiled up just enough that it’s almost like I’ve tricked it into starting to produce ideas. It’s odd to see it actually work. I’ve sat in brainstorms for almost an hour before, completely frozen. And then gone and grabbed a book, and after a few minutes of flipping through I’ve got a list of ideas to throw on the table. This is just one of my habits, and they’re definitely different for everyone. But as you work you can develop a ritual of making note of what works and what doesn’t work. If it’s good, how do you repeat it? If it’s bad how do you stop it? Read the book. She explains it in a much more artful and beautiful way than I do. But it’s a realization that’s made me feel much more confident in my ability to be creative.

17th Dec 2011 | Nº 1

Written by Henry Van Dyke

There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you? To ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world? To put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground? To see that men and women are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy? To own up to the fact that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life? To close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness? Are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children? To remember the weakness and loneliness of people growing old? To stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough? To bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts? To try to understand what those who live in the same home with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you? To trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you? To make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open? Are you willing to do these things, even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world? Stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you can keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone.

5th Dec 2011

“You can judge a writer’s design sense more by her sentence structure than her suspect choice in hats.”

—@leeclowsbeard

4th Dec 2011 | Nº 4

Understand your ego.

So far, I’ve come to believe that an ego exists in the form of any of the following characteristics; envy, jealously, insecurity, manipulation, defensiveness, selfishness, laziness, and the worst; politics. Any sign of any of these characteristics is toxic to good creative work and the environment that fosters it. But, I didn’t mention competitiveness, confidence, opinionatedness or a sense of ownership. Because for me those are symptoms of passion, not ego. Sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between the two.

As creatives, it’s easy to feel overly emotional about our work. But I find that to be a wonderful thing. In some ways it feeds inspiration, better ideas and helps to move us forward. And it’s probably the reason why most of us are even in this business. We’re driven, eager, honest, confident, competitive, excited and opinionated because we love what we do. We’re fueled by it because we want the work to win. To do it’s job and make an impact. Something I strongly believe in is to always have an opinion but be open minded. Be a strong and valuable player by bringing a passionate point of view to the table, but to at the same time have the work’s best interest in mind by being willing to hear other ideas, and even have your mind changed. The real difference between ego and passion is that passion is always in favor of the work and all parties involved, and never just ourselves. And I hope to never lose it.

29th Nov 2011

“When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way.”

—Top 5 Regrets of Dying