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“Computing Simplicity?”  →

Chris Bowler:

But at times, I wonder if [minimal computing] isn’t just the next fad. It’s certainly partly a backlash to the personal productivity movement, with GTD at the centre. But maybe it’s also the new GTD. Instead of doing work, people are still tinkering. But now they do so under the guise of ‘reducing’ or ‘simplifying’. But in the end, it’s the same issue. The boring tasks that you need to do are still on your list.

Chris continues on to make the point that minimalism in computing is not how your computer looks. And he is dead on. Minimalism and simplicity do not necessarily equal clean and tidy; they mean having what you need without excess. If that happens translate into less-than-the-guy-next-to-you, well, then cool. But ultimately it should translate to focus, a release of needless stress, and even into better relationships with the things and people around you.

“Computing Simplicity?”

Follow shawnblanc.net on Twitter  →

Over the past few weeks I have piping this site’s RSS feed over to my personal Twitter account. For years I have only ever posted links to my own site on Twitter when they were major posts which I especially thought were worthy of highlighting.

But the tipping point for me to set up automatic re-posting of links and articles to Twitter came for two reasons:

  1. I really appreciate it when cool dudes like Marco or Rands tweet links back to their own articles.

  2. More and more I have been finding interesting news and good reads via Twitter (some days, more so than what’s in my RSS reader). And even though much of the content I’m finding in Twitter is the same as what’s being delivered to my RSS reader, lately I’ve been interacting with Twitter much more than my RSS feeds.

But there were a couple drawbacks to having this site’s RSS feed systematically re-posted to my personal Twitter account.

  1. Some folks don’t care a dime about my nerdy posts, but have great concern about what I eat for lunch.

  2. Some folks are already subscribed to my RSS feed and would prefer to keep it there and nowhere else.

For those who do want to get this site’s posts in Twitter, it is not hard at all for you to follow another account. And the noise level is identical to what it would be if the posts were coming through my personal account.

So really, the only drawback I see is that I have to start over with a new account. But come on… what a pathetic and prideful excuse.

Follow shawnblanc.net on Twitter

Overcoming Creative Block  →

Alex Cornell asked 25 creatives (including Nicolas Felton, Khoi Vinh, and Michael C. Place) what their strategies, tips, tricks, or musings were for overcoming creative block.

One of the best responses was by Chad Hagen:

Staying creative is hard work. Honestly, I don’t think when I got into art school I was very talented at all. I struggled to stand out. I struggled to stay in school. Staying creative was hard work. BUT, the one thing that kept me focused was my desire to be good. I wanted to be really good. I wanted to be as good as those people that WERE talented. I used to think I would eventually, if I worked hard enough, master art like a math equation and then I could relax and just make great stuff and let everything else follow. That time definitely never came, and I know now I never want it to, because the most important thing that keeps me creative is my wanting to be good. So if I’m ever in a rut, the best things to get me out of them is to put myself in places that engage that desire to be good. In a general sense this means to get out and be expose to others creating. In my opinion, there is no better way to trigger your own creativity, than to see what great things others have made or are making. Going to museums, galleries, shows, etc. always inspires my mind in a way that make me want to get back into my own work and make good things. Be good.

(Via Khoi.)

Overcoming Creative Block