Identifying peak moments

I’ve long been a proponent of [designing experiences for peak moments](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=207)–after all, that’s what you’ll remember about them later.

But personally it makes sense to spend some time identifying what your own peak moments have been, in the hope of discovering how to experience more of them. The articles [Peak Moments](http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/peak-moments/) and [Peak Creative Moments](http://the99percent.com/tips/6951/peak-creative-moments) suggest 60-second exercises to do just that.

I found several unexpected and valuable traits of my peak moment experiences:

* They are with lots of other people–despite my tendency to work and play alone
* They result from lots of planning and preparation–despite my aversion to both
* Many were not pleasant in the moment (painful, stressful), but very rewarding afterward
* They all involved substantial risk, to my career or myself

Also reminds me of [Peter Drucker’s advice in Managing Oneself](http://www.sld.cu/galerias/pdf/sitios/revsalud/managing_oneself.pdf) that “the only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis.”

The Desk

Several creative people talk about their desks. Lots of different approaches, from Einstein’s clutter to Massimo Vignelli’s minimalism.

“I like to start the day fresh. If I start the day with things left over, it’s like starting dinner with leftovers — it kills your appetite.” – [Massimo Vignelli](http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=15088)

Playtime 101

Sometimes adults need help with this:

> This week thirty of us have promised to keep a daily crayon journal, build a fort or play with bubbles, and go out of our way to notice and welcome any children we see.

I love ReIMAGINE.

Language shapes thinking

Fascinating article in the NY Times that explores how language shapes the way we think about the world. Different languages, different ways of experiencing it.

> When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.

Similar to my observations about [how language affects meaning](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=68) from years ago.

Paul Graham on addiction

That is, addiction in general and information/Internet addiction in particular.

> The world is more addictive than it was 40 years ago. And unless the forms of technological progress that produced these things are subject to different laws than technological progress in general, the world will get more addictive in the next 40 years than it did in the last 40…

> My latest trick is taking long hikes. I used to think running was a better form of exercise than hiking because it took less time. Now the slowness of hiking seems an advantage, because the longer I spend on the trail, the longer I have to think without interruption…

> We’ll increasingly be defined by what we say no to.

The Acceleration of Addictiveness.

Good design is messy

[I’ve written about this before](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=261), but two great articles recently said it even better:

> Don’t try to control or make safe the fumbling, panicky, glorious adventure of discovery. Occasionally, one sees articles that describe how to rationalize this process, how to take the fuzzy front end and give it a nice haircut. This is self-defeating. We should allow the fuzzy front end to be as unkempt and as fuzzy as we can. Long– term growth depends on innovation, and innovation isn’t neat. – [Bill Coyne of 3M, via Bob Sutton](http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/innovation-will-always-have-messy-parts-wisdom-from-ideos-david-kelley-and-3ms-bill-coyne.html)

> If the process of bringing new things to life were a living, breathing organism, it would be a nasty beast! It would be unpredictable. It would consume as much as you dared to feed it. Some days, it would really stink. Yucko! And it would have a tendency to chew up people and spit them out. Most of all, though, it would hairy. Really hairy — think dense forests of tangly, greasy, matted, hair, the likes of which make people run for shampoo, scissors, clippers, straight razors, and a blow dryer…

> But in that fuzziness is an unpredictable wellspring of creativity, which — if left to do what it will in in its own nonlinear way — is the source of the new and the wonderful. Consequently, one must never give in to the temptation to shave the fuzzy hairball that is innovation…

> Understanding how to deal with ambiguity at a personal level is the key to unlocking one’s creative confidence. An organization which understands how to resist shaving the hairball, populated by people who know how to orbit the hairball, will be capable of bringing amazing things to life. – [Diego Rodriguez](http://metacool.typepad.com/metacool/2010/06/metacool-innovation-principle-18.html)

Nice quotes from the Do Lectures

Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one
— [Michael Forbes](http://doblog.tumblr.com/post/700149267/educations-purpose-is-to-replace-an-empty-mind)

It’s better to fail with your own vision rather than following another man’s vision.
— [Johan Cruyff](http://doblog.tumblr.com/post/687080110/its-better-to-fail-with-your-own-vision-rather)

I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take a game winning shot….and missed. I have failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed
— [Michael Jordan](http://doblog.tumblr.com/post/700144778/i-have-missed-more-than-9-000-shots-in-my-career)

Creativity and insanity

Apparently [creative people share a brain structure with schizophrenics](http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=7511):

> “We have studied the brain and the dopamine D2 receptors, and have shown that the dopamine system of healthy, highly creative people is similar to that found in people with schizophrenia…Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box.” – Dr. Fredrik Ullén

Well, that would explain [Dr. NakaMats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiro_Nakamatsu):

(This just keeps getting better…)

Diversity and design

“Creativity is just connecting things…[but] a lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” – Steve Jobs, 1996

A Visual Study Guide to Cognitive Biases

Seems worth keeping around as reminders. A Visual Study Guide to Cognitive Biases | Scribd.