> We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. – [Anaïs Nin](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/5030)

Peter Drucker on priorities

> Develop your priorities and don’t have more than two. I don’t know anybody who can do three things at the same time and do them well. Do one task at a time or two tasks at a time. That’s it. OK, two works better for most. Most people need the change of pace. But, when you are finished with two jobs or reach the point where it’s futile, make the list again. Don’t go back to priority three. At that point, it’s obsolete. – [Peter Drucker](http://www.forbes.com/2004/11/19/cz_rk_1119drucker_print.html)

Reminds me of [Merlin Mann’s “true priorities”](http://twitter.com/hotdogsladies/statuses/1492464753):

> You eventually learn that true priorities are like arms; if you think you have more than a couple, you’re either lying or crazy.

Recognize the one or two things you really need to do each day, and don’t look back.

John Cleese on creativity

“We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptop.” – [John Cleese](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug&feature=player_embedded’)

Lots of other great advice about making space and time to be creative. [More notes here](http://davidmcanulty.com/story/2011/01/creativity-monty-python-style/).

Passionately curious

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

– Albert Einstein

The Minibar for the Mind

A set of resources and inspiration for bored travelers. Cool idea and nice execution.

A wall of sound

A virtual wall of [the Buddha Machine boxes](http://www.fm3buddhamachine.com/site/), looping ambient music in unplanned combinations: Zendesk – FM3 Buddha Machine Wall.

The design of the boxes themselves is also elegant and simple. On/off, switch loop, change pitch, built-in speaker, runs off a single AA battery. I just ordered three…

“Simple Trumps Complete”

That phrase succinctly describes the most important design lesson I’ve learned this year: that focusing on the simple core of a concept is more important than filling out its features.

> “Simple trumps complete” – a 5% feature (used by less than 5% of all users) is a distraction for all the other users, and is better removed, unless its really critical (a small number of users do need to cancel service, for example).

– [Neil Hunt on Netflix’s A/B testing](http://www.quora.com/What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-test-aside-from-member-sign-up/answer/Neil-Hunt)

I also love the term “attentrons” for the energy people spend to comprehend elements of a design.

Knowing what you care about

[Merlin Mann](http://www.43folders.com)’s writing around this time last year was very influential in my thinking during my sabbatical. [Specifically](http://www.43folders.com/2010/02/05/first-care):

> Before you sweat the logistics of focus: first, care. Care intensely.

I think understanding what you care about is vastly underestimated. Mostly, we subscribe to the myth that we care about whatever we’re doing. But when you have to drag yourself to the table every day for more, maybe you don’t actually care.

And that’s ok. You can’t force yourself to care about something any more than you can force yourself to grow another ear. Care is something that comes from the combination of what’s inside you and what you encounter.

You can, certainly, put yourself in situations that give you the *chance* to care about things–for instance, visiting an AIDS hospice center, or meeting with immigrants from another country, or going on a missions trip to a suffering community–and hopefully in some of those situations you will realize that you really do care, about important things. Some people say that great innovation just comes from trying lots of things and finding what works, and I think understanding your passions works the same way. But you can’t force yourself to care about something that you just don’t…care about.

The bit that really stuck with me was [Merlin’s earlier application of this philosophy to “priorities”](http://www.43folders.com/2009/04/28/priorities) (which [I noted at the time](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=3644)):

> *A priority is observed, not manufactured or assigned. Otherwise, it’s necessarily not a priority…*

> When my daughter falls down and screams, I don’t ask her to wait while I grab a list to determine which of seven notional levels of “priority” I should assign to her need for instantaneous care and affection. Everything stops, and she gets taken care of. Conversely – and this is really the important part – everything else in the universe can wait.

Priorities are a reflection of what you really care about, because they are the things you actually do. And since you can’t force yourself to care about something, your priorities are a reflection of who you really are.

How do you apply this? First, understand what it is that you really do care about, by observing what you actually do. If you’re not satisfied with that, go out and seek new opportunities to discover something else you care about. And then, once you realize you care deeply, sacrifice other things for that and you can do truly great work and be happier in life.

I’m still discovering more about the things I truly care about, but this philosophy has already led to a greater focus on relationships and health, and a tremendous reduction in stress about the things I thought I cared about but that I really didn’t. Know what you really care about, and don’t pretend you care about things you don’t.

Intelligence shows more in the questions you ask than the answers you give.

“Don’t think of an elephant” and design

[George Lakoff](http://ryskamp.org/brain/index.php?s=lakoff)’s [Don’t Think of an Elephant](http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Think-Elephant-Debate-Progressives/dp/1931498717) is a political book, but the concept is applicable to many more situations. Lakoff argues that by accepting someone else’s way of talking about an issue–their words and their metaphors–you constrain your responses to what fits in their model of the world. Once you hear the world “elephant”, you can’t help but think of one, and it influences what you do next.

From the intro:
> When I teach the study of framing at Berkeley, in Cognitive Science 101, the first thing I do is I give my students an exercise. The exercise is: Don’t think of an elephant! Whatever you do, do not think of an elephant. I’ve never found a student who is able to do this. Every word, like elephant, evokes a frame, which can be an image or other kinds of knowledge.

I most often observe this in the design process. The tendency of most design teams in business is to accept the language and framing of the market leader, or of your most prominent challenger. By using their framing, you set yourself up to at best create a second-rate version of their product. And worse, by taking your cues from their finished work, you’re really mimicking their thinking from months or years ago. As one of my design mentors often says, “You can’t get new ideas by reading Techcrunch.”

If you really want to design something new, I think it’s important to consciously strip out language and models from your work and communication that have been framed by existing products and companies. Invent your own language, frame the situation yourself. Then you’ve got a chance of doing something new.

It’s natural to want to check out the competition. But as a designer you need to be aware that every time you do, it constrains your thinking.