Tag: Bre

Inception and Exorcisms

Out!

I have found that if I have an idea, it will keep swirling around my brain unless I get it out in some way.  In a way, I’m exorcising myself to prevent these ideas from plaguing me further.  It’s not so bad having ideas pile up in my brain, it’s just that as long as they’re floating around, I’m not able to adequately devote sufficient brain cycles to other tasks.  I don’t know the reason for this – but my sense is that my brain will keep returning to these ideas, circulating and cycling them, because I don’t want to forget about them – and it can only truly relax once it knows the idea is somewhere it can’t be lost / forgotten.

A while back I had suggested the only good way I had to deal with these recirculating ideas was to either act on them (building / blogging) or killing them (organizing / bookmarking).  This wasn’t exactly true.

But, first, a digression.  Many years ago Bre Pettis and Kio Stark created a “cult of done” manifesto, a short set of ideas about how to consider things “done,” written in 20 minutes since that’s all the time they had to write it.  I think about this manifesto and this one particular poster implementation of it often.

James Provost’s Cult of Done Poster

I’m not sure what appeals to me so much about this manifesto.  I don’t know that I agree with each element – but for something generated in 20 minutes, it’s pretty good.  I guess the reason it comes back to my mind today, of all days, is that I happened to be looking back through my many blog posts with my eldest kiddo and was reminded of all the blogging I did here and at MakerBot.com and was reminded of those earlier, perhaps simpler and sillier, times.

Here’s how I actually exorcise / done-ify things:

  • Build the idea
  • Blog (and publish) the idea
  • Bookmark the page and sort that bookmark
  • Write the idea down in a note app
  • Write it down or sketch it in a notebook / sketchbook
  • Send the idea to someone

Sometimes I can accidentally let years go by without talking to a friend.  It’s not a good quality – but at least I’m able to recognize this personality trait.  My way of keeping in touch with people is that when I see something that reminds me of them, I’ll send it to them.  This isn’t so unusual … but sometimes I do this same thing with a slightly less pure motive.  Sometimes when I have an idea or see something interesting, I don’t just store it in a bookmark or by writing it down… I consciously make an effort to store it in a friend’s brain.

Yes, I’m sharing a thing with a friend as a way to connect, offer something to them that I know they’ll be interested in, perhaps to give us something to talk about, but I admit that I also consciously share it with them in order to further store the same data within their brain and in our communication channels.1 Again, not my finest quality, but it’s not an entirely selfish quality either.2  The hilarious thing about this last way to done-ify something is that you could even store the data in the brain of someone you hated!  Heck, you could rage-tweet it to someone.  And, the stronger your reaction to them, the stronger the connection you would have to the memory of the thing!

Taking all that into consideration, here’s how I probably actually exorcise / done-ify things:

  • Implement: Build the idea
  • Externalize:  Publish the idea
  • Memorialize:  Write down, bookmark, sketch,
  • Incept:  Store the idea in someone else’s brain
  1. Texting, messaging apps [↩]
  2. Though, I suppose “not entirely selfish” isn’t exactly a resounding exoneration. [↩]

Making passion

ManDrake responded to my last post about MakerBot being a victim of their own success:

Do you think the expectations difference could be at all connected to Bre’s constant overselling of the product to anyone that will listen? He’s completely disconnected from reality in the way he talks about the Makerbot and what it can do. He’s got the look and feel of the sham dot com boom types, overselling in hopes of getting some bigger company to buy them up, so they could unload their utter mismanaged and badly organized start up. In probably under an year they’ll sell out and then a corporate entity will realize their mistake and kill the product like they did as the boom died.

Here’s my response:

  1. I’m biased.  I think MakerBot have a great product that really delivers.  Thus, I don’t think Bre or MakerBot are overselling anything.
  2. There’s no way to really address ManDrake’s concern about how he feels about MakerBot’s public persona.
  3. Having never seen their books, I can’t say whether they’re mismanaged – but I doubt it.  They’ve grown a lot in a year and hopefully will continue to grow.
  4. I sincerely doubt their plan is to hype themselves, get acquired, and cash out.  There are just so many easier ways to make money.
  5. Even supposing they’re acquired and the new company kills the MakerBot, I’m not left in the cold.  Building my MakerBot has taught me how to build MakerBots.  I can go out and build another one or repair my own.  There are plenty of people selling plastic.  From the day my MakerBot started working I was never going to be without my very own 3D printer ever again.

This may sound unrelated, but bear with me.  Tonight I had the good fortune to hear Dr. Zahi Hawass speak in San Francisco.  If you’ve ever seen an exhibit, TV show or documentary about Egypt, the pyramids, mummies, or King Tut you’ve seen him and heard his enthusiasm.  He gave a piece of advice at the end of his talk:

“If you like something, it is not enough.  If you love something, it is not enough.  Only if you are passionate about it will you make it big.”

When I see Bre and Zach and Adam talk I see people who are truly passionate about their goals.  This is the kind of passion scammers imitate and others wish they had.  Their passion is infused in their products and absolutely infectious.