I read an interview with Steven Spielberg years ago that asked the reason for his incredible success. His reply was surprisingly simple: he had never lost his sense of childlike wonder. He could still be excited by a haunted house or thrilled by the idea of a dinosaur.
If hanging on to our childhood is the secret to creativity, how do you rate?
When we were young we often expected more of ourselves and demanded more of others. We had a vision of what we wanted to be, and to meet it we set our own standards of acceptable conduct. No fries except on Saturday; no wearing out-of-style clothes even when you’re just hanging out with friends. But then everyone aged and along the way, some things changed. We became more mature and realized that beauty was “not as important” as it once seemed. Our ideals were no longer seen to be practical, and high standards no longer realistic. As Dan Hill used to sing, “Freedom takes on new meaning when you’ve got a family of five.”
But in reality, did the ideals become less practical, or did we just become less idealistic? Did we become wiser or did we become lazy? [Continue reading…]
If you’re on Facebook — hmmm, does that leave anyone out? — you’re already familiar with the new “timeline” feature. Love it or hate it? Using it already, or avoiding it like the plague? No matter what you think of it, your option of whether or not to use it will soon be history.
I remember spilling a glass of water into a client’s lap once. We were eating at a restaurant in Miami, and my elbow nudged the end of a knife sitting by my plate. That knife then pushed my glass forward, which hit a plate in the middle of the table, and that moved a vase and then another plate in the middle that then knocked over my client’s full glass of water, pouring the contents directly into his lap. It was a moment of horror and embarrassment, but at the same time I kept thinking, “Woah, that was amazing!” Sorry, Tony, and thanks for being such a good sport. Truth be told, recreating that sequence of events would have been no small feat. It was just meant to happen.
