THE ICARUS DECEPTION (A "Word Shots" Session)
Sometimes I know I need a boost of the value that a book has offered in the past, but I don't necessarily have time to sit down and reread the whole thing. So instead of getting frustrated with this, I've started a new practice I'm playfully calling Word Shots. That looks like me sitting down with a book, skimming, and taking no more than 2 journal pages of notes from the content. Just a "shot" of what it's got to offer to recharge rather than to drink in the whole thing again. I'll only do this occasionally, but when I do I thought it'd be fun to share my notes. Hope this can be helpful for you all as well!
“The artist cares and so extends herself, creating new interactions to ensure that the recipient is changed and a connection is made...Anyone who cares and acts on it is performing a work of art.”
THE ICARUS DECEPTION by Seth Godin
Seth Godin is an extremely prolific writer with some very important insights on the end of the industrial age, the burgeoning connection economy, and what it now means to make a living. He challenges us to see that the only "safe" option left is to be making art. Think you've got a pretty solid definition of what art is? Don't think you're an artist? Think again, and read this book (or others by Godin) to be convinced...and hopefully encouraged to make your art, whatever kind that might be.
My Notes...
Elements that define art (p14):
New
Real
Important
The opposite of coherent is not incoherent, but rather interesting. (p14)
There is a scarcity of the emotional labor it takes to make art. That labor entails:
Risk in digging deep to connect and surprise
Patience required to build trust
Guts to say, "I made this" (p10)
Habits of successful artists: (p144)
Learn to sell what you've made.
Say thank you in writing.
Speak in public.
Fail often.
See the world as it is.
Make predictions.
Teach others.
Write daily.
Connect others.
Lead a tribe.
Art almost never works as fast as you want it to, and the more you need it to work, the slower it happens. (p211)
This might end up in crying. If you're not prepared to cry about it, I'm not sure you're making art. And if you're not prepared to dance in anticipation, you're definitely not making art. (p210-211)
...your biggest failure is the thing you dreamed of contributing but didn't find the guts to do. (p216)
The only 2 courses/classes art-makers need to take:
How to see
Finding the guts to make important work
The artist cares and so extends herself, creating new interactions to ensure that the recipient is changed and a connection is made...Anyone who cares and acts on it is performing a work of art. (p161)
Art is an effort, an opportunity to denote enormous emotion and energy in a specific direction. It means that you care, not that you're a loner or a loon. (p163)