💎 Friday Gems #10 (Creative Success, Value of Ignorance, Have More Conversations)

Three gems of ideas to unleash your potential!

Mar 17

Happy Friday!

This week has been a blur for me. From snowmageddon to atmospheric rivers to the SVB Bank collapse, there was enough to going on outside to distract us. I hope you were not affected by the events and were able to find some quiet time for self-care.

Let me know in the comments if any of the gems resonate with you. I always love hearing from you.💜

On to the gems!

💎 How to Make Your Odds of Creative Success Go Way Up

Did you know creativity is like evolution?

In her newsletter

Science of Creativity

Annie Murphy Paul

shares a ideas about understanding the creative process and provides encouragement to not get hung up on how our creative ideas are received because they all have about the same likelihood of success.

Annie shares an idea proposed by psychologist Donald Campbell, that just as in the natural world, there is blind variation first and then selective retention, in creativity there is divergence of ideas and then convergence to the best ideas. We are the ones who decide which ideas are the best ones to move forward with.

I'm glad I found Annie's amazing newsletter as I dive into the world of Creativity.

Science of Creativity

How to Make Your Odds of Creative Success Go Way Up

OK, so maybe writing a new Science of Creativity post every day was an unrealistic goal ;-). I’m shifting to a schedule of twice a week. But as I do so, I want to share with you a theory about why we should be creating as much work as possible—a theory that I find provocative and rich and yes, pretty persuasive (even if I can’t always apply it to the ma…

19 days ago · 15 likes · 8 comments · Annie Murphy Paul

💎 The Value of Ignorance

In this enlightening gem, Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, speaks about how he was able to create a masterpiece movie on his first try. "Shee ignorance" was the reason. He didn't know what was possible or not with movies and cameras, instead he delivered what he could dream of. He leaned into his creative vision instead of falling into the "this is how it has always been done" mentality.

So the next time you're faced with a challenge, take a moment to listen to your intuition and creative vision to lead with a beginner's mind. Most importantly, trust that you will find a way through it.

Link to video

💎 Have More Conversations

In this post,

David Hoang

, a product designer, who writes

Proof of Concept

, shares a wonderful idea we can all use in our lives which is to have more conversations. Let's forget the term "networking" and replacing it with "conversations" which is more human and approachable way of interacting with others.

What value do conversations provide?

Conversations are generative and spark serendipity
Conversations feel like mutual mentorship
Conversations show us new perspectives and directions
Conversations are about listening and helping

In my podcast, I stopped using the term "interview" with "conversation" which similarly makes it more approachable.

David has also taken a more intentional approach to have conversations. Instead of treating conversations as networking and sending Calendly links, "to treat the conversation like you're tending a garden".

In the spirit of this, I love to have a conversation about personal development, design, creativity, parenting, running, writing, baking, and anything basically, so I would love to talk about these things or anything you have in mind let me know and we can find a time to meet. Send me an email at rizwan@rizwanjavaid.com to start the conversation. :)

Proof of Concept

Have conversations

Walking 1:1s in person is one of my favorite forms of conversation. When I worked at One Medical, it was quite common to see heaps of people walking outside of our office to chat. During my last few months, we moved to a beautiful office right by The Embarcadero. Before that, we were right on Sutter street, surrounded by Blue Bottle coffee shops. One of…

7 days ago · 19 likes · 4 comments · David Hoang