Hello friend,
this will be my second week posting regular content on this newsletter (weekly) and Instagram (daily). And let me tell you this - it's HARD. My main takeaway is this: make sure to have a system for storing and retrieving ideas. This will save you hours.
In this week's issue you will find the system I use to organize information, a terrifying short film about selfies, what is the real meaning of strategy, and a new definition of storytelling.
INSPIRATION
🤳🏼 This incredibly stylish 4 minute film shows the many, and often ugly, faces of our culture through the lens of our smartphone
🎧 This Bose commercial captures the reality of living next to a noisy neighbor
✏️ A London-based illustrator and animator whose work is truly terrific
🖥️ A hilarious 3 minute film of a video conference in real life we can all relate
😶 Another great Twitter thread for a kind of humor yet to have a name:
CREATIVE WORK
For anyone who creates things, the notion of strategy can be tricky. When things don't go the way we expect, our first instinct is to do more of something.
Filmmakers think they need to rent expensive stuff, for marketers it's being on more channels, for product designers to add more features. It's easier to do this than to question our beliefs and assumptions about a subject.
One of the best definitions of strategy I found is from British creative director Dave Trott. He uses a story from World War II to make the opposite case: strategy is not about adding more stuff, it's about taking everything away.
MENTAL WEALTH
PARA: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information
This workflow has been life-changing for me. PARA indicates the four categories that encompass every information you'll encounter in your daily life: Projects, Areas, Resources and Archive.
The big idea is to organize items based on how specific is the context you're going to need them. Projects are tasks with a specific deadline (write blog post), Areas are activities with a standard to be maintained over time (content planning), Resources are topics of ongoing interests (blogging), Archive is everything else.
Writing becomes way easier when you have all your source material in one place. Before this, I would spend hours trying to retrieve some piece of information.
Forte Labs
How the Passion Economy will disrupt media, education, and countless other industries
New digital platforms enable people to earn a livelihood in a way that highlights their individuality and allows to build better customer relationships. Creators can profit from their creative skills and passions, where they had previously been hampered by traditional intermediaries.
This is fueling a new model of internet-powered entrepreneurship. Passion Economy businesses have the potential to disrupt incumbent companies.
Li's Newsletter
Why Some Filmmakers Succeed And Some Don't
If you liked the previous article and you make films, I recommend checking out Alex LeMay. He is a web series producer that basically teaches how to apply the Passion Economy concept to films.
The main takeaway is to invest time building an audience before jumping into production. I strongly believe this model is what will become the norm in the near future.
What Makes a Story, a Story?
When we think of story, we think of something with a beginning, middle and end, with a certain length, on a certain medium, by one author. What if all those assumptions are wrong?
This article proposes a definition I really love - one not based on what happens in the story, but what happens outside of it. A story isn't defined by the events or characters within, but by the person who consumes it. In the words of Ursula K. Le Guin, “What makes a story is - you want to find out what happens next”.
Medium
That's all I have this week. What have you found the most useful?
If you want to support my work, the best way is to share this with a friend or two - they can subscribe here.
Stay safe out there,
-Gian
P.S. I got some of this week's ideas from Weekend Briefing and Filmmaker Freedom. If you enjoyed the PARA method, I highly recommend Tiago Forte's online program Building A Second Brain.