Technologies aren’t inherently bad or good. They’re only appropriate or inappropriate for certain circumstances. They’re a means to an end, not solutions within themselves. Each one is powerful in its own right to accomplish a certain goal. The responsibility to use an appropriate technology lies with the one who made the choice. Unfortunately, we’ve misinterpreted irresponsible development as inadequate technology.
Thinking locally means focusing your attention exclusively towards things you can act on. It means not wasting brain cycles on economic crises, swine flu cases, terrorist plots, and Toyota recalls. Focus on what you can change. Otherwise you’ll be stuck living other people’s lives.
It would be ignorant and arrogant for me to presume that your priorities are anything like mine.
When your whole life breaks down. That’s the moment when you have to somehow choose what your life is going to be about.
— Chuck Palahniuk
Can we realise the value? In financial jargon, financial benefits must be “realised”, before they count. In other words, if we save $1.7 million, can we get this as cash or equivalent?
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
The mobile phone world was stuck in a feature-intense Stage II until the experience-focused iPhone came along; the game console space was all about putting better hardware in the box until the Wii suggested a less-hardware-but-better-experience approach.
— Jared Spool on Market Maturity
(via)
As a web designer you are supposed to design for the end-user and, I know it’s a hard truth, but, the end-user probably wont congratulate you on your use of RGBA and they sure-as-shit don’t care about your baseline grid.
it’s not a subject that keeps me up at night. Readers will always decide if the work is meaningful and relevant to them, and I can live with whatever conclusion they come to. Again, my part in all this largely ended as the ink dried.
— Bill Watterson, when asked about the legacy of his comic strip ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ (
via)
The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life
…Despite all of the challenges, there’s something to be said for waking up every morning and pouring your heart into work that you love…. …It’s not easy, but nothing worth doing ever is…
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Garrett Dimon (via)
Recommended reading. Honest review of switching to self-employment, devoid of all the ‘be your own boss’ pointless optimism.
Lorem Ipsum, wireframes, personas, etc are just tactics. The only thing that matters is: Do people love what you built?
I no longer feared not having any money (I knew I could work)
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I started freelancing. I had a great time working from home, though I never had “holidays”. I managed to travel a lot more than before and on the cheap. I no longer feared not having any money (I knew I could work), and started to enjoy life instead of waiting for retirement to do so.
-Divya Manian (via A Decade in Review)
Step away, purposefully. Take a meaningful break. Think about what really needs to be done, then step back and do it.