(010) What I’ve learned this year
Hey everyone,
Last week I wrote about how this year has flown by and the finitude of time. This triggered me to go back through my notes and take stock of some of the things I’ve learned this year, so I thought I’d share them here with you.
For me the calendar year is a useful tool for measuring progress, but I don’t believe in new year resolutions in the conventional format. If you want to make a change, your new year can start tomorrow - don’t wait till January 01. I’ll dedicate a follow-up post to the framework I use for planning.
The lessons I’m sharing below have been distilled over the course of this year. Most Saturday mornings, my wife and I take a walk through Hyde Park and discuss some of the things we’ve faced in the week. Once a month, this conversation is focused on shaping these experiences into lessons. It’s been a useful way to make sense of our work and the world we’re living in.
The most important thing we’ve both implemented in parallel to these walks is actually writing things down. We’ve both developed a daily practice of journaling in the mornings to quell the chaos in our minds and set ourselves up for the day. We each take completely different approaches, though the outcome is the same — a clearer, more organised mind and a general sense of happiness.
But, we’re not here to chat journalling. We’re here to share life lessons. If you have some of your own worth sharing, I’d love to hear them.
Matteo x
Life lessons
“Perhaps the most important thing you can learn to do as an artist is learn to trust yourself.” - Jessica Yolanda Kaye
“Failure is the information you need to get where you’re going.” - Rick Rubin
The stories we tell ourselves shape our reality.
When someone means something to you, let them know.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the way you do something is the right way simply because that’s how you’ve always done it.
Enjoy the process, not the outcome.
Be clear about your priorities. If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything.
“For every hour you spend learning something, spend an additional hour putting it into practice.” - Jim Kwik
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
How you do anything is how you do everything.
Take pride in the things you do and give them everything. Don’t leave anything on the field.
“Earn your Saturdays.” - Matthew McConaughey
The single reason people, including myself, don’t engage with creativity is fear.
You can both be happy in where you are now and not be complacent in life.
To understand ‘what’ it’s all for, you must first identify ‘who’ it’s all for.
Everything in life has an opportunity cost - learn to say no to things you want to do, so you can say yes to things you really want to do.
Ask yourself if you’re being dragged or driven to understand whether you’re operating from a place of alignment or conditioning.
Creativity requires embracing the discomfort of the unknown.
The moment you accept you know nothing, you open yourself up to everything.
Bake in time each week for reflection. You can only turn a boat when you’re going slow enough to do so.
The less we rely on our brains to remember things, the more we can use our brains to process thoughts. Write things down.
The more you try, the luckier you become.
You are the only person who can create the life you want for yourself.
MOOD
I spent a lot of time this week designing some new features for Portaire, so opted for sounds to support deep work. This playlist goes quite hard.
FINDS
I love the idea of simplifying my system of notebooks as I’m constantly rotating through Moleskines based on what I’m writing. The reMarkable has been on my wish list for some time now.
I’ve been using Cosmos to save and organise images and quotes I find on my travels across the internet. It’s simple and beautifully designed.
I’m a big fan of the For Scale sub stack and loved their piece on Architectural Digest tours.
PAD London is on until Sunday — it’s my favourite design fair in London.
I’m obsessed with the speakers that Friendly Pressure builds. My dream is to have a room dedicated to an amazing audio system.
I’m off to Antwerp this weekend, so will share my own list for design lovers next week.
