Sarah J. Bray

I am inspired by us today. Julianne has done some great work in putting together this declaration for the nation-building work we’re doing with Treacy Mize. Salute!

“You are in the stream of life, whether you like it or not, and you have to accept the responsibilities. I would like a few more of the pleasures, but there doesn’t seem to be time.” Lawrence Weiner

Beautiful film by Hillman Curtis of visual artist Lawrence Weiner. (I would have embedded it for you, but it’s not embeddable.)

This “being yourself” thing…it’s rather hard, isn’t it? I mean, it just is, with all of these little selves running around in the world, bouncing off of each other. You’d think it would be easier.

…with Kelly Parkinson of Copylicious. Shhhh…

“It seems obvious that there comes a period in your life where you have to learn how to say no to things that you don’t want to do, but I think the biggest, trickiest lesson in holding onto the stalwart commitment to your creativity is learning how to say no to things you do want to do.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, The Intelligent Channel interview

I’ve had a whole lot of practice saying no to things that I really want to do this past year. I think you’ve got to know the enormity and importance of what you’ve already said yes to to really do this effectively.

For me, this means:

• Yes, I want to publish on my blog consistently, even though it’s not urgent and it doesn’t even seem important in the everyday run of things. (I’ve decided it is VITALLY important to me, no matter what it seems like in the moment.)
• So…no, I don’t want to spend so much time publishing on social media; in the limited time I spend there, I will connect with people I like and conversations I find interesting.
• Yes, I want to re-open the program-formerly-known-as-the-hot-dates on March 19th (this is a new epiphany; I will be talking about it more to the sneak peeks people soon).
• So…no, I will not invest my time in that new product idea that I have. It will just have to wait.
• Yes, I want to build digital nations.
• So…no, I will not fill up my time with smaller-scoped projects (even ones that seem fun).

I can’t say no to things I’d love to do unless I fully understand the scope and commitment of what I’m saying yes to.

So much fun.

By the way, “curated” is such a great word. I know it’s getting curbludgeoned by overuse (I think I made that word up), but I will always love it. Almost as much as “cured”. Because cured reminds me of ham, which is delicious (on toast).

“I only think on the Internet anymore. My thinking is now divided into on the net and off the net. If I’m not on the net, I don’t think that much; when I’m on the net, I start to think. In this way, my thinking becomes always part of something else.” – Ai Weiwei, The Edge (in response to the question “How is the internet changing the way you think?”)

This quote is so obscure (and maybe a joke?) that I’m not quite sure what it means. Maybe that’s the point. Or maybe it’s proof that the internet has made me stupider, I don’t know. I’m posting it here to ask myself that question. How has the internet changed the way I think?

The internet has made it easier to indulge my quest for the ever-deeper answer. I can’t just be happy with surface information anymore. That’s much too easy. No, I must know the question behind the question, until I get to the root problem, and only then can I move forward with a solution.

In other words, the internet has made me unbearable to be around. Thanks, internet.

Image: David Seah

“…the traditional date of January 1st for making resolutions is the worst time to do it. These days, the end of the year is when we are our most frazzled…

So, on January 1st, I just start thinking about what happened last year. On February 2nd, this day of hopeful prognostication, I declare my intentions for the year.” David Seah, Groundhog Day Resolutions

David Seah’s practically-focused introspection floats my boat high. His goal to “create a system for self-sustaining life balance” is exactly what I’ve been trying to do with my 90-minute workday.

How’s that going? How nice of you to ask. Well, it’s been amazing. I feel like I can do anything. Time is no longer against me. In fact, I feel like I actually don’t need it anymore.

This, of course, is delusional. I find this wonderful daily life-dance that gives me a huge surge of motivation every single day. And then I try to use that motivation to be more productive. Which just kills it.

Well, it hasn’t killed my motivation yet. But I see the signs. This past week, I committed to re-opening my Hot Dates on March 19th. There is a ton to do to get it ready (not only is the weekly hot dates opening, but a brand new hot-dates-related-thing is opening as well). But I figured with all this energy my 90-minute workday has given me, it’d be no problem.

On Monday, I had 33 high-impact activities on my to-do list. On Tuesday, there were 27. Wednesday, around 22. Thursday and today, I chiseled it down to 12.

Boy, am I glad it’s Friday.

Anyway, I’ve realized that I need a 90-minute workday 2.0 — a version that you use when you have tons of energy, motivation, and an upcoming deadline. I love how David Seah is turning his whole process into a game — giving himself points for missions completed, effort expended, incoming feedback, outgoing production, and power level.

It’s time for me to LEVEL UP. I think some bonus weekend points are in order.

(hat tip to Kelly Parkinson for getting me addicted to David Seah).

“If we want to really show what design is and what it can do, we need to get design elevated to the partner level. Partners have major equity stakes, real decision-making power, and are involved in product development from the beginning. The design team must feel that it has both the authority to make product decisions and the responsibility for the outcome of those decisions.”

“Remember the stakes. The products that take design seriously and incorporate it from the start are going to be the ones that connect with people in a way that really makes an impact in the world. As more and more products are built in this manner, people are going to notice the pattern. Designers will be seen as an essential ingredient in any startup team. The perception of design as decoration will start to show cracks.”

“Build something that fixes the insanity of modern education. Or helps people weather the upcoming financial crises and rise in unemployment. Or improves the health of people around the world. Or brings neighbors closer together. Or helps people run small businesses. Or strengthens the bonds of families. Or puts existing abusive, mammoth institutions out of business (pretty please).” Cameron Koczon, A List Apart, An Important Time for Design

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about why I uprooted S.Joy Studios to start A Small Nation. Cameron Koczon has said it all.

To be able to show what good design can do (and that’s design on every level — the business strategy, product development, brand quidelines, asset creation, development…everything that goes into solving the problem we’re trying to solve), designers must have some level of ownership. For us, that ownership comes through a strong personal belief in the people we’re working with and what they’ve set out to accomplish; involvement at the ground level and every level of the project’s execution; and a public declaration and documentation of the project’s life cycle.

That’s why, when someone comes to us for a potential nation-building project, we go through several rigorous weeks of vision-casting before we ever shake hands. That’s why we only take on a handful of projects every year. That’s why the most important thing to us is that the founders of this project have a Great Good that we can stand behind…and not only stand behind, but that we actively want to make happen (more on that here [pdf]).

It’s tough to take that kind of risk. But it’s the only way to stick our flag in the ground. Design is not decoration. Development is not code monkey-ing. Marketing is not playing the pied piper. We are all solving problems that desperately need to be solved, for both ourselves and the worldwide good. And to do that, we have to own both the problems and the solutions we’re choosing to implement.

“i just signed up for this, because @sarahjbray is so damn irresistible.” Danielle LaPorte

“If you’re thinking about jumping in and working with my “dream team”, I can assure you of one thing. You will NOT be disappointed. That’s a promise. Find a way.” Treacy Mize