I was a quick and happy supporter of Seth Godin's Kickstarter project he launched last year to produce a new book. And now having completed The Icarus Deception, I'm glad to have been in on the front end of this important work.
Godin's premise takes the Icarus myth - that we shouldn't fly too close to the sun - and smashes it. I like Godin's recent shift from overt marketing and business ideas to tales and copy that inspires any of us to make art (which he defines as the important work that only we can do).
Here are various quotes from the book I enjoyed. By all means, get your own copy.
Art isn't a result; it's a journey. The challenge of our time is to find a journey worthy of your heart and soul.
If your team is filled with people who work for the company, you'll soon be defeated by tribes of people who work for a cause.
Just because you're winning a game doesn't mean it's a good game.
Art has no right answer. The best we can hope for is an interesting answer.
We can't suddenly quit a job and then race to find a form of art that will pay off before the next mortgage payment is due. Creating art is a habit, one that we practice daily or hourly until we get good at it.
The hotel concierge, the talent agent, and the car mechanic are all discovering that when they move from task to show, from spec to connection, they are adding far more value than ever before.
I don't care how many friends you have on Facebook or how many followers you have on Twitter. Those are not actual friends or truly followers. I care about how much people will miss you if you're not back here again tomorrow.
We're insatiable consumers of connection.
Connection happens when humanity asserts itself.
Emotional labor is the labor that's in demand today. Not the grueling work of toiling in the sun but the frightening work of facing our shadows.
One definition of propaganda: It benefits the teller, not the recipient.
When your art fails, make better art.
You don't commit to a venue or a medium or a technique. You commit to a path and an impact.
We don't need more stuff; we need more humanity.
Blaming the system is soothing because it lets you off the hook. But when the system is broken, we wonder why you were relying on the system in the first place.
If not enough people doubt you, you're not making a difference.
Art doesn't become art until it meets an audience.
A lifetime spent noticing begins to turn into the ability to see what others can't.
You don't need a guru; you need experience, the best kind of experience, the experience of repeated failure.
Your generosity is more important than your perfection.
Even if you're not self-employed, your boss is you. You manage your career, your day, your responses. You manage how you sell your services and your education and the way you talk to yourself.
If you weren't born with talent, that's fine. You were born with commitment.
The industrial economy won't disappear, but the agenda will increasingly be set by those who make connection, not widgets.
People hesitate to lead or to invent or to make art because they're afraid of what will happen if they do.
If you don't stand out, you'll never need to stand up.
Freedom isn't the ability to do whatever you want. It's the willingness to do whatever you want.
A transaction, even steven, pushes people apart. A gift creates an imbalance; it strengthens the tribe; it moves the game forward.
The biggest black mark on your working resume is the road not taken, the project not initiated, and the art not made.
Effort isn't the point, impact is.