Consume to create

Everyone of us wanted to make films when we were in film school, not so many once out of it. The difference I feel is that we consumed a lot of films when we were learning and it made us want to make films.

This is with everything, knowingly or unknowingly. The more you read comics the more you feel like writing/drawing them, the more you read books you have the urge to write and the more you geek out on plants, the more you want to grow them.

We are, after all, animals that have historically learnt by copying, by enacting what we see. Its only in this day and age and the culture of ‘originality’ are we seeing it as something to be restricted or avoided. The fact remains that you cannot, for a longer period, be engaged in a medium without consuming the creations of someone else in the same. Your inspirations are your own and they can come from anywhere but the act of engaging with the form is something that will always be important.

PS3 vs Xbox 360

When the PS3 was launched it was a much superior machine than the Xbox 360. The problem was that Sony relied on its brawns and thought it would win the race whereas Microsoft kept using its market wisdom to expand the titles under them. PS3 was a solid machine compared to the 360 at its launch but relying on just that made it lose big.

You might be strong but that is no reason to be complacent. You might be skilled but you will still need to be smart about using your skills in the real world. You can create value with inferior skills and strengths, as much or even more than the strongest by being smart about how you play the game.

Experience over achievements

All achievements are dust as they are external. Within each person lies their own experience and its the thing that matters the most.

We look at achievements blindly in this world not understanding that it is the experience that we crave. We crave to experience the process of achieving something or the experience of having achieved something. The achievement in itself is only a small blip in a continuous experiential life.

When we want to achieve anything, we want to basically change our current experiences for a new set. A couch potato would want to change their living experience by wanting to run 5k. A film-maker would want to strive to the best of his ability to win an award. A part-time musician would want to focus and spend more time on his music to achieve a best-selling record. When the achievement actually happens its only a moment compared to the long stretches of time one spends in the process. Its important thus, to be grounded in being the (better) person and paying attention to know if the process allows you to be happy. Writing off happiness as a fluffy thing that brings weakness is the perfect recipe to harden your soul.