The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.
Hi everyone,
We live in a culture obsessed with originality, but here’s a secret: every master learned by copying. Picasso copied the old masters before he invented Cubism. The Beatles started as a cover band. Writers type out passages from their favorite books to feel the rhythm of great prose in their fingers.
Copying isn't cheating. It’s a method for learning. In fact it’s the most common way to learn anything. How did you learn to tie your shoes? Someone said, watch what I do. Now you try it. It’s the most natural way to learn that there is.
When you copy something exactly, you will discover things you never noticed before. The way a line curves. The pause between sentences. The structure beneath the surface. You learn not just what was made, but how it was made, because your body has to make the same movements, the same gestures, as the person who made the original.
Exercise.
Here’s your exercise for the week. Find something you admire — a drawing, a piece of writing, a photograph, a design — and copy it as exactly as you can. Don’t try to improve it or make it your own. Just copy.
Pay attention to what you discover in the process. What choices did the creator make that you hadn’t noticed? What’s harder than it looked? What surprises you?
You’re not copying to pass it off as your own. You’re copying to learn. Once you understand how something was made, you can use those techniques to make something new.
Make a copy of something you love. See what happens.
Project Kairos.
Our fall semester kicks off at the beginning of September, and it will be here before you know it. We will be exploring time-boxing, deadlines, routines, how we make the time to get our work done. I’ve already spoken to a few of you and it’s already generated some fun and interesting ideas. If you have time for a 1:1 chat to help me think through the fall semester, please send me a note so I can hear your thoughts, and we can talk about how I can make it work for you.
Vibe club.
Vibe club is a regular meetup focused on “mutual interests around AI + coding + related vibing activities—design, art, marketing, venturing,” so reach out to Dan if you want to be part of that.
Procreate club.
Procreate is an iPad app for digital art. I’ve used it to design t-shirts, posters, and even a card deck. If you have an iPad and want to get better at drawing, or just play around with art on your iPad, I’m hosting some time to play together every Monday at noon Pacific, 3 PM Eastern, 8 PM BST and 9 PM CET. Here’s a link to join.
Summery.
I hope you’re enjoying your summer. There are plenty of ideas floating around on the summertime board, so please check it out and add your thoughts.
And I’ve got some time this summer which means more time for 1:1 calls. So please do send me a note if you’d like to chat.
See you soon!
