Learn: Jargon emotions, Zen Pencils, Make good art

Read: 3 minutes 27 seconds

Greetings from Austin, 

I love it when tidbits get stuck in my head. 

This week it's been, “Make good art.” 

It applies to creative work or really anything we make (replace "art" with “work”).

Here are 3 nuggets to make good (anything).

🤔 Jargon Feels

Our brains do this funny thing without us even noticing it. 

We “intellectualize” emotions by using jargon instead of expressing the core emotion of how we feel. 

For example, we might say, “I’m spread too thin” or “I'm keeping busy.” Instead of just “I feel sad, scared, or angry.” 

Try replacing jargon words with feeling words. (Article here.)

✏️ Zen Pencils

I’m not really a comic book person, but these are awesome... 

This old website Zen Pencils takes famous poems or quotes and turns them into little comics. 

The tagline is “Cartoon quotes from inspirational folks.” 

Make Good Art was a famous commencement speech by Neil Gaiman in 2012. 

I love the Zen Pencil illustration here. 

😬 Naked Truth

In the Make Good Art speech above, Neil says to make your art. The stuff that only you can do.

"The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That’s the moment you may be starting to get it right."

We’ve all had the naked-in-public dream that tingles with angst. What if that same feeling meant we’re on to something good? 

Note: please don't get yourself canceled. I'm not advocating indecent exposure.

I'm talking about intellectual nudity. That's something worth flashing.

In good health, 

Mitchell