Hold That Thought

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Hello Reader,

There is much less cardboard in my life and I'm starting to feel settled in the new house. While I'm still not writing as much as I'd like, I'm slowly making space for creativity and thinking. I'll get there. Maybe you relate.

Here are three things on that theme to turn overthinking into expert thinking:

1. “To do something different, or meaningful, or human, is messy. Creativity is accessing the part of the brain adjacent to emotions, and emotions are the opposite of rationality. It doesn’t fit neatly into an ideal customer profile. You can’t attach quarterly goals to it.” From An Open Letter to My Fellow Creatives in a Dark Hour by Joe Alterio on Medium.
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2. “Arrows travel further the more you pull back.” From You're Allowed to Disappear by Michael Thompson
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3. “What if a world where it can be for love and honor and there can still be money at the end […] is actually possible?” From What's the Difference Between an Artist and a Creator? By Yancey Strickler

This week's underthinking link is Into Time (click for pretty gradients). Thinking score: 2/10.

Extra thoughts…

Thank you to everyone who participated in our poll last month to help us narrow down the subtitle options for our upcoming book, Lens Not Label. Your comments were especially invaluable.

You saw things from new angles and pointed out some great ideas for us to consider. Such as where subtle word choices may be inadvertently labelling…or even othering! Or why a certain subtitle option resonated with you.

All of it was welcome and wonderful and we’re back for more

We created a new poll with your top choices and a new addition. Again, we’re looking for something that stays within the same metaphor of ‘Lens Not Label’, e.g. lenses, seeing, looking, focusing, and reflects the principles of our book:

• conversational, not instructional
• in partnership, not power
• simple and straightforward

Please let us know which option says it best for you:

Cast a vote for best subtitle!

Thanks again for your participation. We’ll be sharing the final result as soon as we tally the votes and clear it with our publisher.

That's all for now, have a great rest of your week with something you enjoy!
Kim

PS. Merriam-Webster weighs in with this rule of thumb for the octopus and other ambiguous forms: “if English gets the opportunity to trip you up, it will”

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Hello! I'm Kim and I’ve spent over four decades overthinking absolutely everything. Here's how I made sense of it all.