Creators strip down
Creators pare down to the essence.
Think of the creators of four major religions: Jesus, Mohammad, the Buddha, and Confucius. All four lived sparely, simply.
Simplicity speaks so loudly millions hear its message.
Think of Steve Jobs. Every device coming out of Apple after his return to the helm was stripped down to its essentials, nothing more.
Think of Philip Roth, who in his later years has worked monkishly, rising early, writing in a separate studio complete with workout equipment so he needn’t leave his creative cave, working all day, often into the night.
Here’s Robin Sharma on the foremost quality he’s noticed in business innovators:
World-class entrepreneurs are all minimalists.
Those who would create something meaningful eject all that is superfluous.
(The way Paul McCartney ejected all the fangirls from his world to truck with his life love Linda; the way Mickey Mouse ejected all the other mices for Minnie.)
Would you think of offering goat tenderloin to a committed vegan?
Those who are committed bend the world to their agenda, even those — especially those — who are not committed to their agenda. They do it as much by what they’ve excluded as what they’ve included.
Why do I write of this? Because I too am ejecting as I am committing. I am sifting through my days and saying yes and no, yes this serves my commitment, no, this does not.
I am inspired most by those who’ve streamlined a life toward a purpose.
Show me a purposeful life and I’ll show you someone who’s rejected much.
(But here’s the freaky beautiful in that: the lean purposeful life is abundantly, ecstatically rich to those who live it.)
Part of the What creators do series.
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