|
Solo Field Notes is your weekly design and visibility lab — part of the Solo Business School, and dedicated to helping solopreneurs stand out with smart systems, sharp visuals, and AI that unlocks your edge. Each week, you get fresh ideas to help you stay small and play big.
Back in art school, sculptor William Daley gave a talk about his work. Someone asked where he got his ideas. He dropped a line I still think about: “Originality is in direct proportion to the obscurity of your sources.” Some of us chuckled. We knew his sculptures were inspired by symbols and shapes created thousands of years ago: simple, elegant, and geometric. (We also knew his humor.) By the time those ancient influences moved through Daley’s hands, the work had become unmistakably his own....
I’ve been thinking lately about how we return to things.Not out of nostalgia, but because the timing is finally right. For example, I’ve recently returned to studying French. Not due to a big life change, but because I was ready to circle back. I started in 4th grade, continued through high school, and a year in college. Then it went dormant. Years later, there was a burst of intense study, and I even spent a month in France learning and living with a French family. But life moved on, and the...
Sometimes the biggest breakthrough in your work comes from who stands next to you. We’ve been watching a string of Robert Redford movies at our house this past week, kind of a tribute marathon after hearing about his passing. One thing I didn’t know: he almost didn’t get the role that made him famous. When Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was being cast, the studio had other names in mind: Jack Lemmon, then Steve McQueen. Even after those fell through, they thought Redford was too...