#047 The Common Discourse Catalog

Mar 01, 2022

Common Discourse is a project designed to help others (and myself) think through creativity, focus, and intentional work. It hits your inbox every Tuesday + Friday at 9:17am PST.

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We’ve started using are.na as a place to archive more specific sections of this project in the event that you find yourself needing to track back and find something from previous briefings without clicking through each one.

There’s an open channel that includes all of the ideas from me, links worth sharing, and an archive with all of the Sights & Sounds guests to date. Quotes that have been shared will get populated this week as well.

Alice and I have a lot of more ideas for how to use this as a community tool in the future, so follow along and use it for reference as this project grows and becomes bigger week over week.

OK I have a fun idea but it’s only fun if you participate. Drop a link in the comments below that you sent to a friend this week with no context. It can be anything.

— Alex

Ideas from me

I. QUICK IDEAS

Moving forward with our first thought or idea never maximizes the potential that we’re fully capable of.

When you quickly come up with an idea, write it down, but don’t settle.

Iteration is the discovery of possibilities. When more things are possible, the more chances we allow for lightning to strike.

II. TWO CENTS

If you have two cents, give them over.

The decision maker might not need the extra change, but in the worst case scenario, a good leader kindly hands your two pennies back to you and explains that they’ve already got what the bill requires.

But in the event that they’re short-changed, your thoughts or ideas could make all the difference.

III. QUESTION THE QUESTION

Many people will ask you to do something without uncovering the reason. Instead of just doing what you’re told, question the question in order to figure out what they’re after.

When we know the why, we create opportunities for us to land on alternative solutions that may be faster, more efficient, or smarter.

“Can we raise the exposure of these images?”

“What are we hoping to communicate by increasing the exposure?”

A quote from somebody else

“You don’t commit to a venue or a medium or a technique. You commit to a path and an impact. Broadway is a venue. Joy through movement is an art. When the venue doesn’t support your art, you can change it without changing your commitment to the journey.”

— Seth Godin

Links worth sharing

👖 The big fit has been in but this is huge.

📻 Samuel Ross on designing objects that record and reflect on the world.

🧑‍💻 Every Element

🌐 Caleb Flowers asked MW.S to bring his concept of Good Zones to life.

🪑 Seating Archive I spent some time on this weekend.

🥊 The best one by far.

💰 Wealth, shown to scale. (This is insane)

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

🐤 We have a Twitter feed where we populate things that resonate.

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

Common Discourse