#097 What If We Just Kept Going?
Common Discourse is a project designed to help others (and ourselves) think through creativity, focus, and intentional work—from Alex Tan & Alice Otieno.
Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.
I used to get caught up in the wrong stuff.
“When we land this dream client, we’ll finally have made it.”
“This type of project will change everything for us.”
“When we get bigger budgets, we’ll finally be able to do everything we’ve wanted.”
You end up with some of those things and it still isn’t perfect. Or you just keep wanting other things. Or you find out you actually miss the time when you didn’t have any of this stuff.
Everything changes when our mindset shifts from “We just want this thing” to “We just want to keep going.”
— Alex
An idea from us
I. VALUABLE IDEAS
Here is very simple and overlooked advice for people that want to make things that are impactful: Build ideas that people want to share.
The best selling non-fiction books are easy to explain and highly shareable.
Hit television shows generate tons of discussion and allow viewers to share ideas about what might happen next.
Digital products and tools explode with sign-ups from referral incentives.
People don’t share ideas because it helps the maker of the idea. They do it because it helps them. And unlike most other things, ideas only grow when people freely take them.
A quote from somebody else
“The thing that surprises you is what frees you because it has always existed, your world just hadn't yet expanded to include it”
— Evelyn Bi
Links worth sharing
📝 Discover Your Creative Offer, by Ayanna Zaire Cotton
🗽 Manhattan Archives is a digital project documenting and preserving Latino and Caribbean through photography and family stories.
🎤 Words rappers use and don’t use
🌏 Tyler Mitchell’s new website showcases his ever expanding catalogue of work across print, exhibitions, photographs, film and more.
🏷 Meta-label is a new space created for releasing, selling, and exhibiting creative work.
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 use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.
🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.
💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis