The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?

by Seth Godin

This book revolves around a simple assumption on my part: that you know how to be human and how to make art. We don’t need to be taught to make art, but sometimes we need permission to do so. Following instructions is overrated.

We made a mistake. We settled for a safety zone that wasn’t bold enough, that embraced authority and compliance. We built our comfort zone around being obedient and invisible, and as a result, we’re far too close to the waves. You can go to as many meetings, read as many books, and attend as many seminars as you like, but if you don’t figure out how to realign your comfort zone with today’s new safety zone, all the strategy in the world isn’t going to help you.

At the same time, almost all people believe they are capable of editing, giving feedback, or merely criticizing. That means that finding people to fix your typos is easy. Finding someone to say “go” is almost impossible.

Do you think we don’t need your art, or are you afraid to produce it?

Propaganda is a set of stories about what someone in power would like you to be. What they’re insisting you become. Propaganda in the industrial age has created generations who believe that consistent obedience to the powerful is part of who we are. One definition of propaganda: It benefits the teller, not the recipient.

Where Are the Gods? The old work: Bale that cotton, mow that hay, load that barge. Fill in this form, obey these instructions, take this test. The new work: Start something. Figure it out. Connect. Make the call. Ask. Learn. Repeat. Risk it. Open. What’s next? The old work is machinelike. The new work is for mythological gods.

Kamiwaza involves removing artifice and defense and poses from our work and boiling it down to the true essence, performing it in a way that eliminates hiding places and excuses.

Four Common Mistakes That Help You Hide Busy is the same as brave. A mentor is going to change your life. Waiting to get picked is the next step. There is a secret, and you will soon learn it.

Three Useless Questions Where do you get your ideas? What sort of software do you use to do your writing? What should I do next?

The answers don’t matter. At all. The choice of tools doesn’t matter; the method doesn’t matter. You don’t need a guru; you need experience, the best kind of experience, the experience of repeated failure.

You can risk being wrong or you can be boring.

From “What Can I Get” to “What Can I Give”

Freedom isn’t the ability to do whatever you want. It’s the willingness to do whatever you want.

Artists want to add energy to the system, to shake it up, to keep the game moving forward.