Embrace Exponential Effort

Renew Your Brilliance. The staleness of custom weakens admiration, and a mediocrity that's new often eclipses the highest excellence grown old. Try therefore to be born again in valor, in genius, in fortune, in all. Display startling novelties, rise afresh like the sun every day.
- Balthasar Gracian



Author Ray Bradbury was best known for his popular science fiction writing, including Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, along with a stream of other essays, novels and screenplays. An early documentary captures him at work in his office/studio as he discusses the evolution of one of his stories. A self-described “pack rat”, his office was piled high with books, manuscripts and all kinds of interesting and eclectic artifacts.

Out of this simmering mix of content, Bradbury was able to steadily push his stories along and pull quotes and ideas out of the air practically on demand. Bradbury was certainly not along in this regard - Edison had his design center in Orange New Jersey, Walt Disney created his famous animation studios, even Elon Musk’s Giga Factories can be viewed as giant cauldron of creative problem solving. Musk jokes that these factories are the “machine that builds the machine”. Each of these spaces was uniquely shaped to meet the creative output needed - whether that is a steady stream of stories, animated films, inventions or electric cars - but they all share a commitment to both novelty and output.

If you wish to renew your brilliance each day and “display startling novelties” you need to have a space and routine for bringing that transformation to life.

Whether it is an office, studio, or some other type of engaging space - take the time to build a distinct and creative environment and process where you can start each day flooded with new ideas and inspiration and then roll them out the door.