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LM: #308: What Office Space can teach you about ideas
If you can’t finish what you start, look at your project approach.
You can see a poor project approach in one of my favorite movies, Office Space.
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Tom Smykowski is obsessed with his idea for a Jump to Conclusions Mat. It’s just a mat with different “conclusions” written on it, that you can “jump” to.
When Tom first tells his coworkers this idea, he’s a needle-shaped creator.
Think of the flow from ideas-had to projects-completed as like a funnel. Needle-shaped creators have a needle-shaped funnel.
The top of their funnel is thin. Tom has only one idea. The bottom of their funnel comes to a point. Tom has never executed that idea.
The main problem a needle-shaped creator has is they’re too quick to fall in love with their first idea. Like Tom, they spend years fantasizing about that idea, and never taking action.
Tom eventually makes the first Jump to Conclusions Mat, but executing the idea hasn’t made it any better. Now he’s a straw-shaped creator. He has one idea, and one execution.
Chances are, the Jump to Conclusions Mat fails. Would Tom be better off had he never executed it in the first place? That depends upon whether he changes his approach after that failure.
When you’re first following ideas, it’s normal to be a needle-shaped creator. You’ll follow better ideas if you widen the top of your funnel.
Aphorism: “Always start with too much material. Then give your reader just enough.” —William Zinsser
Book: I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom (Amazon) is TikTok genius Jason Pargin’s latest novel.
Best,
David
P.S. My AMA/Livestream is this Wednesday!
