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Belonging is the opposite of thinking that wherever you are, you would be better off somewhere else.  And if you’re lucky enough to experience it, it’s one of the most joyous and liberating feeling in the repertoire of human emotion.  Take it from somebody who struggled with belonging his whole life.  Somebody who always felt like an alien staring into the window of the party. Somebody who wondered if…

Cameron’s school of thought, which has been fundamental in my own development as an artist, promotes the idea that writing writes things.  She says that as we move our hands across the canvas of our lives, we paint more vividly the brush strokes of our experience. Our transitions become more consciously wrought. And writing becomes transformative, alchemical, empowering and enlightening.  Writing writes things.  Through this mantra, I discovered creating to…

Parkinson’s law, which states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, creates an interesting predicament for artists.  Because most of us work alone. And so, if we have a problem, we have all of the time in the world to obsess over it. There simply aren’t enough structures and constraints to keep our minds occupied.  Whereas people working a more traditional career path, complete with…

In the field of ocular physiology, there’s a concept called adaptation, which is the ability of the eye to adjust to various levels of darkness and light.  It’s a complicated process that involves body parts like pupils and rods and cones and photopigments.  Let’s focus on one particular element of the vision process.  The fact that our eyes adapt to bright light over a period of five minutes, but total…

I heard a fascinating interview between a comedian and his manager.  Both agreed that although every artist wants his name in the title of the show, having top billing was a dangerous move.  Because it means you’re the single point of success and failure for the project. After all, you’re the star of the show, which means you have to carry the plot like an albatross from scene to…

Wikipedia editors experience something called a solution looking for a problem.  According to various contributors, this phenomenon occurs when an inexperienced writer submits a proposal that doesn’t address any issue in particular. Even if that person’s writingisstylistically accurate, it’s only proposed for the sake of change and doesn’t offer any practical advantages.  And so, that article gets deleted. Nothing personal, it’s just business.  It’s an efficient, practical and democratic system…

What if we delivered holy water to orphans?  What if we could create spontaneous dance parties?  What if magicians entertained customers while waiting in line?  What if we offered pancakes to homeless people who did jumping jacks? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Natalie, Katie and Brittany gather in Brooklyn for some execution in public. # # # Execution Lesson 101:A sign that letting go may be in order…

Since the early eighties, parents, teachers, advertisers and television personalities have assured children that they were special. That they’re not like the others. And that the gifts they posses are unique and value and someday, somewhere, somebody is finally going to recognize just how amazing they really are, tap them on the shoulder and promptly reward them with the opportunity of a lifetime.  This message was pounded into my…

Macintosh users all dread the same moment.  It’s the spinning rainbow pinwheel of death.  If you’re not familiar with this icon, it’s a variation of the mouse pointer arrow that is used in the mac operating system to indicate that an application is busy.  It’s utterly infuriating. The entire system freezes up. Whatever you’re working on locks down. And you feel helpless because all you can do is sit…

I used to work for a boss who would tell the new hires: Never go into a meeting without an opinion. Sitting in silence doesn’t help the team or help your chances of getting hired. Speak up, argue and debate.  This is a critical balance in group dynamics. Because on one hand, we don’t want to take over the group and monopolize the conversation and bulldoze every idea in…