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“Any field requires imagination if you want to be good at it.” Everyone is creative. Everyone. Even lawyers and accountants and republicans. Creativity is the dominant feature of the human endowment, the only common currency our species has and the highest example of what it means to be a person. And what drives me crazy is, the people who claim they aren’t creative. Bullshit. What they’re really saying is,…

“Who we are at seven is who we are forever.” When I was a kid, I was always the first one done with the exam. After fifteen minutes, I’d look up from my desk and realize everyone else was still on the second page. Woops. So my teachers cocked their heads. They figured I was either cheating, rushing or didn’t care. And my classmates rolled their eyes. They thought I was…

HELLO, my name is Scott!  But I’m not here to talk about me. Today I want to introduce you to my friend and colleague, Johnny Sciortino. For the last three months, Johnny has been a Creative Strategy intern at POKE New York. He and I were desk buddies and worked closely on several projects. Sadly, his stint at our company is coming to a close. Which means your company has…

“I’d much rather be the one creating things that people react to than be the one just sitting back reacting, too scared to make anything.” My first album wasn’t exactly my finest work. The lyrics were laughable, the singing was tolerable at the guitar playing was passable. But the best part about the record was, it was done. I could hold it in my hands. I could share it…

“We’re not supposed to be one thing in life.” Peeling the human onion is one of life’s great joys. Any time we get exposed to a new layer of someone we know, it’s always a fascinating moment. Like when the guy we see at the gym every week releases a new documentary. Or when the girl we sit next to at work launches her own line of stuffed animals. We…

“True life comes when we’re willing to admit that we’ve reached the end of ourselves.” When I decided to retire from entrepreneurship, there was a noticeable grieving process. Which makes sense, since grief is the human response to the death of something we’ve formed a bond with. And if you ask anyone who’s ever owned a business before, that bond is like none other. For most entrepreneurs, it’s hard to…

“Money forgets but god remembers.” The advantage of making a lot of money at a young age is, you figure out your saturation level. How much money you actually need to support your lifestyle, underwrite your addictions and be happy. I remember the year I had the highest earnings of my career. Felt pretty damn good. Even bought a few nice things to celebrate. But the surprising thing was, I…

“My solitude could not pass unnoticed.” I’m an extrovert, but with mild antisocial tendencies. One one hand, people are my power source. Being around others gives me energy like a carbo load. On the other hand, introspection is one of my superpowers. And the seductiveness of selfishly secluding myself is very hard to resist. It’s an ongoing internal battle. Lately, I’ve been learning to introduce a drop of mindfulness into the…

“Sobriety was my drug.” We become addicted to things for the same reason we initially try them: Because we like the way they make us feel. And that’s the irony of abstinence. It can actually have an addictive quality. Growing up, every time I said no to drinking, drugs, smoking, whatever, in that moment, something biological happened in my brain. I felt proud because I practiced restraint. I felt safe because…

“His film not only captured my imagination, it kickstarted my ambition.” When I first started playing music, I used to spend hours going through my dad’s record collection. One night, I came across an album that sounded strangely familiar. When I asked my dad who the singer was, a huge smile lit up his face. Turns out, the voice was his. Senior year of high school, my dad’s band put out…