20 Life Lessons from Kevin Kelly
Invaluable bits of pithy advice on creativity and learning from the technologist Kevin Kelly
Last year, I started to maintain a commonplace book. While writing in it over the weekend, I re-read the very first entry I had made. A selection of advice from a book by Kevin Kelly. On his 68th birthday, technologist Kevin Kelly set down to write advice for his children, things he wished he had known earlier. What resulted was a simple and sincere book titled Excellent Advice for the Living. True to its name, the book offers practical and actionable advice for everyone. Some lessons may seem obvious, but their beauty lies in their simplicity. Here are 20 lessons, from a book that contains about 450 nuggets of wisdom. I have chosen these for their applicability to creativity and learning, but like most good advice, their applicability goes beyond these things and form a blueprint for a kind and meaningful life.
Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits. Don’t focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout.
When you’re anxious in your to-do list, take comfort in your have-done list.
To be interesting, be interested.
Tend to the small things. More people are defeated by blisters than by mountains.
Separate the process of creating from improving. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement.
Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is the most potent force in the universe and you can get better at it. It’s the one skill that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows.
Life gets better as you replace transactions with relationships.
Making art is not selfish; it’s for the rest of us. If you don’t do your thing you are cheating us.
Don’t create things to make money. Make money so that you can create things. The reward for good work is more work.
Be prepared; When you have 90% of a large project completed, finishing the details will take another 90%.
Most overnight successes take at least 5 years. Budget your life accordingly.
Be strict with yourself, forgiving of others. Reverse is hell for everyone.
Work to become, not acquire.
Your purpose is to discover your purpose. This is not a paradox. This is the way.
You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.
This is the best time ever to make something. None of the greatest, coolest creations 20 years from now have been invented yet. You are not late.
To transcend the influence of your heroes, copy them shamelessly like a student until you get them out of your system.
Be frugal in everything except your passions.
It is usually much easier to make big audacious changes than small incremental ones.
For a great payoff, be curious about the things that you are not interested in.
And a bonus 21st, “ Advice like these are not laws. They are like hats. If one doesn’t fit, try another.”