Bruce Mau's incomplete list of manifestos was definitely far from what I was expecting. Many of his points seemed to be quite contradictory: Take field trips, avoid fields. Of course the meaning of field was completely different in these two cases, but there were other instances where I found myself wondering how this advice should really be taken. Some of the points seemed to be good advice for anyone at any time. But then every once in a while there would be a point like, "Don't enter competitions." I still don't think I really understand why Mau insists that they are simply "Not good for you." Is it that he doesn't trust unknown judges to decide what is best? Or possibly that he doesn't care for a best to be chosen? Whatever, I think they're probably alright.
Anyway, I ended up deciding to pick the mantra: Make Mistakes Faster. I think that Mau's idea (even though he admits to borrowing the idea from Andy Grove), is that the quicker you make mistakes, the quicker you filter out possible solutions, and the quicker you arrive at a feasible solution. I would agree with this. The problem is that making mistakes takes as much time as making progress. Mau would argue that mistakes are progress. And I would agree. But putting exhilarating effort into making choices I expect to result in mistakes seems like a waste of time. When I say that for this week I will MAKE MISTAKES FASTER, I mean that I will try possible solutions more vigorously. However, maybe it wouldn't hurt to try some things that I think are inherently bad.
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