223Though it flies in the face of almost universally accepted wisdom, moderately disorganized people, institutions, and systems frequently turn out to be more efficient, more resilient, more creative, and in general more effective than highly organized ones.
5
224Messy desk-Optimal
29
225As Sellar & Harper have pointed out, that's one of the great characteristics of a messy desk: it will tend to naturally reflect the way you think and work. Thought and work are unpredictable, varying, and ambiguous. They're messy. Why shouldn't your desk be messy too?
31
226Companies that did a lot of strategic planning performed, on average, no better than companies that did strategic planning.
43
227Hawthorne Effect
67
228Types of messes and neatness
Clutter, mixture, time sprawl, improv, inconsistency, blur, noise, distraction, bounce, convolution, inclusion, distortion.
Arrangement, homogeneity, scheduling, planfulness, consistency, purging, categorization, insulation, focus, stillness, clarification, preservation.
72
229Arnold Schwarzenegger's Schedule
75
230Mess in itself never seems to be the problem it's the difference in how the two people view the state of order in their home that rankles.
112
231Habit Webs
117
232Messes and Beethoven's Grosse Fuge
163
233Messes and JS Bach Improv
289
234Martin Heidegger - Art resists categorization
296
241That is why you scratch for the little ideas. Without the little ones, there are no big ideas.
98
242When he needed an idea, Thomas Edison liked to sit in a "thinking chair" holding a metal ball bearing in each palm, with his hands closed. On the floor, directly under his hands, were two metal pie pans. Edison would close his eyes and allow his body to relax. Somewhere between consciousness and dreaming his hands would relax and open without effort, letting the ball bearing fall noisily into the pie pans. That's when he would wake up and write down the idea in his head at the moment.
201
243The key words here are "prepared" and "lucky". They're inseparable. You don't get lucky without preparation, and there's no sense in being prepared if you're not open to the possibility of a glorious accident.
120
244You only need one good reason to commit to an idea, not 400. But if you have 400 reasons to say yes and one reason to say no, the answer is probably no.
128
245Whom the gods wish to destroy, they give unlimited resources.
129
246Exercise 16: Pick a Fight
133
247The great painters are incomparable draftsmen. They also know how to mix their own paint, grind it, put in the fixative: no task is too small to be worthy of their attention
162
248Get _yourself_ offstage.
164
249Experience vs. Inexperience. (Inexperience erases fear)
167 et seq.
250Exercise 23: Take inventory of your skills
174
251The more you fail in private, the less you will fail in public.
218
252Failures, list of.
215
530Every piece is a small dissertation
Marcus Overacker
