Artists Are Hackers And Hackers Are Artists
Over the course of two years, I’ve been making digital consumer products with some extraordinary designers and developers. They just did not happen to become one. They practiced their crafts over and over and over again. As Tony Robbins likes to put it, repetition is mother of skill. They now think differently, in a way anyone else cannot. These guys by nature are artists and hackers and by working with them, I realized that even if they have different skill sets, they share common characteristics. They create value out of something that did not exist before. Doesn’t matter if it’s 100 million users or 1 person, if you can create an positive impact on anyone’s life by what you do, it’s what I call success.
When you build something you’re just trying to express yourself. And that’s what artists do and that’s what art is all about. Expressing yourself; creating emotions through your craft; make people feel differently.
“I’m an artist man. Give me tuba, and I’ll get you something out of it.” — John Lennon
Hackers are people who can break and make things, by any little resources they have, like an artist. Throw them a problem, with some time, and you’ll have a lot of solutions. It’s not just going from point A to Z. It’s about discovering all the alphabets in the middle and getting to the right solution, eventually. And that’s exactly what a hacker does. A hacker would go around making things while others are just wondering where to start off. You need to start doing things. Artists wait for nothing. They try to make things whenever they are inspired. That can be while eating, or watching football. Inspiration can click in any moment, and I’ll get to it in some other post. But the thing is, they will want to start researching, write notes, sketch out, create something out of their thoughts.
They will do what they believe in and you cannot stop them from doing it.
So my point is, whatever you do, try to associate yourself with metaphors like these. Be the person who gets shit done. Be the person who you are inspired by. Be the person with strong beliefs and principles you can stick to. You have to start working on whatever you have been planning for ages. Start thinking like an artist/hacker. Because it takes both personalities to create something extraordinary.
Inspired by all the hackers and artists out there. Have a good week.
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