The Weekly Proof: From Admiration To Proof
This week, I’ve been reading “Creative Selection” by Ken Kocienda, which recounts his experience as a software engineer at Apple during the Golden Age of Steve Jobs’s second coming.
I’m reading this book for three reasons.
First, I love Apple as if it were my own creation, so I’m always open to any insight into the company, its people, its products, and its culture.
Second, I’ve been working on improving my software development skills for quite some time. These days, that includes reading literature about thinking like a programmer, data structures and algorithms, clean code, and clean architecture.
Meanwhile, finding this book was a godsend.
I’ve always wondered what it was like producing software at one of the most valuable companies in the world. And in 2026, the year of our lord, I’ve been able to find out without jumping through major hoops to get the job myself.
Third, from the moment I read the intro on my iPad, I knew this book would be a treat. It’s giving me the philosophical ideas behind high-quality software that meets you where you are and takes you where you need to go.
How something complex can be simplified by understanding its innate complexity.
Taking your time to get it right the first time.
Because once you hit publish on a particular work, you won’t get another chance to do it for the first time.
The first iPhone was introduced once, but every year they continue to make improvements, no matter how small or big.
The Tension
The material I shared on Tuesday, I’ve been using versions of what ended up on the page for years.
After I realized I couldn’t be the people I looked up to, I had to reassess a lot of things.
One of the first things I had to reassess was inspiration.
It’s not this reliable thing we can depend on, but when it shows up, we must seize it. It’s like a boost, if anything. A means of solving a seemingly unsolvable problem, perhaps. When it shows up.
Otherwise, we show up regularly to the task at hand. Not because of inspiration, but in spite of it.
The second thing I had to reassess was the idea of heroship.
Do I really need someone to look up to, and if so, why does it have to be someone else? Why can’t it be the future version of myself, as Matthew McConaughey suggested?
These days, I don’t have heroes or people I look up to. There are people who make great stuff, and I pay attention to their work.
I analyze it by mostly asking why, and then experimenting with the answers in my own work.
The third thing I had to reassess was my passion.
I learned to do what I love and not what other people love. To follow my curiousity despite what others might think. To solve problems and publish my work often.
The first problems I started to solve were my own.
Now, I’m trying to figure out how to solve the same problems for others.
The Lesson
You might feel inspired one day by someone’s work.
Don’t let it stop there. Seize it and create something of your own based on what it teaches you. That’s what inspiration is meant to be.
Not this thing we wait for to do the work we wish we did.
The person or group who created that work put in the effort. What makes you any different?
However, it is important to tread your own path.
Find out what works for you through experimentation. Learn from your peers, but don’t imitate them. Don’t become them. Otherwise, you’ll blend in, and how is anyone supposed to find you then?
I recently finished a book called “The Formula” by Darryl Anka.
One of the ideas he shares is to do the things you love to do as well as you can, as often as you can.
That is the fast way to manifest the life you want.
Passion is the key. Love for what you do is the key.
The Proof
Look back at this week’s flagship, if you missed it, where I talk about and give you simple tips on using your taste as a compass.
It’s a refined version of what I’ve been doing over the last couple of years, mostly with my fiction. But soon with my software development, music, and more.
Just have to stick to my three priorities just a bit longer.
The Forward Motion
Next week’s flagship issue will cover the Polymath’s Center.
A concept I talk a lot about in my Clarity & Direction for Multi-talented Creatives ebook.
Closing Line
Inspiration has done its job when it sends you back to your own work.
I used to think inspiration was the hard part but these newsletters have slowly changed my mind. Now I catch myself listening to a song and asking why a certain moment works instead of just wishing I’d written it. That shift in thinking has made me want to pick up my guitar more often. Inspiration feels a lot more useful when it sends me back to making something instead of just listening. Thank you for another great perspective Idris Elijah and enjoy your weekend!