The temptation many creative people I know have is to strive for popularity. To make, do, and say things that other people like in the hopes of pleasing them. This motivation is nice. And sometimes the end result is good. But often what happens in trying so hard to please other people, especially many other people, the result is mediocre.

Innovative ideas are rarely rejected on their merits; they’re rejected because of how they make people feel. If you forget people’s concerns and feelings when you present an innovation, or neglect to understand their perspectives in your design, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

My intent is simply to know my material so well that I'm very comfortable with it. Confidence, not perfection, is the goal.

It’s not the fear of writing that blocks people, it’s fear of not writing well; something quite different.

I don’t want to be perfect. I want to be useful, I want to be good, and I want to sound like myself. Trying to be perfect gets in the way of all three.

Big thoughts are fun to romanticize, but it's many small insights coming together that bring big ideas into the world.

The bottleneck is never code or creativity; it's lack of clarity.