163 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
163 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
#[1]Steph Ango [2]Steph Ango
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[3]Steph Ango / [4]Writing [5]About [6]Now
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Style is consistent constraint
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September 3, 2023 •2 minute read
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Oscar Wilde once said:
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“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
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When it comes to ideas, I agree — allow your mind to be changed. When
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it comes to process, I disagree. Style emerges from consistency, and
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having a style opens your imagination. Your mind should be flexible,
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but your process should be repeatable.
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Style is a set of constraints that you stick to.
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You can explore many types of constraints: colors, shapes, materials,
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textures, fonts, language, clothing, decor, beliefs, flavors, sounds,
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scents, rituals. Your style doesn’t have to please anyone else. Play by
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your own rules. Everything you do is open to stylistic interpretation.
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A style can be a system, a pattern, a set of personal guidelines. Here
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are a few of mine:
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* I wear monochromatic clothing without logos
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* I use YYYY-MM-DD dates everywhere
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* I pluralize tag and folder names (e.g. #people not #person)
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* I use [7]plain text files for all my writing
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* I ask myself [8]40 questions every year
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* I meal prep lunches every week, shave my head twice a week
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* I write [9]concise essays, less than 500 words
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Collect constraints you enjoy. Unusual constraints make things more
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fun. You can always change them later. This is your style, after all.
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It’s not a life commitment, it’s just the way you do things. For now.
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Having a style collapses hundreds of future decisions into one, and
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gives you focus. I always pluralize tags so I never have to wonder what
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to name new tags.
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Style gives you leverage. Every time you reuse your style you save
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time. A durable style is a great investment.
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Style helps you know when you’re breaking your constraints. Sometimes
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you have to. And if you want to edit your constraints, you can. It will
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be easier to adopt the new constraints if you already had some clearly
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defined.
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You don’t need a style for everything. Make a deliberate choice about
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what needs consistency and what doesn’t.
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If you stick with your constraints long enough, your style becomes a
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cohesive and recognizable [10]point of view.
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__________________________________________________________________
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Appendix
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I am starting a collection of interesting personal style choices.
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Please [11]send me examples and I’ll add them to the list.
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* [12]Scott Yu-Jan [13]paints all his tools white.
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* [14]2ynthetic uses a [15]limited palette for outfits and [16]office
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decor.
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* [17]Johnny Decimal is a system to organize digital data.
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* [18]Casey Neistat labels everything [19]in his studio with paint
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markers.
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* Ryan Hoover [20]never changes his profile picture.
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* Wes Anderson uses [21]the typeface Futura in many of his films.
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* [22]Steve Jobs wore the same Issey Miyake black turtleneck and New
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Balance 991 shoes every day.
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* George R.R. Martin writes his novels on the 40 year old DOS
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operating system
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* Beethoven always counted exactly 60 coffee beans to make coffee,
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especially for visitors.
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* Jesper Kouthoofd of [23]Teenage Engineering [24]only uses lowercase
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because uppercase communicates too much authority
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* Osvaldo Cavandoli created the cartoon [25]La Linea using an
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animated white line, colored backgrounds, and unintelligible
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vocalizations
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Linked mentions
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[26]Don't specialize, hybridize
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Specialization is too heavily encouraged as a career path. Becoming a
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generalist is one alternative, but there is...
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[27]Buy wisely
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Whenever I buy things I try to prioritize cost per use. Sometimes I
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consider other priorities such as...
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[28]Obsidian Vault Template
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I use Obsidian to write and take notes. This is my bottom-up approach
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to note-taking and organizing things...
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[29]Flexoki
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Flexoki is an inky color scheme for prose and code. Flexoki is designed
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for reading and writing on...
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You might also enjoy
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* [30]Buy wisely
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* [31]Concise explanations accelerate progress
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* [32]Scars are beautiful
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* [33]Don't delegate understanding
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* [34]Nibble and your appetite will grow
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* [35]How I do my to-dos
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* [36]Calmness is a superpower
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* [37]Design is compromise
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* [38]A little bit every day
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[39]Receive my updates
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Follow me via email, [40]RSS, [41]Twitter and [42]other options
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____________________ Sign up
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[43]Mastodon
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References
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Visible links:
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1. https://stephango.com/feed.xml
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2. https://stephango.com/feed.json
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3. file:///
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4. file:///
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5. file:///about
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6. file:///now
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7. file:///file-over-app
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8. file:///40-questions
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9. file:///concise
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10. file:///in-good-hands
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11. file:///about
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12. https://www.youtube.com/@ScottYuJan
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13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GBPYRG9jM0
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14. https://www.youtube.com/@2ynthetic
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15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xMo2PsLi3c
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16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RqBrl0-qOA
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17. https://johnnydecimal.com/
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18. https://www.youtube.com/@casey
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19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb60rrtTddQ
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20. https://www.ryanhoover.me/post/why-i-never-change-my-profile-pic
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21. https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/RoyalTenenbaumsWorldofFutura
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22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
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23. https://teenage.engineering/
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24. https://scandinavianmind.com/feature/human-touch-interview-jesper-kouthoofd-teenage-engineering
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25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Linea_(TV_series)
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26. file:///hybridize
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27. file:///buy-wisely
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28. file:///vault
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29. file:///flexoki
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30. file:///buy-wisely
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31. file:///concise
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32. file:///scars
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33. file:///understand
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34. file:///nibble
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35. file:///todos
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36. file:///calmness
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37. file:///design-is-compromise
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38. file:///a-little-bit-every-day
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39. file:///subscribe
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40. file:///feed.xml
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41. https://twitter.com/kepano
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42. file:///subscribe
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43. https://mastodon.social/@kepano
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Hidden links:
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45. https://twitter.com/kepano
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