162 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
162 lines
6.3 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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Don't specialize, hybridize
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Specialization is too heavily encouraged as a career path. The world
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needs more hybrid people.
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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 cost per smile, cost...
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Obsidian Vault Template
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My personal Obsidian vault template. A bottom-up approach to
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note-taking and organizing things I am interested in.
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Flexoki
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An inky color scheme for prose and code.
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You might also enjoy
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* [26]Buy wisely
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* [27]Concise explanations accelerate progress
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* [28]Scars are beautiful
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* [29]Choose optimism
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* [30]Quality software deserves your hard‑earned cash
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* [31]Don't delegate understanding
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* [32]Nibble and your appetite will grow
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* [33]How I do my to-dos
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* [34]Calmness is a superpower
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[35]Receive my updates
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Follow me via email, [36]RSS, [37]Twitter, and [38]other options
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____________________ Sign up
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[39]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. https://stephango.com/
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4. https://stephango.com/
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5. https://stephango.com/about
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6. https://stephango.com/now
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7. https://stephango.com/file-over-app
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8. https://stephango.com/40-questions
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9. https://stephango.com/concise
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10. https://stephango.com/in-good-hands
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11. https://stephango.com/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. https://stephango.com/buy-wisely
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27. https://stephango.com/concise
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28. https://stephango.com/scars
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29. https://stephango.com/optimism
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30. https://stephango.com/quality-software
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31. https://stephango.com/understand
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32. https://stephango.com/nibble
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33. https://stephango.com/todos
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34. https://stephango.com/calmness
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35. https://stephango.com/subscribe
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36. https://stephango.com/feed.xml
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37. https://twitter.com/kepano
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38. https://stephango.com/subscribe
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39. https://mastodon.social/@kepano
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Hidden links:
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41. https://stephango.com/hybridize
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42. https://stephango.com/buy-wisely
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43. https://stephango.com/vault
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44. https://stephango.com/flexoki
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45. https://twitter.com/kepano
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