The amazing John Cleese shares his wisdom on writing, creativity, getting in the zone, and interruptions. It’s great to see advice that we hear all the time reaffirmed from outside the tech industry.
You’re reading Signal v. Noise, a publication about the web by Basecamp since 1999. Happy !
Robert
on 27 Aug 10He’s really smart.
Heiko Behrens
on 27 Aug 10John Cleese is able to flesh out and conclude things all of us somehow already know in a simple yet evindent manner. And he uses only everyday occurrences to do so. Thank you for sharing!
Anonymous Coward
on 27 Aug 10What a pompous ass! He used to extremely brilliant back in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, and then just lost it all. Truly sad…
Vasily Myazin
on 27 Aug 10Love this guy. Mr Cleese is one to look up to.
Aaron M
on 28 Aug 10Getting into the zone carries across so many things. Guitar is one of them, you need to warm up the muscles, just get some practice in for 15-20 minutes. Then you can really get into it, and play some parts.
Wilson Usman
on 28 Aug 10Wow I thought he was just an actor, but his words really changed that. Pretty smart guy. I agree Robert.
hasen
on 29 Aug 10I thought the first two minutes were stupid, but I thought I should just give it a chance.
It was worth it.
It’s pretty much something we all already know, subconsciously, and this is what makes it great!
Phil Willis
on 30 Aug 10Brilliant.
Interesting that he used the analogy of the turtle’s shell. It completely lines up with Steve Pressfield’s “War of Art” and Seth Godin’s “Lynchpin” ideas about the lizard brain.
The reptile part of us that is dominated by fear needs boundaries of time and boundaries of space in order to come out of it’s shell.
Incredibly profound. Thanks for sharing. —Phil
sebastian
on 01 Sep 10Good stuff.
He’s good, he shares useful insights and his criticism has high touch.
I didn’t knew this guy.
Thank you for sharing Jason!
This discussion is closed.