Monday, January 19, 2009

Dare to Be Stupid

My husband has finally made a New Year's resolution. He usually doesn't make them. It is this: He resolved to follow through on his "stupid ideas" this year. 

Now, I have to laugh a bit, but he has a valid point here. I'd like to quote my good friend Mur Lafferty when she heard about this resolution. She says (and I quote at length, with her permission):
"How many times have you thought of something and then cast it aside thinking, 'Nah, that's stupid.' Were you really thinking you didn't want to spend the time to see if it would be cool? Were you afraid stupid = failure? And how many things that are awesome (or at the very least successful) can you see, if written down on paper, looked stupid to begin with?
  • Let's make a video game where you roll around a sticky ball and pick stuff up (Katamari Damacy)
  • Let's make [insert any popular reality TV show here]
  • Let's scream at people who have different opinions than we do (any political talking head show)
  • Let's bottle water and sell it.
"I don't like resolutions, but I do like this philosophy. I wonder how it fits for long-term projects--stupid ideas--that I've had. 'I should start a new magazine/podcast/audio drama/novel!' But it's a concept I just might consider doing. What is worse: one success, or ten successes and three failures?"

Let's all try to be a little bit stupid this year, and see what happens.


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