Fail Fast, It's Part of the Creative Process

Today might have been one of my favorite days in the class so far. We watched a video about Ed Catmull who works as an illustrator for Pixar Animations. I actually admire his work greatly because he spent an ungodly amount of time, he stated, 60,000 hours, working on an animation of his left hand. It was something different, something new, something no one had done before. I feel like this related to one of the books we are currently reading, Fatal Journey, which is a tale of Henry Hudson and his ambition and curiosity for the unknown, for something not many thought was even possible.

This place is magic. 

He didn’t really know about the world of art because he didn't have much access to it in school, and in school studied physics, which I thought was something I could relate to. He also said he was quite late to building a foundation for himself in the world of computer graphics; he spent years starting to solve certain problems, wanting to start with something difficult that no one else had done and developed tech that enabled animation to going to this new height.

A quote from him was “It all comes down to the power of the story,” which was subject matter we would be continuing to cover throughout the rest of this course. People think of stories as something that is relaxing or entertaining, etc. Stories are the way we communicate between each other, and they are the beginning of teaching. The difference between well and poorly told stories are that people that adhere to the form,  they are able to get something out there as writers, but the best are able to connect with emotions. “Every great film starts as an ugly baby,” an approach I had never heard before yet was insightful. When you are beginning a project, you don’t know how it’s going to turn out when you complete the first round of your drafts. Because of this one cannot say that the creator does not know how to do their job.

On the creepy stairs of Balch. 

Questions we need to be asking ourselves when evaluating the progress of our teams are how we can help them and give them what they need in order to make progress, as well as what we will use to be able to measure that progress. Progress; measured by how well a team is working together. When a team is working creatively they are working efficiently and effectively, and will complete the task with diligence and pride. "Fail fast, it’s a part of the creative process." This is something I heard today from Ed Catmull, but also something I have heard from Doug Mirarotonda, an alum from Cornell who I met at the sponsor's dinner before departure day, so Doug, if you are reading this, this is the first time I have run into this saying again, and I'm certain it won't be the last.

What stuck out to me most about this video was creativity was seen as being about solving problems, and that coming up with solutions is a creative act. It actually makes a lot of sense when put into perspective like that, a great example would be technology and how they think. From personal experience from visiting Google and working as a designer, creators think what is a problem, and what is something they can do to make an impact that no one else has done, no matter how crazy the idea is. Watching these ideas come to life is where you see magic, which I why I’m so drawn to this world of design and creativity, and it really does play a great part in being a great leader.

Bella playing the piano.

After class I met up with Deven at the Cornell store in the Ho Plaza, which is on campus, while he watched me shop and we talked about the different rules school could allow based on laws, Javaria and Robson joined us after grabbing lunch. There was honestly so much to choose from and I love shopping, so Javaria and I took a while picking out what we liked and narrowing down our piles. I got a long sleeve top and a crewneck from the men’s section because they had cuter options and better materials. Photoshoots are soon to come. So stay tuned.

After I got back to my room I felt tired so I took a nap after lunch. I never thought I would be a nap person, I’m surprised with myself. But I focused mainly on doing some reading and outlining for an essay due which is where we point out the ‘fatal mistake(s)’ from Fatal Journey, which is catchy.

Since all my floor mates seemed stressed and had a heavy workload since they all have quizzes coming up, I suggested we order Insomnia cookies. I have heard so much about them and needed to see what it was all about. We ate in the lounge while Bella played the piano to show off her skills. It was nice break to take before going back to our work, especially for me since it took my mind off the crazy outdoor challenge course we would be doing all day tomorrow for my leadership class.