The OffBeat #65: My Favorite Quotes, Notes & Creative Tidbits From 2024

A creative treasure chest from a dynamic year

One way I process difficult times is by focusing on simple, basic things I love. One of those things: library books. I love library books for lots of reasons, one of which is the treasure hunt of miscellany tucked between their pages. Over my 30+ years of public library usage across three states, I’ve discovered everything from receipts and business cards to photos and notes-to-self slipped inside library books. Back in the Tumblr heyday I even thought about launching a “Things Found Inside Library Books” photo blog.

I like imagining the lives of the people who checked out each book before I did. It makes me feel connected to my fellow community members (more important than ever) and nurtures my intellectual curiosity. Creative inspiration, library books and their literary and non-literary contents suggest, is polka-dotted throughout our days, pulsing patiently, awaiting our notice.

There’s a passage in the latest library book I checked out, Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr, that captures this sentiment at its extreme. The tortured contemporary artist character Adam has painted the walls and ceiling of the cabin at which he’s secluded himself following a mental and emotional breakdown. When investigative journalist Jules first enters the cabin, here’s how she describes it:

“Her gaze wanders around the large room itself and her mouth instantly drops open. It’s not a room at all, but an art gallery with painted images everywhere. Entering slowly, she suddenly feels dazed by the onslaught of color and detail. Such a sharp contrast to the anemic exterior of the cabin. She turns to Adam, who is watching her reaction. ‘This is incredible. Mesmerizing. I feel like I’m inside a kaleidoscope.’”

A creatively inspired life is one lived inside a kaleidoscope. There’s no shortage of mind-swirling stimuli marbled throughout even the most mundane day. The art is in that treasure hunt, in selecting and curating what’s precious and what’s just a scribbled-on receipt.

Here, below, is what’s in my creative treasure chest from 2024; a collection of quotes, concepts, and creative tidbits that, for me, glistened among the debris of their surroundings. My word for this year has been “PRESENT”; my intention has been to be present as a mom (of two, as of this spring!), present as a spouse, present as a listener at work and with friends and family, present in staying attuned to myself and what I need. One outcome of that focus has been a more finely-tuned lens for inspiration, the creative bits and bobs that may make their way into my leadership drum stick bag.

But first! As the year winds down and plans for the next are percolating, I’d also *treasure* your feedback on what types of posts you’d most like to read in The OffBeat in 2025.

Onto the roundup.

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Favorite new-to-me words & concepts:

• Tsundoku: Japanese word for the uncomfortable feeling of having too many books to read [credit:

  Ana Andjelic
  ].

• Monk Mode Mornings: A “deep work” hack via Cal Newport; essentially no meetings, no calls, no texts, no email, no Slack, no Internet between when you wake up and noon.

• The “hot shot” rule: Via seasoned executive Kat Cole: embody someone you admire and ask what concrete action they’d take in your position; then do it.

• Collective effervescence: Per sociologist Emile Durkheim, the joie de vivre of joining a group for a common purpose. I’m striving to cultivate this on my teams.

• Social skydiving: Diving past small talk straight into deeper conversation in order to elicit more meaningful connection [credit: Adam Grant, Hidden Potential].

• Semantic evacuation: When a word stops making sense if you stare at it for too long. What creative inspiration lies on the other side of seeing something for its parts, versus its sum? [credit: Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Long Island Compromise]

Mantras that stuck with me:

• Dessert first: Aka start with pie in the sky! The

  Kumbaya Moments
  team “start[s] from a place of imagination and then back[s] into the logistics.”

• The right people in the right seats doing the right things: An effective leader’s #1 job, per

  Jeff Matlow
  .

• Don’t upsell, upSERVE: Do more for the other person than expected or than you initially intended, per Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human.

• Don’t put a hat on a hat: Keep things simple, via Bachelor Party podcast host Juliet Litman.

Best leadership truisms:

• Great leaders create leaders: In Danny Meyer and Randy Garutti’s interview with Fortune this past June on Randy stepping down and selecting a Shake Shack CEO successor, they discuss how one of the greatest marks of leadership is how many great leaders that person themself produces.

• Language creates culture: In his business memoir Unreasonable Hospitality, Danny Meyer disciple Will Guidara talks about leveraging a shared language to build team culture. I’ve long observed this but never articulated it this way; the phrase has stuck with me since I read it.

• Hire people who “know how to learn”: A fellow Target exec shared this during a 1-1 networking conversation and I can’t get it out of my brain ever since. You can’t assume folks will have an exhaustive knowledge of the role you’re putting them in, but you can ensure they’re quick, and hungry, to learn.

Most thought-provoking quotes:

• “It’s much easier to organize people AGAINST something than it is to unite them in an affirmative vision.” — Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror

• “The fullness of being alive isn’t something that’s coming later, once all the things are done. It’s something you can experience right here while you’re doing them.” — Oliver Burkeman

• “The need to keep busy is both a symptom of high-functioning anxiety and the key to my success.” — Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions For You

• “I had learned to trust my own instincts, and to make them explicit for others. What had once been intuition—ripples I’d leave in my wake—could now be transformed into intentional waves.” — Danny Meyer, Setting the Table

• “Creativity is something you are, not only something you do. It’s a way of moving through the world, every minute, every day.” — Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

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More on this beat:

The OffBeat #18: What's in Your Brain Pantry?

The OffBeat #46: Jazz (and Leadership) as Junk Collection

The OffBeat #24: Identifying Your Career "Jazz Standards"

The OffBeat #54: What's in Your Stick Bag?

Have a great week,

Allison

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