10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
Edited by Ben. Turn to ContentPage
Get the knowledge flowing and circulating! :)
Don’t Wait Until You Know Who You Are to Get Started.Make things, know thyself.Fake it 'til you make it.Start copying.Imitation is not flattery.
感受
不要等到你知道你是谁的时候才开始！
因为如果你在等，那你就会闲坐下来不停思考，而忽略了行动的重要性。
Words & phrases
thyself pron.你自己（古语）
Make thyself as free as anyone else.
让自己和任何人一样自由。
sit around 闲逛、无所事事地度过时间
She likes to sit around and do nothing on weekends.
她喜欢在周末闲逛、无所事事。
If I’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started “being creative,” well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are.
感受
根据我的经验，正是在创造事物和工作的过程中，我们发现了自己是谁！
Words & phrases
make stuff 制作东西：指制作或创造各种物品或产品的过程。
I love to make stuff with my hands, like pottery and woodworking.
我喜欢用手做各种东西，比如陶艺和木工。
You’re ready. Start making stuff.
Words & phrases
rampant
/ ˈræmpənt /adj.泛滥的，猖獗的；（植物）过于繁茂的，疯长的；（人，行为）狂暴的，极端的；（纹章上所绘的动物）用后腿站立的，跃立的；<英>（运动队或运动员）胜券在握的Inflation is rampant and industry in decline.
通货膨胀肆虐，工业生产下降。
impostor
/ ɪmˈpɑːstər /n.骗子；冒充者Impostor Syndrome
冒名顶替综合症 ; 骗子综合症 ; 冒充者综合征
In fact, Arial is little more than a shameless impostor.
其实，Arial比那些奇奇怪怪、不知羞耻的冒牌货好不了多少。
syndrome
/ ˈsɪndroʊm /n.综合征，征群，综合症状；（特定情形下人的）典型负面特征This syndrome is associated with frequent coughing.
这种综合征与经常咳嗽有关。
impostor syndrome 冒名者综合症：一种心理状况，表现为对自己的能力或成就持续怀疑，并担心被揭穿为骗子，尽管有证据证明自己一直取得成功。
· She often experiences impostor syndrome, doubting her own abilities despite her achievements.
尽管取得了很多成就，她经常感到冒名者综合症，怀疑自己的能力。
You might be scared to start. That’s natural. There’s this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. It’s called “impostor syndrome.”
感受
There’s this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. 在受过良好教育的人身上有一种非常真实的现象。 冒名顶替综合症
Words & phrases
internalize
/ ɪnˈtɜːrnəlaɪz /vt.使（习俗等经吸收同化而）内在化；使藏在心底In other words, passion helps you internalize the efficiency.
换言之，热情帮你将效率内化。
phony
/ ˈfoʊni /
adj.<非正式>伪造的，假的；<非正式>虚伪的，做作的
n.<非正式>骗子，假冒者；<非正式>假货，赝品
He'd telephoned with some phony excuse she didn't believe for a minute.
他用一些假的借口打电话，她根本就不信。
winging
n.向边装货；沿舷布置重量
v.为……装上翼；使……飞；飞行（wing 的 ing 形式）
An application form will be winging its way to you soon.
申请表不久将送达你处。
winging it 凭直觉行事：在没有太多练习或准备的情况下去做或尝试做某事。
I didn't have time to prepare for the presentation, so I had to wing it.
我没有时间为演讲做准备，所以只能凭直觉去做了。
The clinical definition is a “psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.” It means that you feel like a phony, like you’re just winging it, that you really don’t have any idea what you’re doing.
Words & phrases
psychological phenomenon
心理现象：指人类在思维、情感、行为等方面所表现出来的各种现象，包括但不限于感知、记忆、情绪、意识、人格、社会心理等方面的现象。 The bystander effect is a well-known psychological phenomenon. 旁观者效应是一个众所周知的心理现象。
Guess what: None of us do. Ask anybody doing truly creative work, and they’ll tell you the truth: They don’t know where the good stuff comes from. They just show up to do their thing. Every day.
感受
去问真正在做创造性工作的人，她们会告诉你真相：她们也不知道good stuff来自哪里，她们就只是每天show up去做她们的事。每天都做。仅此而已。
Words & phrases
'til conj.直到……为止
Calmly wait 'til they're done, and then provide the answer.
冷静地等待，直到他们说完，然后再给出你的回答。
Words & phrases
dramaturgy
/ ˈdræmətɜːrdʒi /n.演出法；戏剧作法My main interests are publication and book design, graphic dramaturgy and info architecture. Designs since 1968.
自1968年从事设计。个人兴趣在出版与书籍设计、平面图形和信息建构。
fancy
v.<英，非正式> 喜欢，想要；<英，非正式> 爱恋，爱慕；<英，非正式> 认为……会成功（赢）；<文> 认为，想象；<英，非正式>自负，自命不凡（fancy oneself）；<英> （表示惊奇或震惊）真想不到，竟然；爱恋，爱慕（常用于英式口语中）； <英，非正式>喜欢，想要（常用于英式口语中）；<英，非正式>爱恋，爱慕（常用于英式口语中）；<英，非正式>认为……会成功（赢）
n.喜欢，想要；想象，想象力，想象的事物；<旧> （无根据的）想法，空想；花色小蛋糕；（赛马或其他体育比赛中）最被看好的人（或动物）；<旧> 喜爱的人（或事物）；（16和17世纪音乐用语）幻想曲；（无根据的）想法，空想
adj.时髦的，奢华的；华丽的，花哨的；复杂的，高难度的；（食品）特级的，优质的；娴熟的，巧妙的；（花）杂色的；（动物）供观赏的；（画，雕塑）凭想像创作的，想像出来的
Do you fancy a jar after work?
下班后去喝一杯怎么样？
Have you ever heard of dramaturgy? It’s a fancy term for something William Shakespeare spelled out in his play As You Like It about 400 years ago:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
感受
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts. 全世界是一个巨大的舞台，所有红尘男女均只是演员罢了，上场下场各有其时，每个人一生都扮演着许多角色。
Another way to say this? Fake it ’til you make it.
I love this phrase. There are two ways to read it:
Pretend to be something you’re not until you are—fake it until you’re successful, until everybody sees you the way you want them to; or
Pretend to be making something until you actually make something.
I love both readings—you have to dress for the job you want, not the job you have, and you have to start doing the work you want to be doing.
感受
你必须为你想要的工作穿衣服，而不是为你现在的工作穿衣服，你必须开始做你想做的工作。
假装你是心目中的样子，直到什么时候呢？直到你真正成了你心目中的样子；
假装你正在做一些事，直到你实际真正做成了这些事。
I also love the book Just Kids by the musician Patti Smith. It’s a story about how two friends who wanted to be artists moved to New York. You know how they learned to be artists?
“You start out as a phony and become real.”
—Glenn O’Brien
感受
You start out as a phony and become real. 你一开始是假的，然后变得真实。
Words & phrases
bohemian
/ boʊˈhiːmiən /
adj.波希米亚的；放荡不羁的；波希米亚语的
n.波希米亚人；波希米亚语；放浪者
She fancies herself a bohemian.
她自命为一个放荡不羁的艺术家。
gypsy:
n.吉卜赛人；吉卜赛语；像吉布赛的人；歌舞剧中的歌舞队员
adj.象吉卜赛人的；吉卜赛人的；无照的
vi.流浪
I was just going to have my fortune told by a gypsy.
我正要去找一个吉普赛人给我算命。
gear
n.排挡，齿轮；（用于特定目的的）装备，服装；（做事的）速度，努力；（特定用途的）器械，装置；<非正式>毒品；<非正式>所有物，财物
v.使变速，使调挡
They cruised along in top gear.
他们驾车高速行驶。
gawk at 凝视，注视：用好奇或不礼貌的眼光盯着某人或某物看。
The youth continued to gawk at her and did not answer.
那个年轻人依然傻傻地望着她，没有答话。
They pretended to be artists. In my favorite scene, from which the book gets its title, Patti Smith and her friend, the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, dress up in all their bohemian gypsy gear and go to Washington Square Park, where everybody’s hanging out. This old touristy couple is gawking at them. The wife says to her husband, “Oh, take their picture. I think they’re artists.” “Oh, go on,” the husband disagrees. “They’re just kids.”
Words & phrases
workstation n.工作站
Make sure your workstation is correct.
确保你的工作站是正确的。
costume
/ ˈkɑːstuːm /
n.服装，装束；戏服，表演服装；泳衣，泳装
v.给（某人）穿上特定服装
adj.（戏剧）古装的
The costume designs are too fussy.
这些服装设计过于花哨。
outfit
n.（尤指在某一场合穿的）全套服装；全套工具，全套设备；<非正式>（协同工作的）一组人，一队人（尤指乐队、运动队、公司）
v.配备，向……提供装备（或服装）；得到装备
She was wearing an outfit she'd bought the previous day.
她穿着前一天买的一套服装。
props
/ prɑːps /
n.[矿业] 支柱；小道具；后盾（prop 的复数）
v.支撑；维持（prop 的第三人称单数）
The army is one of the main props of the government.
军队是政府的主要支柱之一。
The point is: All the world’s a stage. Creative work is a kind of theater. The stage is your studio, your desk, or your workstation. The costume is your outfit—your painting pants, your business suit, or that funny hat that helps you think. The props are your materials, your tools, and your medium.The script is just plain old time. An hour here, or an hour there—just time measured out for things to happen. 这个剧本是老掉牙的。这里一小时，那里一小时 — 只是为事情发生而计算的时间。
Fake it ’til you make it.
“Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.”
—Yohji Yamamoto
Words & phrases
womb
n.[解剖] 子宫；发源地
vt.容纳
The answer may lie in the womb.
答案可能就在子宫里。
Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.
Words & phrases
plagiarism:
/ ˈpleɪdʒərɪzəm /n.剽窃，抄袭；剽窃作品Now he's in real trouble. He's accused of plagiarism.
现在他陷入真正的麻烦了。他被指控剽窃。
pass off as: 将某物误称为另一物：将某物冒充成另一物。
To use and pass off as one's own (the ideas or writings of another).
把(他人的观点或文章)作为自己的使用。
reverse-engineering: 逆向工程
The reverse engineering was fairly effective at parsing out relationships between classes.
逆向工程在分析类之间的关系上是相当有效的。
scale
n.天平，磅秤；天平盘；天秤（星）座（the Scales）；等级，级别；刻度，标度；标尺，刻度尺；规模，范围；比例，比例尺；鳞，鳞片；鱼鳞状物；水垢；牙垢；音阶；（加热后金属上形成的）氧化皮；进位制；（摄影）影调范围
v.改变（文字、图片）的尺寸大小；刮去（鱼鳞）；攀登，翻越；剔除（牙垢）；（尤指皮肤）生成鳞屑；（成片状）脱落，剥落；（数量，财产） 按一定比例调节；称得重量为；<美>估算（树木的）产木材量
adj.（模型或复制品）按比例缩小的
We’re talking about practice here, not plagiarism—plagiarism is trying to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse-engineering. It’s like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it works.
We learn to write by copying down the alphabet. Musicians learn to play by practicing scales. Painters learn to paint by reproducing masterpieces.
感受
抄袭者目的是把别人的工作变成自己的；而copying类似逆向工程，就是拆解别人的工作，然后去看看how it works。我们学习都是通过大量的copy copy copy.
我们练习写作通过copying down字母表；
音乐家练习音乐通过练习音阶；
painters练习画画通过重仿大师作品。
Words & phrases
Beatles: 披头士乐队（英国摇滚乐队, The Beatles）
Now I'd like to sing a song by the Beatles.
现在我来唱一首披头士乐队的歌。
cover band: 翻唱乐队：一种模仿和演绎其他著名乐队或歌手的歌曲的乐队。
The cover band played all the greatest hits from the 80s at the party.
翻唱乐队在派对上演绎了80年代的所有最佳热门歌曲。
emulate:
v.仿效，模仿；仿真；努力赶上
adj.<古>争强好胜的
Sons are traditionally expected to emulate their fathers.
传统上认为儿子应该效仿他们的父亲。
Remember: Even The Beatles started as a cover band. Paul McCartney has said, “I emulated Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis. We all did.” McCartney and his partner John Lennon became one of the greatest songwriting teams in history, but as McCartney recalls, they only started writing their own songs “as a way to avoid other bands being able to play our set.” As Salvador Dalí said, “Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.”
First, you have to figure out who to copy. Second, you have to figure out what to copy.
Words & phrases
catalog
/ ˈkætəlɔːɡ /
n.[图情] [计]目录；登记
vt.登记；为……编目录
vi.编目录；按确定价格收入目录（等于 catalogue）
Let me look it up in the catalog.
让我查一下目录。
rip off 欺骗或剥削：指以不公平或过高的价格出售商品或服务，或以欺诈手段获取金钱或财物。
I can't believe they charged me $20 for that tiny bottle of water. What a rip off!
我简直不敢相信他们要我为那个小小的瓶装水付20美元。真是太欺诈了！
Who to copy is easy. You copy your heroes—the people you love, the people you’re inspired by, the people you want to be. The songwriter Nick Lowe says, “You start out by rewriting your hero’s catalog.” And you don’t just steal from one of your heroes, you steal from all of them. The writer Wilson Mizner said if you copy from one author, it’s plagiarism, but if you copy from many, it’s research. I once heard the cartoonist Gary Panter say, “If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever. But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone will say you’re so original!”
感受
copy who是非常简单的。copy你爱的人，激励你的人，你想成为的人。你不需要只copy一个，你可以同时copy很多。 如果你copy一个，叫剽窃；如果你copy很多，叫research。 如果你被1个人影响，那你会被称为“下一个谁”。如果你被很多人影响，你就是original.
Words & phrases
trickier adj.狡猾的；机警的（tricky 的变形）
Profound changes in the workforce are making teams trickier to manage.
劳动力市场发生巨变，使得团队管理工作变得更加困难。
What to copy is a little bit trickier. Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.
感受
copy what 就有一点狡猾了。不要仅仅copy or steal风格，要steal风格背后的思考。 不要想着看起来像自己的heroes，要想着去像自己的heroes那样去看。（看问题、思考问题）
Words & phrases
get a glimpse: 瞥见：短暂地看到某物或某人，通常是在匆忙或不完整的情况下。
Look at the book's companion Website to get a glimpse of what it offers.
通过浏览该书的同步站点也可以多少了解一些该书的内容。
internalize vt.使（习俗等经吸收同化而）内在化；使藏在心底
In other words, passion helps you internalize the efficiency.
换言之，热情帮你将效率内化。
mimic
v.模仿（人的言行举止）；模拟（外观或效果）；模拟（另一种植物或动物）；（药）模拟（另一物质）的生理作用；（疾病）表现出（另一疾病）的症状
n.善于模仿的人；会模拟的动物（或植物）
adj.模拟的，演习的
At school I was a good mimic.
上学时我是一个善于模仿的人。
knockoff n.（贵重品的）廉价仿制品
You can buy a nice knockoff watch from them.
你能从他们那儿买到质量很好的仿制名牌手表。
The reason to copy your heroes and their style is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds. That’s what you really want—to internalize their way of looking at the world. If you just mimic the surface of somebody’s work without understanding where they are coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff.
感受
copy your heroes的原因是：以便你能够在某一瞬间瞥见他们的minds。这才是我们真正要的。也就是说，我们要学会他们看待世界的思维。如果知识浅浅地模仿外表，那最多不过是一个knockoff.
Words & phrases
flatter v.奉承，讨好；使高兴，使感到荣幸；使显得更漂亮；使（某物）显得更重要（更好）
Are you trying to flatter me?
你是想讨好我？
“We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can’t steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that’s how you will find your voice. And that’s how you begin. And then one day someone will steal from you.”
—Francis Ford Coppola
Words & phrases
emulate
v.仿效，模仿；仿真；努力赶上
adj.<古>争强好胜的
Sons are traditionally expected to emulate their fathers.
传统上认为儿子应该效仿他们的父亲。
go one step further 更进一步，采取更进一步的行动或措施
If we want to succeed, we need to go one step further and work harder than our competitors.
如果我们想要成功，我们需要更进一步，比我们的竞争对手更加努力工作。
break through: 突破障碍或限制：成功地克服困难、障碍或限制，取得进展或取得重大成就。
If you have been avoiding the decision-making process, why not break through that barrier right here and now?
如果一直以来你总是想要避开做决策的过程，那为何不此时此刻就突破那个障碍呢？
At some point, you’ll have to move from imitating your heroes to emulating them. Imitation is about copying. Emulation is when imitation goes one step further, breaking through into your own thing.
感受
Imitation is about copying. Emulation is when imitation goes one step further, breaking through into your own thing. 一直copy，copy到什么程度？把别人的东西融入到自己的东西中，找到了自己的stuff.
Words & phrases
thieving
n.偷窃，做贼，偷窃行为
adj.偷窃的，做贼的
v.偷窃（thieve 的现在分词）
You've no right to take that, you thieving swine!
你没有权利把那拿走，你这个贪心的贼！
“There isn’t a move that’s a new move.” The basketball star Kobe Bryant has admitted that all of his moves on the court were stolen from watching tapes of his heroes. But initially, when Bryant stole a lot of those moves, he realized he couldn’t completely pull them off because he didn’t have the same body type as the guys he was thieving from. He had to adapt the moves to make them his own.
感受
copy的过程你就会发现，原来，你copy的不一定能成为你自己的，因为各种内部、外部条件都不同，所以你要adapt things copied from others to make things our own.
★ 灵光一现：这段的描述中，把我从上述的概念或者思想描述带到了一个具体的实例中，让我突然感觉到，我在打羽球的时候，也经常通过copy别人的动作，来精进自己，后来因为自己的身体素质而慢慢地形成了我自己的一种打法。这种描写手段（先概念，然后用真实的案例，非常贴近自身的案例，比如这里用的是运动来描绘这个概念，让这个概念更加贴近）真好，学习！学习！
Words & phrases
fall short: 未达到预期：指未能达到预期的目标或标准。
Nonetheless, supplies still fall short of the need.
尽管如此，这些用品仍然供不应求。
perceived
adj.感知到的；感观的
v.感知；认为；领会（perceive 的过去式和过去分词）
She is perceived as vain, spoiled, and promiscuous.
她被认为是个虚荣、娇生惯养、淫乱的女人。
ideal
adj.理想的，最佳的；想象的，不切实际的
n.理想；典范，完美典型
The ideal candidate will be an effective communicator.
理想的候选人定要是善于沟通的人。
Conan O’Brien has talked about how comedians try to emulate their heroes, fall short, and end up doing their own thing. Johnny Carson tried to be Jack Benny but ended up Johnny Carson. David Letterman tried to copy Johnny Carson but ended up David Letterman. And Conan O’Brien tried to be David Letterman but ended up Conan O’Brien. In O’Brien’s words, “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.” Thank goodness.
Words & phrases
flaw
n.缺点，缺陷；裂痕，瑕疵
v.削弱，使失效
There was a fatal flaw in the plan.
计划中有一个致命的缺陷。
incapable adj.不能的；无能力的；不能胜任的
He seems incapable of love.
他好像不会疼爱人。
be incapable of 无法做某事：缺乏能力或技能，无法完成某项任务或行动。
Those saying no to books will be incapable of adapting to the information era.
那些不读书的人将不能适应信息时代。
A wonderful flaw about human beings is that we’re incapable of making perfect copies. Our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives. That is how we evolve.
Words & phrases
amplify v.放大，扩大（声音）；增强，加强；详述，进一步阐明；扩增（基因，DNA序列）
This landscape seemed to trap and amplify sounds.
这种地形好像能聚拢和扩大声音。
So: Copy your heroes. Examine where you fall short. What’s in there that makes you different? That’s what you should amplify and transform into your own work.
Words & phrases
flattering adj.奉承的；谄媚的
I knew she was just flattering me.
我知道她只是在奉承我。
In the end, merely imitating your heroes is not flattering them. Transforming their work into something of your own is how you flatter them. Adding something to the world that only you can add.
感受
行动吧
copy my heroes.
检查我与他们之间的不足 | 什么造成了这种不足
放大这个不足 | 解决这个不足 | 融入自己的work中
仅仅模仿heroes不算是flatter他们~ 把他们的工作transform to my own work，才是flatter他们！
加点只有自己可以加的东西进去吧！让它成为独一无二。
Words & phrases
do sb proud 盛情款待某人 | do sb proud 满意极了 | 使(某人)感到极为荣幸
in the name of: 以……的名义
I've reserved a room in the name of Jones. 我以琼斯的名字预订了一个房间。
We have a reservation in the name of Grant. 我们是以格兰特的名字预订的。
“I have stolen all of these moves from all these great players. I just try to do them proud, the guys who came before, because I learned so much from them. It’s all in the name of the game. It’s a lot bigger than me.”
—Kobe Bryant