Accept advice.

One of my favorite tools, ever:
Oblique Strategies – "Over 100 Worthwhile Dilemmas"

And now, a haiku:

For art makin’ fools:
advice for gettin’ unstuck
in creative thinkin’

… and livin’ in general .

Brian Eno and the late Peter Schmidt created this set of cards, that has evolved into several different editions and various digital media over the years – from HyperCard stacks (way back before the Interwebs) to WAP apps for mobile phones. It remains a living, growing thing, inspiring additional sayings and whole editions by several other folks.

The idea: Pick a card, read it, think about it for a second or a while, and get back to work.

Some examples:

You Are an Engineer.

Instead of Changing a Thing, Change the World Around It.

Give Way to Your First Impulse.

Abandon Normal Instruments.

Honour Thy Error as a Hidden Intention.

Steal a Solution.

Balance the Consistency Principle with the Inconsistency Principle.

A Line Has Two Sides.

Try Faking It.

Accept advice.

Faced With A Choice, Do Both.

Do Something Boring.


I first discovered Oblique Strategies as an illustrated set in a magazine* that could be cut out, cut up and pasted onto cards. I seem to remember drawings of zebras…

*Not just any magazine, but CoEvolution Quarterly (later known as Whole Earth Review – publishers of The Whole Earth Catalog, subtitle “Access to Tools” – the true source of my education, other than the Southside Branch Library).

If I still have the original magazine or the copies I once made of the pages, I’ll coax another deck out of it.

For more challenging, pithy sayings, check out artist Jenny Holzer’s “Truisms” (as seen on this
Twitter microblog).


Jenny is wonderful, an artist-activist at heart. Her axioms are different but no less eye-opening. Eno and Schmidt address the creative process directly.

Further study: HERE
AND HERE (more links)

ENO'S SITE
--- > click on ‘oblique strategies’ on the left

Another random card generator


OK … so what words inspire YOU? Please share with the group.