👋 Hello! I'm Nate Kadlac, and this is #61 of Plan Your Next. It’s a newsletter that connects design, creativity, and how you prepare for your next thing. If you’re one of the 13 new subscribers, welcome! And, thanks Khe for the shoutout!
What’s new this week?
🎤 Episode #19 of It’s Gotta be the Mic: Reza and I chat about our favorite apps we use to
🎨 The second cohort of Approachable Design will be launching on June 26-27th. I’ve yet to launch the new landing page, but if you’re not yet on the waiting list, you can sign up here.
👨🍼 Baby Rowan is one month old and I don’t know how time works.
Good morning from Los Angeles!
Have you ever had a brilliant idea, then gracefully share it with the world while immediately watching it flop? Maybe you didn’t communicate the idea in the right way, or tell the story to the right audience.
In 1948, this happened to one of the most famous theoretical physicists.
During a conference in the Poconos Mountains with 27 other theorists, Richard Feynman stood in front of an empty chalkboard. He began to draw out simple diagrams representing how subatomic particles talk to each other over time.
Before using this new method, you would have instead used long, complex mathematical equations to achieve the same result.
Feynman thought he had discovered something truly novel, yet his peers were skeptical and peppered him with questions, poking holes in the strategy.
He eventually left the conference disappointed, and even depressed.
Even Feynman’s own closest friends and colleagues had difficulty knowing where the diagrams came from or how they should be used.
It wasn’t until a younger associate—Freeman Dyson—spent a year seeking to understand what Feynman had discovered. He would end up writing the first paper in 1949—before Richard Feynman wrote his own—on how to use this new method.
It took several years after that before diagrams would be used, and not until 17 years later would he be awarded for his work.
In 1965, Richard Feynman shared the Nobel Prize award for the Feynman Diagrams.
This award may never have been received without the help of Freeman Dyson for sharing what would be a modern-day tweet thread on how to use the Feynman Diagrams.
Even Feynman—one of the most brilliant physicists known for simplifying the complex—needed help translating his own ideas.
Our ideas alone aren’t enough. It might take work to market them, write about them, and even get feedback on them.
It might take a friend or another person entirely to help demonstrate how to use the idea.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Sources:
https://web.mit.edu/dikaiser/www/FdsAmSci.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman_diagram
⚡️ Inspiration for next week
Can you learn to love the job you have?
Chasing your next thing always feels easier, but it’s also smart to consider whether the faults you find at work are because you have chosen to feel unhappy about it.
“COACH: For starters, you can stop spending all your energy trying to change the outside world, and commit to changing the way you experience it.”
Norman Tran’s website
Norman has such a simple and elegant design, but it feels welcoming and playful. The right combination of typefaces and textures can truly bring your designs to life, and this is a great example of doing that with just a few elements. qu
Your next NFT
I am really enjoying watching crypto art evolve and expand. The creative duo, Nastplas, are based in Madrid, Spain, and creating a remarkable amount of quality art. Available only as NFTs.
👋 See you next Sunday
If you’ve forgotten who I am, here’s a little bit about me. As always, my calendar is open to chat about your crazy ideas or if you’re creatively stuck.
And if you’re creatively stuck because you ran out of coffee, save 10% on Flow State coffee. Flow State uses l-theanine and raw cacao to lower anxiety and support creativity. (Affiliate link)
Have a great week,
Twitter: @kadlac
Web: kadlac.com
Workshop: approachabledesign.co
Plan Your Next → Get comfortable sharing uncomfortable ideas