Tom Sachs: 10
Bullets
[A
collaboration with filmmaker and former assistant Van Neistat, "10
Bullets" is a brilliantly twisted homage to corporate training films as
well as an amusing look at Sachs's exacting studio process. - Soapbox, Wall Street Journal]
1. Sacred Space: Keep tool kit at the ready, so when inspiration
strikes there is no delay, excuses, or hindrance between you, your thought, and
it’s realization.
2. Always Be Knolling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knolling
3. Keep A List Your list is your past and your future. Carry
at all times. Prioritize: Today, this week and eventually. You will someday die
with items still on your list, but for now, while you live your list helps
prioritize what can be done in your limited time.
4. Work to Code Do not innovate! Slowly develop new ideas built
on a pre existing language. Creativity is the enemy, and the road to caprice,
invent because you must. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
5. Send does not mean received Just because you sent it does not mean it was
received. Always get a receipt and when practical confirm receipt of item with
intended recipient. Without a receipt your actions can not be proved,
without a receipt you don’t exist. The more concrete method of
communication, the more authority it holds. The reverse is also true-which is
useful when weaseling. What you say sometimes is not what is heard. What
you hear sometimes is not what is being said. If you have doubts, confirm
that the other understand your intentions by insisting politely that the
instructions are repeated back to you and redacted. When receiving
instructions, refer to bullet 6 “I understand.” If this seems patronizing
weigh it against the consequences of an error. It’s not the action that counts
but the result of that action.
6. Feedback A good computer will give you a click, vibrate
or display that it has received your command. “I Understand” means: I have
heard AND understand all of your statement . It’s a confirmation that the
instructions are clear. Conversely, “I Don’t Understand” means clarification is
requested. No response means something is wrong with the system: SILENCE =
DEATH. Acknowledgment is empathy, the
slightest nod, grunt or polite interruption indicates that you have received
and understood the information.
7. Finding lost things Rule #1. Believe you will find it Rule #2. Knoll
your space, clean everything. 10% of all lost things are found when
cleaning. Rule #3. Relax: trust your ears + mind.
8. Reset At the end of the day: knoll your workspace,
sweep + empty trash. Pre set your work station with something pleasurable
to complete. begin your day with a sense of accomplishment, resist ending the
day unresolved. Solve the problems first. See #9.
9. Procrastinate If at first you don’t succeed five up
immediately. move on to some other task until that becomes unbearable,
then move on again circling back around to the first problem. Sort of like
sleep, only cheaper.
10. Tenacity “Nothing in the work can take the place
of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful
men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost
proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence
and determination alone are omnipotent.”- Ray Kroc
