Walter Isaacson Quotes

I think the older I get the more creative I get, I don't have the distractions that I had when I was younger.

The trick with computers I think, is to approach old and new things with the same reverence as you would like your favourite chair and not be seduced by the constant innovation otherwise you never do anything.

I've never gotten a good idea while checking Twitter or shopping.

I listen to music constantly while writing.

Juggling many projects and having all these accidental collisions that you can't predict enables a kind of comparative thinking. To focus on a single project from beginning to end is extremely difficult, not just for me, but for many people.

I am very busy and don't have a lot of down time, but I write my best songs in those situations. I enjoy my life the most when I have a bunch of things going on at the same time.

Most people have their best ideas when they take their minds away from problems they're trying to solve.

I usually have more than one thing I'm working on at once - I've been working on three different novels. When I get stuck on one, I hop back and forth.

I don't think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity.

When I was younger, I was able to write with music playing in the background, but these days, I can't. I find it distracting. Even when the music is just instrumental or has lyrics in a language I don't understand, the clash between the voices in my head and the song can be very disorienting.

Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least, for they are thinking out inventions and forming in their minds the perfect idea that they subsequently express with their hands.

I only live in my music, and I have scarcely begun one thing when I start on another. As I am now working, I am often engaged on three or four things at the same time.

People all the time try to take my outside interests and make them a negative. My life has always been like that and it always will be like that. I don't think it necessarily means that while I'm concentrating on tennis I can't put 100% into it. If I didn't have 100 different interests, I probably wouldn't be as good a player.

Never listen to music when you're trying go come up with a Big Idea.

Having my brain doing different work is helping me a lot in terms of retro-feeding from the other experiences. It makes me feel inspired, looking forward to the projects and wanting to work harder.

Boredom is useful to me when I notice it and think: Oh I'm bored; there must be something else I want to be doing... boredom acts as an initiator of originality by pushing me into new activities or new thoughts.

I'm always working on something. I wish I had more time for free-thinking and brainstorming new ideas. That's not to say my mind doesn't wander, but I find myself wishing for more of that kind of time.

Think inside the work - outside the work

An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production.

Don't dissipate your powers; strive to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it will surely repent of every ill-judged outlay.

I think my biggest career mistake has been taking on too much. And I think this is kind of - I think it's related to the Internet world, where you're always multitasking and you have a million windows open and you feel like you can do a lot at the same time.

I usually have two or three ideas floating around. When I have free time, the one I end up thinking most about is the one I end up pursuing.

My brain is a big cluster of stuff. It moves quickly and loses focus quickly, so I need many projects to keep me stimulated - it's a luxury to be able to do lots of different things: style, write, present, DJ or just consult. It can't be any other way; I think I would shrivel up and fall asleep forever.

My motivation is to be creative and have fun. You want to do something that keeps you on your toes the rest of your life and keeps you busy.

I do some of my best work when I'm dead.