UPDATE: This post got such a great response that it inspired me to start playing and building Claritask while documenting it out in the open
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I'm going to let you in on a great secret.
Do you want to make amazing things? Stop wanting to make. —Play!
Wait, what?
See, I'm done being a "maker". I'm not even sure where I picked that up. Even my Twitter profile used to say "maker of things". Not anymore.
I don't really want to make anything. I don't think I ever did.
All I wanted was to play and build things. If playing results in something being made, than great. Not my end goal.
When I first started coding at 10 on my ZX Spectrum, I played. I tweaked. I hacked. I wanted to see what code does. I made a few things along the way as a result of playing. I played some more, I made other stuff.
Then I "grew up" and they taught me how stuff is made. And I've been "making" stuff since. Boring stuff. Non-playable stuff. Static-boring-line stuff. I made stuff that were planned beforehand by me or some made-up "committee", because planning is "efficient" and it has a "better ROI" and whatever other fill-in-the-blanks.
My 5YO made this incredibly intricate thing with his legos that looked awesome. Imagine if he had initially said — "I will make a house" — bo-ring! He would have built a house. A regular one. Though he didn't say that. He scattered all his legos across the floor and started playing and building. And he would have never stopped if it wasn't past his bedtime.
He made this crazy house that was part tank, part house, part store-front, part International Space Station.
Yup, he played. And made something amazing.
I code and design. Those are my legos.
I'm seriously done making crap. If you ever catch me say "I'm a maker" ever again, feel free to throw an un-boiled egg my way.
Making has a final goal. Making is finite.
Playing is everlasting.
From this moment on, I am playing just like I used to when I was 10. I am playing with code. I am playing with my design tools. I am playing in life.
Call me a "player". Whatever. I'm done with names, too.
Making is boring. Playing is fun.
