Christopher Nolan's guidelines for work

David Senra of Founders podcast shares his notes from Christopher Nolan’s biography, turned into maxims: 

1. Mute the world and then build your own

2. Be a craftsman, not an artist 

3. The only sensible way to live in the world is without rules 

4. Some ideas will take half a lifetime 

5. Obsess over one project at a time

6. Dream with your eyes open 

7. Combine punctuality, discipline, and secrecy

8. The first thing to do with an idea is flip it 

9. Nothing works if you can’t trust your instincts 

10. Don’t encourage dependency

11. A product can be defined by what it lacks 

12. Shoot in any weather 

13. Look at yourself through your children’s eyes 

14. Infinite space is good for the soul 

15. There’s more to the world than meets the eye 

16. Constraints breed resourcefulness

17. The highest form of creativity is found by improvising within a set of restrictions 

18. Assume it will be a failure and then start working to prevent that

19. Big companies encourage waste and don’t give you the control you desire

20. Maintain control. You might have to buy it

21. Create your own curriculum 

22. Give your mind space to think — in the dark 

23. Imagination can be trained to fill in the gaps

24. If you are obsessed with it you can make other people obsessed with it too

25. The more stripped down a document the better it is 

26. The best product is the one you *have* to make