My Two Things

I just discovered The Two Things. It's a site of pure genius. "For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things..."

Example:

The Two Things about Advertising:
1. Get people's attention
2. Overwhelm them with charm.

Some of them are profound and really seem to peg a discipline's essence:

The Two Things about Non-profits:
1. You have to look like money to get money
2. Everything is mission-critical

The Two Things about Advertising:
1. Get people's attention
2. Overwhelm them with charm.

Some are like simple, lovely poems or haikus:

The Two Things about Boxing:
1. Hit.
2. Don't get hit.

Some (many) are funny:

The Two Things about Biology:
1. Evolution is the process through which genetic structures that are better equipped to reproduce viable copies will tend to proliferate.
2. Except for the Platypus.

I tried writing some of my own (below), about the things I do. After coming up with each of them, I asked myself "If I was allowed a third thing, what would it be?" In every case, a third thing seemed less important (and not really essential) than the two I had already listed. So I asked myself, "What if I was only allowed one thing?" In each case, one thing didn't seem enough to describe the job.

The Two Things about Directing:
1. Know the story.
2. Watch and listen.

The Two Things about Teaching:
1. If the student doesn't learn, it's your fault.
2. The student is not required to do anything.

The Two Things about Web Design:
1. People have short attentions spans.
2. People can't read red text on a red background.

The Two Things about Acting:
1. Learn your lines.
2. Listen and respond.

The Two Things about Animation:
1. Timing.
2. Patience.

The Two Things about Storytelling:
1. Lie about anything except psychology.
2. If it doesn't move the story forward, axe it.

The Two Things about Drawing:
1. How does the line you're drawing affect the immediate area of the page surrounding it?
2. How does it affect the entire page?

The Two Things about Programming:
1. Does it work?
2. Could another programmer understand it?

The Two Thing about Marriage:
1. Her.
2. Me.