What An Imprint Looks Like

Here's what my imprint looks like:

I've noticed that all imprints have the same underlying structure. There is a central spine that represents your deepest resonance with activities across any sphere. For me it's maximizing human potential starting with my own. I've felt for this as long as I can remember.

Supporting the spine are the four limbs of your imprint. They're engines of energy, paired and work in concert with each other. For me complexity and precision go hand in hand. I get pulled towards activities with a certain minimum level of compleixty. Below this I simply cannot generate the energy / interest to engage. For activies that have the miniumum necessary complexity, they also have to have precision in the way the domain works. All my interests, active and developing — cooking, sailing, swimming, making clothes, aikido, learning 3D tools, screenwriting all have complexity and precision in common.

The lower two limbs of aesthetics and making as paired as well. I've made for a long time first as an engineer, then as a designer. The most dissatisfying intermediate years were as a design facilitator. It wasn't clear what I was making, and my work output —a workshop—didn't have any aesthetics I could control. Once I turned a designer, with control over my tools and the aesthetics of my output I finally felt as peace.

Your imprint will be unique but follow the same underlying structure of a spine and four limbs. Think of these as five engines of energy. You could operate on just one or two, and many of us do. But aligning your life to operate on all five can feel like you're finally, fully alive.