Lessons from Rob Walker

As a journalist and author, Rob Walker has explored the intricate connections between consumer culture, creativity, and the power of observation. His work encourages a more conscious engagement with the world, urging readers to become active participants in their own experiences.

On Noticing and Attention

"Anybody interested in thinking creatively seeks (needs) to notice what has been overlooked or ignored by others, to get beyond distractions and attend to the world." [1]
"What we do with our attention, in short, is at the heart of what makes us human." [1][2]
"A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention." [1][2]
"Let's stop trying to be so productive all the time and make an effort to be more curious." [1][2]
"Every day is filled with opportunities to be amazed, surprised, enthralled—to experience the enchanting everyday. To stay eager. To be, in a word, alive." [1][2]
"Polyconsciousness is what one researcher termed the resulting state of mind that divides attention between the physical world and the one our devices connect us to, undermining here-and-now interactions with actual people and things around us." [1][2]
"A hypereffective schedule designed to maximize productivity is, in fact, more likely to distract you from what's important than help you discover it." [1][2]
"Paying attention is the only thing that guarantees insight." [3]
"When you actively notice new things, that puts you in the present." [3]
"Attention is a precious resource, one we waste in stupid ways. And attention is a muscle, one we can easily develop." [4]
"If you want a more interesting and creative life, the first thing to do is to start paying better attention to it." [4]
"Noticing what others have overlooked is at the core of creativity, innovation, design — and design writing." [5]
"The quickest way to improve your creative life is to learn to pay better attention to your everyday world." [6]
"Everyone needs a mechanism to select what, out of all the things in the world, they should both look for and at, and what they should ignore." [7]
"When we divide our attention among multiple tasks, we diminish the quality of our engagement with any single one of them." [7]
"The mundane, when approached with a fresh perspective, can be surprisingly pleasurable and enlightening." [7]
"There is a big hard-to-quantify, but very real, payoff...to this mindset, which is that you are being open to surprise and you are being open to chance...You are much more likely to randomly encounter something that has some payoff for you later, some inspiration." [8]
"Do you want to look back on a life of items crossed off lists drawn up in response to the demands of others? Or do you want to hang on to, and repeat, and remember, the thrill of discovering things on your own?" [1][2]
"Let color be your guide...Allow yourself to be sensitized to the color in your surroundings." [7]
"A significant moment deserves a considered prelude. Be ready." [1][2]

On Branding and Consumer Culture

"Branding is basically the process of attaching an idea to something (product, service), and that can happen in much more indirect and subtle ways." [9]
"The most trenchant psychoanalyst of our consumer selves is Rob Walker. 'Buying In' is a fresh and fascinating exploration of the places where material culture and identity intersect." [10]
Walker coined the term "murketing" to describe the murky marketing that is changing advertising and branding. [11]
"In 'Buying In', Rob Walker argues that this accepted wisdom misses a much more important cultural shift, including a practice he calls murketing, in which people create brands of their own and participate, in unprecedented ways, in marketing campaigns for their favorites." [12]
"We are what we buy—and vice versa." [12]
"I think the core issue here is that when a lot of people hear the word 'branding' they think it refers to TV ads and slogans and logos. And they think: Ah, that's trivial stuff, it doesn't matter, and it has no effect on me." [9]
"The worst mindset I believe that a consumer can have going into that is I'm brand proof i'm above it all and none of it affects me so therefore everything I'm doing must be based on the most rational decisions." [13]
"Buyers adopt products not just as consumer choices but as conscious expressions of their identities." [12]
"The value of a product lies in the story connected to it as much as how much it costs to produce and sell." [14]
"If we had just published the stories and weren't selling anything, probably not as many people would have been interested in reading them. And probably not as many people would have been interested in writing them either." [14]
"The project itself became a story." [14] (Regarding the "Significant Objects" project)
"I thought about this from the point of view of the object. This cup had my story foisted on it." [14]
"It's not simply about the intrinsic elements of say Red Bull." [13]
"As a consumer the challenge is how do I how do I figure out which one is right as a business the challenge is how do I stand out sometimes the answer to how you stand out no doubt is innovation." [13]
"We know that [ethical] concerns are out there...but we also know that they don't really behave that way." [13]
"It's interesting that that it's so acceptable to send your friend an ad...and that no one really seems to have a a problem with it." [13]
"Do interesting people have interesting things? Or does having interesting things make you interesting?" [10]
"A symbolic purchase isn't a substitute for actually having your own identity or being part of a community." [10]
"What makes you feel real? And knowing you have the power to change it, will you make use of it?" [10]

On Creativity and Work

"Curiosity is the bedrock of creativity, and a core source of innovation." [15]
"It's good to have a circle or network of people you can try ideas out with." [16]
"Genuine conversation (in person or on the phone or online) is a good way of exploring what's interesting to people and why." [16]
"I kind of like distractions; I'm very prone to getting up and walking around, flipping through a magazine, listening to some NPR podcast, whatever. I have to turn things over in the back of my head for a long time before I can get to where I'm ready to write." [9]
"Ideally, I like to know how something will start, and how it will end, before I really get going." [9]
"Don't worry, when you're starting out, about landing a dream job right away. Be open minded about learning new things, and do your best. Good work is good work." [16]
"I'm not suggesting being sneaky, or turning all your interactions into focus groups." [16]
"The more efficient you are the faster time goes and that's not really such a worthy goal all the time." [5]
"The real goal should be...to have more nows." [5]
"When you're walking your dog don't be looking at your phone be with your dog. Just be with your dog." [5]
"One of the valuable things that I have learned in the last few years is how to think about other people talking that I don't want to hear as something that's an opportunity and not an annoyance." [5]

Learn more:

Lessons from Rob Walker

On Noticing and Attention

On Branding and Consumer Culture

On Creativity and Work

Written by Antoine Buteau

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