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The Architecture of Inspiration
Your surroundings silently shape your focus, imagination, and flow.
V.C. Hanna
June 11, 2025
INSPIRING QUOTE
Build to Inspire
“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”
We often treat our workspaces as passive backdrops to our lives as mere walls and windows framing our daily grind or worse, imprisoning us in the grind. But workspaces are much more than just scenery. Objects in our workspaces can be like characters in a story, each with a unique backstory that inspire our creative thinking.
Churchill's timeless observation highlights how physical spaces, including architectural design and interior layouts, actively shape behavior and culture. A workspace should be a place where people feel energized, not drained. Surround yourself and your colleagues with comfort, connection, and creativity, and you’ll accomplish your best work.
CREATIVITY SPOTLIGHT
An Office To Inspire
This week’s Creativity Spotlight features our first-ever video interview with Kevin Amirsaleh, a business analyst and value investor. Kevin’s investments portfolio has outperformed the stock market by 2.5x over the last 3 years. One word: alpha. Translation: impressive!
Kevin’s office reminded me of the Reggio Emilia approach to education, a philosophy developed in postwar Italy which sees children as naturally curious, capable, and full of potential. One of its core ideas is that the environment is the third teacher. The second is peers and the first is the teacher.
While the Reggio Emilia approach was meant for classrooms, its ideas apply just as powerfully to adults and work spaces. This is exemplified by the many companies in Silicon Valley who adapted this philosophy to their environments. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other tech firms design workspaces to inspire their employees. They offer their employees perks like ping pong areas, nap rooms, and rock climbing walls in order to increase morale, to raise creativity, and ultimately, to boost profitability.
Kevin exemplifies this spirit as well. Watch my video interview with Kevin below and below that is a newsletter-exclusive mini Q&A.
🔦 3 Questions For Kevin Amirsaleh (A Newsletter Exclusive)
👉️ Question 1: If you can keep only one item, which would it be?
Answer: I would keep the baseball bat and the hats because they are the strongest guide and metaphor I have. However, in reality, I don’t think I could pick.
👉️ Question 2: Which item is the most useless?
👉️ Question 3: You have $0 and you have to procure or create a new item for your office. What would it be?
I would make this (below, left), and I would place a copy of the book ‘Intelligent Investor’ (below, right) in it. I’d hang it on my wall, kind of like a fire alarm as novelty joke.
I would use this when everybody is losing their head in a market bubble. And as a value investor, I’d be under performing for half a decade.
So, the emergency would be that underperformance and I’d need to break the glass and reread the book.
 |  ‘The Intelligent Investor’ by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing |
BLINKS, THINKS & LINKS
Curiosity Candy
ACTIONABLE PROMPTS
Small Shifts, Real Results
Transform your workspace into a “third teacher” that sparks creativity and wonder. Complete these steps, in any order after Step 1, within a realistic timeframe (e.g., 2–4 weeks).
🏢 1) Assess Your Space: Note three elements you love most and three you like least.
🫶 2) Prioritize Favorites: Make more prominent or functional the three elements you love, so they can inspire your work.
🧹 3) Remove Clutter: Eliminate the least liked element to clear mental and physical space.
4) Add Wonder: Bring one object from home that sparks joy, reinforces fundamentals, or boosts creative thinking (e.g., a book, a childhood object, a plant, a meaningful photo). Replace the second least-liked element with it.
💵 5) Upgrade on a Small Budget: Spend no more than $20 to acquire or create a new item. Replace the third least-liked element.
🔄 6) Keep It Fresh: Each week, rearrange one element (e.g., chair, artwork, desk item) to disrupt familiarity and reawaken your perception.
