My family tells a story about a meatloaf. Apparently my cousin once asked my grandmother why shy cuts the ends off the meatloaf before putting it into the oven. My aunt thought about it and said, “It’s how my mother always made it. Her meatloaf was wonderful, so there must be a reason.” When they asked our grandmother, she said “Our oven was too small to fit the whole thing in!”

If you only study what works, you might never figure out why they’re making the choices they are. Some choices won’t apply to your situation. On the other hand, some of your ‘innovations’ might have been left out of the masterpieces for very good reason.

I make it a point to watch bad movies and play bad games. The same goes for books, TV Series, plays and podcasts. Most creators don’t set out to make something terrible. It’s rewarding to look at something that doesn’t work and try to figure out what the trap was. Why did they make this decision that ended up so poorly in the final product? Why does this puzzle game suck while Portal is amazing?

Don’t keep cutting the ends off the meatloaf. Unless you have a really small oven.