Goodbye Purple Squirrel — Taste Is Built Through Rejection, Not Selection

This is a recent version of my logo.

It stood out.

It was distinctive.

A little clever, a little whimsy, cheeky in a way that felt satisfying.

Quite literally … a purple squirrel.

But that energy.

Something unusual.

Memorable.

and ... A little performative, sigh.

But for a while, I thought that was the point.

To be different.

To be noticed.

To have something that made people pause and look twice.

It did.

But over time, something started to feel slightly off.

Not wrong exactly.

Just… not something I could fully stay in.

It felt like I was stepping into it… oh ouch, really? Yup.

instead of it being something I naturally moved from.

So I did what most of us do in that moment.

I tried to improve it.

Refine it.

Adjust it.

Make it better.

Maybe it just needed a few tweaks.

Maybe I hadn’t gotten it quite right yet.

Hey AI, can you help?

But the more I worked on it, the clearer something became.

The problem wasn’t that it needed to be improved.

It needed to be let go.

And that’s the part that’s harder than it sounds.

Because it "wasn’t bad".

It worked.

It had energy.

It had personality.

It had a kind of presence.

It was kind of cute.

Letting go of something that doesn’t work is easy.

Letting go of something that "almost works"…

That’s different.

Oh and "almost" really does get under my skin, but that is a story for another time.

That’s how taste starts to show up.

Not in what you choose.

In what you’re willing to reject.

Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

The small misalignment.

The subtle performance.

The feeling that you’re just slightly outside of yourself.

The wrong vibe.

And no amount of refinement fixes that.

So... I let it GO. Goodbye my sweet, fun, purple squirrel.

And what’s left now is quieter, sure.

Simpler, yes.

Less impressive? Well, no, I don't think so.

Because it is something I can actually stay in.

Something that feels like it moves with me, instead of something I have to chase.

A Gentle Reframe

Taste isn’t built by choosing the best option.

It’s built by rejecting what doesn’t fit… even when it’s good.

Especially when it’s good.

From Reflection to Practice

Understanding an idea is helpful. Experiencing it is even better.

The small practice below is simply an invitation to try that shift.

When to Reject the “Almost”