More Creative & More Productive in 2 Days

Get Plugged In
Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe via Compfight

Try this experiment with me.

I did it, and I got much more done. My Creative Muse seemed to appreciate it too. I wonder if it’ll help you.

BE WARNED. Everything in you will itch at first, but stay with it.

Here it is: Postpone checking your email or going online until noon, for 2 weekdays in a row.

First Create: Get your most creative work done first. (Maybe after a cup of coffee.) Do stuff like idea generation, constructing a mission plan for your project, and the sorts of things that take more lateral thinking (vs. vertical analytical thinking…drill downward at one spot problem solving.)

Second Do: Get your 10 min “must do” stuff out of the way. You know the little things that pile up at work or home that take 10 minutes or less.

(If some of these must do things include going online or emailing…put it off until 10 or 11 a.m.)

Then, please report back.

I’m excited to hear what happened. It’ll be interesting to compare notes.

Ode to the Letter Box

Inspired by the STORY conference, and the piece I wrote for the official attendees notebook (on Little Free Libraries), I decided to start telling a very amazing Story of my own. It begins this summer, and unfolds a bit at a time.

Officially, nothing has happened … no advertising or promo blitz… but if you want to poke around, you’ll see some new things. Actually, if you don’t want to poke around and sniff out the new, semi-hidden stuff you won’t much care about what it is in the first place.

Since creativity is married to curiosity you get your creative juices going on adventures, mysteries, discoveries, and treasure hunts of various kinds. It’s hard if not impossible to have one without the other.

I’m up to something, and you can start to find out what it is. But, yes, it’s all up to you. And I’m not worried about spreading the word because it’s the anti-release…A good Story doesn’t need the same kind of advertising. It grows its own legs and walks the Story around for you.

There will be more revealed throughout the summer. Stop back when you can.

one more thing, by way of introduction (anti-introduction)….
The first phase has everything to do with “the letterbox”. You know, that old thing that holds bills and circulars, political flyers, and sometimes the random greeting card.

When was the last time opening the mail was magical?

Perhaps Now?

(There is a contest running all summer. See if you can find the tab under “Spark My Muse!”)


All Creation is Theft

Today is about stealing.

Jeff Goings will tell you today that the 6th habit of great writers is their propensity to steal. I agree. They (we) don’t always realize they (we) do it, but at least a bit is stolen.

We all have hidden influencers, as much as we have recognized models we admire or even imitate.

Theft is even more true in terms of creativity, but for an entirely different reason. An important reason.

Namely, origins.

The brilliant thinkers of the ancient world told of the Muses. The daughters of the gods gave mortals inspiration. Creativity was borrowed. Co-opted. It was not a product of spontaneous generation. It neither started nor ended with a human. Genius wasn’t characteristic of a person, but of an influence.

There is but one true source for creation and creativity Theos …deity.

In Christianity, a monotheist Source.

It’s all a heist, my friends. A beautiful heist. The more personal of twist we put on the process and delivery the less it’s identifiable as stealing.

Now, it’s your turn:

Do you agree?
Who or what have been your biggest influencers? 

And what are some of your possible hidden influencers? 

The Artistic Personality

Lonely Gladiator
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Emre Ergin via Compfight

I wanted to call attention to a fascinating article from my bud, Ed featured at Prodigal Magazine.

Launching from a tumultuous topic that men should “bring in the bacon” Ed talks about cultural constructs, expectations, and his upcoming fatherhood. He also touches on something I’d like to highlight here today. That is, the nature of the artistic personality type. Creatives.

Recently, I watched the season finale of the drama series MADMEN. Megan is married to wealthy ad man Don Draper. She pursues a career as an actress for the love of it. She doesn’t need the money, unlike many of her aspiring thesbian friends. Still, failure is difficult to handle for her.

Whether the stakes are one’s livelihood or one’s artistic ambitions an artist desires to succeed. This time, Megan’s mother rues the fact that Megan has an artistic temperament but not the artistic talent…

It was an intriguing comment. When considered it has big implications on many creative types. It’s about temperament. For who else is this true? I wondered.

But maybe this insight from the artist’s mother doesn’t reveal the whole story…maybe the talents are just unidentified or underperforming at the moment. Maybe the niche hasn’t been discovered or one hasn’t found “the zone” for their artistic endeavors. All the angst that comes with that is immense. Finding our way as creatives is the “epic hero journey” (a la Steven Pressfield) that involves mostly struggle.

Do you have “the artistic temperament”? 

What has it cost you?

List of Transcendent Things

Anxious child at window
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Royce Bair via Compfight

transcendent |tranˈsendənt|

adjective

• beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience: the search for a transcendent level of knowledge.

• surpassing the ordinary; exceptional: the conductor was described as a “transcendent genius.”• (of God) existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe. Often contrasted with immanent.

 

List of Transcendent Things:

• Beauty

• Hope

• Creativity

• Truth (Revealed within all quality artistic expressions)

• Justice

• Love

Will you help me and add to my incomplete list?
What did I miss?