Thinking for a change: About life at work

25 Mar

Since it is NCAA tournament time, I am taking the opportunity during “March Madness” to hog my family’s Netflix account for my chick flick viewing pleasure. Last week’s movie was Morning Glory, starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, and Diane Keaton.

Before I go any further with this post, I just have to say that despite what the title suggests, there is nothing glorious about morning.

Morning Glory follows the journey of  young television producer Becky Fuller (McAdams) in her first national network position–executive producer on a once-popular morning news show. Even though this is Becky’s dream job, she soon finds that every dream holds at least a little nightmare, but she stays with it and works hard to makes the show better. Along the way, she also finds a way to balance her work and personal life.

That pretty much makes her my hero.

Let’s face it: there is no job that’s one hundred percent a dream job. They all have some nightmare moments thrown in, because that’s life. My hope is simply that my coworkers can say of me and yours can say of you that we stay with it.  We work hard, and our workplaces are better places for it.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Creative stretch: Don’t be hard on yourself

11 Mar

If you’re like me this might be the biggest stretch of all. I am nothing if not hard on myself. But you and I have to remember that being hard on ourselves does not lead to our best work or preserve our sanity for that matter.

There are some realities we are just better off accepting so they don’t get in the way of our progress along the way.

1. Life happens.

Sometimes when life happens, it either temporarily or permanently alters what we originally intend to accomplish.

2. Beginnings are rarely smooth.

Our first creative attempts will not be perfect. In fact, they may be more frustating than anything. I know. This is where I’m living right now, but I’m realizing that I can’t let the intrusions of life make me feel guilty for not getting enough done on my creative project or let my own learning curve discourage me.

I have to just breathe, pick up where I left off and keep trying.

In summary, don’t be hard on yourself. Don’t feel guilty when you get distracted from your goal; guilt is a waste of energy. Try not to get too frustrated when your first attempts are not what you imagined. Creativity is a process. You’ll find what you’re looking for…maybe even something better if you keep on.

Tags: , , , , ,

Thinking for a change: Nice people

28 Feb

From our first interactions with others in life, we are taught one thing: Be nice. This principle is sufficient to inspire a lot of elementary good behavior in social situations. It carries us from the playground to the university quad to the office. Nice was what I wanted for my life for a long time, until I finally realized that being nice isn’t enough.

Nice people don’t change the world. I was first introduced to this idea in a book by Lynne Hybels titled Nice Girls Don’t Change the World.

If you think about it, it’s true. Niceness really doesn’t change the world, but this truth is not a license for meanness. Instead, it is an invitation to lay aside the straight-laced, pretty picture of life to get actively involved in improving life itself.

Don’t be nice; be good; be fierce; be creative; be a little crazy; be yourself. I dare you. Can you see the difference?

Tags: , ,

Creative stretch: What fuels your creativity?

20 Feb

This week I have a question.

What fuels creativity?

There are probably about a thousand ways to answer this question. Here is my list of four places I find the greatest creative fuel.

Emotion

For me, a lot of creativity is inspired by emotion. Creativity of this type allows not only a unique opportunity for processing all kinds of emotions through the creative process but also the opportunity to consider and facilitate an emotional response in an audience. In school, we are taught that all discourse, particularly persuasive discourse, is made up of three components:

Ethos: the character and voice portrayed by the speaker/writer

Logos: the content of the message

Pathos: the feeling or response desired in the audience

This is the exact order in which these components were always presented in my classes, but I have always believed that pathos comes first in order of importance. This is true because the feeling we want to inspire in others informs how we present ourselves and how we structure our message.

Love

Some of my most daring creative projects have been born out of my love for the people, places, and events that inspired them. Love pushes us to push ourselves in ways that few other motivators can. Love makes the bravery often required by creative ventures worthwhile.

The creativity of others

The creativity of others inspires me to be creative. That’s why I write about books, music, television, and movies so much. These things that other people have created plant the seeds of new thoughts and ideas in me. This is also one of many reasons I so love Walt Disney World. There is so much creativity in that place it can’t help but rub off.

Necessity

Deadlines and discipline also spur me on to creativity. The pressure itself is not always fun, but I have created things I am truly proud of on deadline. And I am still putting off a lot of projects that have no deadline attached.

In the end, we can never be certain where creative inspiration will come from. All we can do is keep our tools handy so we are able to capture it when it comes along.

What fuels creativity for you?

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Creative stretch: Panic

15 Feb

We’ve committed to starting, and we feel good about that. We take about two steps toward our first goal, and things start to get real. Challenge. Failure. Success. Maybe success most of all. And all of a sudden what was everything we ever wanted is now a source of absolute panic.

Here’s what I want to say: Panic is not entirely negative. As long as we limit it, panic can be great creative fuel. Panic can inspire us to find answers–solve problems–push ourselves. Not to mention that panic gives voice to our worst fears, and once our fears have been articulated, we can let them go. When we let go of our fears, we can embrace our creative challenges with gusto.

The only secret to panicking productively is this: We MUST limit the time we spend panicking.

So…give yourself fifteen minutes (every day, if necessary) to freak out, but then turn it off and get to work.

Tags: , , , , ,

Thinking for a change: the art of mistakes

8 Feb

I once read that in one particular way the computer is detrimental to the writing process. Writing on the computer leaves us with no record of our “mistakes”—the approaches we rule out and the ideas we find don’t work. The moment we make these decisions or reach the frustration threshold, part of what we created disappears at the press of a button. That’s not necessarily good for creativity.

Now I’m not about to give up my technology, but I have learned to use it to save my unfinished thoughts and projects. They are their own files in my computer. I look at them from time to time and wonder. I wonder when I will find the right inspiration—the right moment—to complete them. About some of them, I wonder, “what was I thinking when I wrote this?” But I keep all of them.

The thing is…the thing we so quickly deleted today might be the thing that solves a creative crisis tomorrow. I know this sounds completely overdramatic. It sounds like I’m an intellectual property pack rat. I may be both, but that’s not the point.

Dilbert creator Scott Adams has said “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

According to this line of thought, all our mistakes are valuable and potentially beautiful. If that’s true, how should we face them? Maybe with a little less frustration and stress? I think so.

Beyond that, how can we preserve our mistakes and make sure that they (and we) become works of art?

Tags: , , , , ,

Creative stretch: Make mistakes.

6 Feb

I wish what I’m about to say wasn’t true. I wish it like Wes Welker wishes he’d caught that pass in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI. Wishing this wasn’t true keeps me up at night.  Seriously.

Mistakes are part of every major success in life. Some are small, as in “if I had tweaked that area just a little it would have been more successful.” Others are not so small. We call those failures. Whatever the scope, the truth holds: We’ll never be successful without them.

I don’t like mistakes, especially my own. In school, I was always aiming for perfection. I was the one sweating the 98% I got on that exam. I am the one who destroyed the curve. Hate me, if you must. Don’t worry…I’m getting paid back.

Because I’m still aiming for perfection…expecting to make no mistakes…I’m doomed to be disappointed.

All our dreams are doomed when we’re afraid of making mistakes. I’m slowly learning not to hate my mistakes. I’m slowly learning. What are you learning from your mistakes?

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.