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Riff on This
Where do the best ideas come from, and what are the conditions where the best ideas thrive? In Group Genius, Keith Sawyer breaks down the myth of the lone genius and shows us how environments of collaboration are more conducive to idea-generation. He points to the worlds of jazz and improvisation as examples of how…
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Noisemakers
Your inbox is already overflowing. You’re drowning in all the videos, feeds, articles demanding your immediate attention, fighting for your limited bandwidth. What the heck do you think you’re doing, adding to the noise? Everyone’s distracted, everyone’s overwhelmed. Why add another sound to the clamour? If you aspire to create some piece of art that…
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The Tedium of Blossoming
As I approach my 31st birthday, one thing is becoming quite clear: I will never hit Fast Company’s “Top 30 Under 30” list. It’s also too late to become a 20-year-old millionaire. We admire the child prodigy, the early bloomer. Every young musician aspires to be the next Hansen (when they were young, well, maybe…
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World Without Sidelines
“Another thing we can see in less industrialized parts of the world… is that something like making music, dancing, and singing together, as a participatory community that’s regular and ongoing is something that’s free, available, and part of everyday life. That’s a wealth and joy. It’s really interesting to realize that it’s been with industrialization…
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Spring Always Comes
Spring has finally arrived in Manitoba in full force. Our town is coming out of hibernation and taking a collective deep breath of rich spring air. When spring arrives every year, the memory of winter never seems so bad. But I remember this winter, somewhere between January weeks of sub -30 temperatures (Celsius, but…
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Perfectionism
“Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness and life force (these are the words we are allowed to use in California). Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground –…
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Hide or Seek
If you want to do work that matters, you need to choose: Will you hide, or will you seek? You can choose to hide from discomfort, skirt around chances to lead, avoid the risk of failure. There are lots of great hiding places out there. Or you can learn to seek. To stand up, to…
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Stepping into the Darkness
Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada más; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Al andar se hace camino, y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar. Caminante, no hay camino, sino estelas en la mar. Wanderer, your footsteps are the…
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Your Chance to Shine
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.…
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Delivery & Discovery
Delivery and discovery are both important if you want to make an impact. Delivery is deadlines, to-do lists, responsibilities, carrying out your commitments. Discovery is trying something new, tinkering, following a rabbit trail. It’s “play” for grown ups. In the spectrum between delivery and discovery, where do you spend most of your time? If you’re…