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David Kelley on Creative Confidence
Is creativity a gift or a skill? Are we born creative (or not), or is creativity a muscle that can be exercised and developed? David Kelley, founder of IDEO, which has developed things like the first computer mouse, believes that we’re all creative, but that often our creativity gets stifled along the way. He has…
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Do Beautiful Things Work Better?
I still remember the first time I went snowboarding in my (then) new snowboard pants. My first real boarding pants, they felt good, looked great, and changed my world. As I became one with the mountain that day, I honestly felt like I became a better snowboarder. But can new pants really make you a…
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Flow
I just finished reading Dan Pink’s Drive, in which Pink explains why traditional carrot-and-stick motivators are out-dated and need to be replaced by the intrinsic motivators of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. (For the abbreviated version of the book, watch Pink’s TED talk, which I’ve mentioned before). One thing I learned was the importance of experiencing…
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Don’t Quit
I was looking at some kinetic typography videos yesterday when I came across this one, which is hugely encouraging if you’ve embarked on learning a craft, but haven’t mastered it yet. Ira Glass is talking about storytelling, but it probably applies to what you’re doing too.
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Where Do Good Ideas Come From?
Often when we think of inventors and people with great ideas, we think of them as lone rangers with furrowed brows who have a “Eureka” moment that leads to their great discovery. Indeed, that’s how many of them would tell the story as well. In this talk by Steven Johnson, (and in his TED talk)…
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Creativity Takes Time
How long does creativity take? If you’re like me, you probably find it hard to set aside long amounts of time to develop creative ideas for your projects. When I’m doing a design project, I usually find myself running after the first idea I have just to meet a deadline or save time. But occasionally…
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Creativity is Subtraction
Austin Kleon has some great advice on creativity, and following his first rule, I stole it (but check out more by clicking on the image): Kleon is a generous artist, and I like that. I also like his art, called “Newspaper Blackout”. Armed with only a Sharpie, he creates poems by removing all the “unnecessary”…
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You’re Weird
And that’s ok. We were reflecting the other day on how much time most of us spend trying to watch, follow, make and be what’s hot and trendy. Meanwhile, the people we find most interesting are those who have rejected the crowd and embraced their own weirdness. They’re not trying to be different (also a…
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Being Yourself
“Insist on yourself; never imitate.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson During my high school days, while learning to play the guitar, I tried my hand at songwriting. I’d spend hours in my bedroom with my guitar, working out some chords, lyrics, and melodies, writing them all down in my notebook, only to realize that I’d just…
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Resistance and Doing the Work That Matters
Over lunch a couple weeks ago a friend and I chatted about doing work that matters. There is a huge tension that exists between the endeavours we want to take on and actually accomplishing them. While this tension is frequently attached to “creative” endeavours – that book we want to write, that documentary we want…