1. Limit Possibilities and Shrink Your Options

The “open mind” image is associated with creativity and for that reason it can lead us astray! Creativity is multifaceted and one image can’t summarize it’s truth. One false interpretation of this picture, and you will be in creative paralysis.

The wrong interpretation goes like this…

[box style=”alert”]”Creativity is thinking of all possibilities.”[/box]

Actually, creative ideas come from clearly defined limits. Humans know this intuitively, but “knowledge” of how creativity works can dehydrate our natural creative juices. Consult your intuition in the following example to confirm this.

Think about a high pressure situations when you need to be creative. You’ve shipwrecked on an island, and creativity helps you survive: you’re limited by the resources on the island, so you make a fire with friction, cook the rabbit you caught in the genius trap you made, make shelter with foliage, and guide rainwater through large funneled leaves into a hollowed out rock.

Now compare the creativity in limited resources (deserted island) to your typical Saturday night with the entire world open to you. Limits force the creative’s hand. But when you can do anything, you’ll probably do nothing.

You can be creative in an open world, but it’s like swimming upstream. It’s a constant challenge. Give yourself limits and a focus to make it easier!

Limits encourage creativity by presenting the brain with a clear focal point. Planning to write a short story is a creative challenge and a good start with some limit, but “short” and “story” are still too vague. Does short mean less than 100 pages or one page? Is it a fantasy or horror story? This type of openness is not a boon to creativity. It destroys it.

For further insight on this, let’s look to the creative writer, Ernest Hemingway and how a self-imposed limit on a short story brought out his creative side.

Ernest sat at a table with several writers, and claimed he could write a story in six words. Bets were made against him. Hemingway scribbled on a napkin, which was passed around the table, and it confirmed that he had won the bet as the six words did tell a story:

[quote]”For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”[/quote]

We must first limit our focus to give the brain a pivot point to dance around. From there, shocking idea number two comes into play and real creative progress is made.

[box style=”info”]Creative ideas aren’t always ripe upon conception. Corning created a damage-resistant glass called “gorilla glass” in the 1960s and could not find a use for it. The project was terminated. Forty years later in 2006, Steve Jobs decided that standard glass was unacceptable for the iPhone because it scratched too easily. Gorilla glass had finally found it’s use![/box]

2. Bad Ideas

Now that you have a limited scope (i.e. I want to travel to Egypt in one month for less than $50 instead of the oh-so-vague I want to travel somewhere for free), it’s time to generate as many ideas as you can think of. Even bad ones.

Bad ideas have such a poor reputation, but they are a critical part of the creative process.

Look! There is our favorite creativity picture again! This time it is on the right side because it’s finally in the right section. Coming out of this green head are a multitude of ideas. The romanticist will claim they are all good ideas. The realist knows that most of them are terrible, but one or two might be workable if refined or combined.

Bad ideas must be embraced by the creative. For one, a bad idea can combine with another idea to make a good idea. Even two bad ideas combined can make a good one.

Bungee jumping is fun, good idea, and it combines two bad ideas – (1) jumping off a bridge and (2) tying yourself to a bridge. The inventor didn’t stop at “jumping off a very high bridge is a terrible idea!” He kept it around long enough to attach it, and the person jumping, to the bridge itself.

I think the idea of Twitter was absolutely ludicrous – they ripped off the status portion of Facebook. But they modified it enough with other ideas to make it a new and differentiated experience.

Are you familiar with these “bad” ideas that turned out to be brilliant?

[list style=”check”]

• We could take out the ubiquitous CD drive. I type this on a 13.3″ Macbook Air. It is very thin and light because it lacks the optical disc drive that was essential for a laptop. Not anymore. When you’re the first to change like Apple was here, you’re going to get weird looks for your “bad idea.”
• Let’s name it ‘Wii.’ Nintendo’s console was a laughing stock when they announced the name. I remember reading countless jokes and predictions of doom and gloom. Wii is a creative name – symbolic of community (we), short, one syllable, unique, and near-impossible not to remember. It is the best-selling console this generation. If you’re keeping track, Nintendo had the last laugh.

[/list]

So let those bad ideas flow! Give them second chances, combine them with other ideas, and shoot for quantity over quality.

3. Whiskey

Love it, hate it, or hate to love it, alcohol removes inhibitions. Whiskey weakens our internal filter, allowing more ideas to seep through. We’re less likely to thwart an idea before it forms because it’s “stupid.” Of course, sometimes it really is stupid, but that’s a part of the process.

[box style=”alert”]In 2010, I was interviewed for a stockbroker job in a typical meeting room. But in the corner, I noticed a clear drink fridge with beer in it. They may have been creative, but they were obviously too drunk to see my talent.[/box]

Now have a drink and be creative. I said one drink (singular).

Well, you can try again tomorrow.

“I want to try.”

It isn’t some grand, heroic statement of valor.

Or is it?

Trying is more than most people do in a lifetime. “I want to try” is a claim of intent that carries world-shaking power. For it is the most a human being can do.

The great men and women of history did one thing differently. They tried with vigor. After being shot down, they kept trying, only with more vigor. They tried so much that eventually, the world said, “ok, fine, I’m sick of fighting you.”

[box style=”info”]Remember how Sylvester Stallone kept trying?[/box]

And here I am. A lowly writer without fame, fortune, or a girlfriend. I’m fine without those, but as for writing, I want to try. I could try to write the greatest story ever told (or even a decent one), guide Deep Existence into a top blog, and see the wonders of the world with no cash in my wallet.

I have never really tried to push the limits in my 26 years. I assume there are limits to push me back into reality. What if they aren’t there? What if they push me back and I figure out a way around them? What’s really stopping me? If I were to walk up to a limit and touch it, what would I find?

Fear.

If You’re Not Trying, You’re Afraid

You know what scares me? The fact that fear can control our lives. People die with fears they’ve held since a young age. Fears that stopped them from being who they wanted to be.

To live your dreams means any other way terrifies and baffles you. Why would we do anything else but try for what we really want in life? No other strategy makes sense. Those who can’t do it are stuck. Knee deep in concrete. With their fear. They see the light, but cannot move towards it.

Let’s crush fear with a couple of reckless rhinoceroses. Shall we?

I want to live true to myself. I want to live in a way that is a direct extension of my soul to the world. Don’t you? I think you do. We all do! It’s why the answer to so many questions is “be yourself.” You were meant to be you and nothing else. But fear ruins that possibility because the things that we love are the most fragile to us. They scare us the most.

We’re smart though.

A quick cause-effect analysis tells us that inaction accomplishes nothing and does not protect what we love. The only way to preserve our hopes and dreams is to press on. I’m asking you (and me) to step out and try. Fail a little. Fail a lot. Cast aside your fears and give yourself a chance.

Since I’ve not been trying, I’ll make an example out of myself. These questions are related to writing, as I want to write more, but you can imagine what similar questions might be relevant to you and what your life is missing.

1. Why is it that you’ve never made a concerted effort to write a full-length book? Or two? Or fifteen?
2. How many times have publishers rejected you? Zero? That’s how many submissions you’ve made, isn’t it?
3. Why haven’t you been actively getting others to critique your writing? This is available for free on the web.
4. Why aren’t you trying?

Those questions defeat my excuses. They grab me by the collar – I’m shirtless right now, so make that collarbone – and slam my bare back against the wall, and they force me to respond, but all I can do is shake my head and say, “I know. I know. I’m not even trying.”

Worst of all, there isn’t financial risk in writing and yet I hesitate! I need to try to write a compelling story. It might be terrible. But it would be a charming failure, and I would learn from it. I could write 57 bad stories, 20 average ones, and then a masterpiece on the 78th. That’s lots of failure to fight through, but since I enjoy writing, it’s fun.

If what you really want out of life involves a massive amount of money, you should do some risk assessment and brainstorming for possible ways to get it done. Whatever you do, break it into small, actionable steps, to give the “huge project” a “this is possible” perspective. Writers can rest easy knowing that War and Peace was written one word at a time.

Your dreams are what make you come alive, so failure while racing around the “dream track” can be fun. If it is painful, it will play a vital role in your eventual success if you keep trying. Pain makes learning more effective. I haven’t touched the oven rack in more than two weeks!

Internal struggles can be significant. I can write for free, but I still have fear. I fear putting too much time into something that doesn’t work out. I fear that my passion will change overnight and that I should have be practicing for professional archery.

This concept is as old as dust, but have you taken in it’s wisdom? Have you accepting it as a core value – to try and if it fails, try again? Maybe it’s too simple for to you believe that you don’t already know it. Ask yourself – why aren’t you there yet? The answer is either a lot of failure or a lack of trying.

You know it. You can see it. The only real obstacle is you and your weakness is fear. Find a way to eliminate or bypass your fears and something odd will happen…

There will be no stopping you.

I love story.

My love for story seems to have started when I played a video game made by Nintendo. It is as cliche as stories get – Mario saving the Princess from Bowser. Nintendo made that one cliche all by itself. 🙂

The game is Paper Mario for Nintendo 64.

You start off being invited to a party at Princess Peach’s castle. After mingling with the charming guests, you make your way to Peach’s quarters. Just as Mario is about to lay the sugar on the Princess, Bowser makes a fashionably late appearance, busting through the window.  Then Bowser defiantly declares that he is taking the Princess with him.

So what do you, the hero, do?

You jump in front of your woman and say, “No way! You have to go through me first.” And so he does.

Mario jumps in front of the princess, ready to stomp Bowser’s lights out. But Bowser possesses a magical “star rod” that gives you (Mario) no chance against him. He easily defeats you and sends you flying out the window to who knows where. Then he dashes off in his flying bowser cup with the helpless Peach.

As a man, I know the pain of not being able to protect your woman is most severe. I, Mario, was going to get her back or die trying! And don’t worry, I got her back. I even lost and reclaimed her in the sequels. 😛

I clearly remember how motivated that made me feel. I was really upset with that giant green spiked turtle and I desperately wanted to save that cartoon princess. I sound crazy when it’s described literally – but my response to the story wasn’t based on logic – my response is hardwired into me.

We Respond To Stories

Your life is an interwoven collection of stories.

Life is a story that begins with your birth and ends with your death. You are a part of the story of the human race. Regardless of your views of religion or evolution, our existence is a fascinating story with plenty of excitement throughout history. You are also character in countless other stories involving the lives of others.

Any way you look at it, you are in the midst of dozens of overlapping stories. And that’s why you’re drawn to them. We all are.

Have you ever wondered why nearly everyone likes movies, music, and books? They are mediums that tell us stories of hope, love, loss, and anything else we can relate with. Naturally, we like happy endings because we want them for ourselves.

Advertisements take advantage of your weakness to story. This make-up will make you look like the beautiful star on the screen – what an uplifting tale that is. Who wouldn’t want that?  That book about how to become a millionaire will make you rich and fulfill your dreams. Again, that’s a pretty nice story. But be wary of stories that sell you something – not all stories are true.

If stories are so powerful, how can we use them in our daily lives, if at all?

Can Stories Change Us?

Oh yes. Indeed. Affirmative.

Stories move us emotionally. They also reveal new ways of looking at things (logic). These two tools can motivate us and direct us to change for the better. So I would say yes, story can play a big role in positive life change. But how can we use it specifically?

1. Write your story

Of course you’re in the middle of your story now. The last pages are blank, but maybe you should write in a few details of what’s to come. Writing down your desired outcome in important areas can serve as a potent motivator and “stake in the ground.” When you are trying to get to point B (i.e. be debt free), your brain will begin to think of possible creative ways to move towards it.

The gap between A and B is what fuels creativity. You’ve written that your story takes you to point B of having no debt, but how does it happen? That’s for our hero to figure out. And you will if you have the determination to make your story a good one. And you do.

2. Tell Your Story To Others

Redemption is a critical theme in many stories. Zero to hero never gets old, does it? Tell others how you used to be (even until present day) passive, but that your path is veering towards becoming decisive. People like to hear that you’re improving something, especially if you follow through. Of course, you’re more likely to follow through if you told everyone you know that it’s going to happen. The best part, is that the people you tell can become supporting characters in your story to change. And that is invaluable.

3. Listen To Others’ Success Stories

Don’t just look to yourself for inspiration. Others have overcome your big challenge already. They know how it’s done, though sometimes they’ll want to sell you a book about it.

There are a couple of my Facebook friends who have lost a LOT of weight. They look great now. If I needed to lose weight, I would be incredibly inspired by what they’ve done and I would ask them how they did it. They would surely have a story for me – about when they really got serious about losing weight. About the measures they had to take. About the struggles they had along the way. Their experience is valuable and helpful (not to mention inspiring) if you want to overcome the same problem.

Using these three tactics, you can leverage the power of story that is built in to you – that you will forcefully respond to. Who is your Bowser to fight? How are you going to get the Princess you’ve always wanted?

For whatever ails you or whatever you’d like to improve, I hope one day you can tell the following story:

“I used to be _____, but now I am ______!”

I have a grand total of four (physical) pictures. I threw the others in the trash.

Photography is a relatively new invention in the world. It’s prudent to discuss the downsides of new technology. Some of the downsides of pictures are significant.

With digital storage, it doesn’t take up any more physical space to store a thousand photos vs. ten photos and sorting through them is fairly easy. But while most of this applies to physical pictures, many of these reasons still apply to both formats.

This is less relevant to photo hobbyists, professionals, and enthusiasts – as pictures are more than just instant memories to them. But for everyone else, we need to decide the best way to use them. I’m not saying my way is THE way – but this is my opinion on the role of pictures in our lives.

My view of pictures? We take too many. We keep too many.

Here are six reasons:

1. Enjoy The Moment

I’ve seen it too many times. You’re on top of the world with a breath-taking view – and out come the cameras. People are snapping all kinds of photos from different angles, trying to get the perfect one. Why?

I understand the idea of a picture is to capture the moment, but if the moment is spent taking pictures, then someone can take a picture of you taking pictures to capture the moment.  Instead of looking through a tiny viewfinder or LCD screen, we can take in the beauty through ultra high-definition eyes. Cameras make it possible to go on a trip and be absent.

I know this is true because I’ve done it myself. The more pictures I take, the less present I am. A camera requires your complete focus to use. I don’t suggest giving up photography – I suggest taking a close look at how your camera affects your enjoyment and involvement in trips.

We do it to have great pictures of the moment… to relive it later. But is reliving the past actually something you want to do?

2. Let The Past Go

If pictures exist to relive the moment, then we’d all be better off to have less of them. Hardly anybody believes living in the past is healthy, but pictures seem to be an acceptable form of this.

Before you call me a heartless anti-picture fiend, you should know that I struggle with crippling nostalgia because I loved my childhood. I look back at some of those memories and experience such strong emotions that I don’t know what to do with myself. No matter how often I revisit these, I don’t find relief. It only gets worse. I wonder then, is it wise to continue teasing myself with a past I’ll never experience again?

Might it be better to nod briefly at the past and focus fully on making the present even better? I think so, and pictures don’t help! I’m torn on this, but having fewer pictures is the one solution that seems win-win. I’m not completely forgetting the past, but I’m not dwelling on it either.

3. How Often Do You Look At Them?

Ok, say you disagree with point number two and believe it is a great idea to frequently look at pictures of the past. How often do you pull out the photo album and look at it? Like me, it might be very rare.

It was only recently that I was able to admit the photos I had stored in my “personal bin” held no real value. I never looked at them and even when I did, they just made me somewhat emotional. They didn’t add value to my life or help me to live better – they took me back to a time in my life that is gone. Forever. They can’t bring those days back.

Pictures are of course among the most sentimental possessions in the world and very difficult to get rid of. The four photos I have left are “landmark” photos that represent people and a time in my life that means something to me. They are the cream of the crop.

4. How Many Is Enough?

If you have 18 pictures of your dog, what differentiates them so much that you need to keep all of them? Why not pick your favorite one or two or five and toss the rest? Your favorite picture is the one that will encapsulate your dog’s personality the most and be the most impactful.

As you age, do you plan to continue to accumulate thousands of pictures? At what point will you have enough to satisfy you? At what point will you have more pictures than you can manage?

5. The More Pictures You Have, The Less Valuable They Are

If you disagree strongly to this point and are very sentimental about pictures, consider that less is more. The four pictures I have are now much more valuable and important than the couple hundred or so I had before. With thousands or hundreds of pictures, your best ones will be buried behind many forgettable pictures.

Consider trimming your picture collection (physical and digital) by saving only the very best ones. Then when you look through pictures, you won’t be flipping pages rapidly – you’ll be pausing and admiring each one.

6. The Picture Is Not The Person

A picture of someone is not equivalent to that person. It is a piece of paper. To put a great deal of value in the picture is insulting to the person. Again, it’s a piece of paper.

I remember everyone I had a picture of just fine. I value them and recognize their value is not as fragile as a piece of paper. If you had a house fire and the pictures burned, would it decrease the value of the people in the pictures you had? Of course not, because the pictures themselves are not valuable – they point to someone valuable.

There is no reason to feel guilty about throwing pictures away. Especially if pictures are cluttering up your life. Always remember where the value is.

The Best Reason To Keep Them

Arguably, the best purpose of pictures is to show others a scene or moment. Maybe this is why we take them – we want to show our lives to others. I know I’ve enjoyed sharing and seeing pictures on facebook.

Photography is undoubtably an incredible invention that has changed the world. Pictures make us laugh, cry, and smile. They bring us to places we’ve never seen in person. They open our eyes to new things.

What is the best way to go about taking, storing, keeping, and using them? That’s up to each individual, but the wrong answer is to not think about it at all.

 What are your thoughts on pictures? What do they mean to you?  How do you like to use them?

1. Purge

The worst possible work space is one that is overflowing with useless, outdated papers and items. Purging is the most impactful way to revolutionize your workplace. A clear space promotes a clear mind.

After you get rid of those expired Lance crackers in the drawer…Read More