There’s a dynamic that I like to call “busy boredom”. A lot of pros I meet suffer from this malady. They are very, very busy. Much to do. Work to create. Meetings to attend. Yes, their schedule and their task list are full, but, they are bored out of their minds....
Every creative pro experiences peaks and troughs of productivity. At times, it seems like you are on fire, have plenty of energy, and could go on at your current pace forever. Then, you inexplicably hit a wall and your output suddenly changes. You are in a trough...
The word discipline is polarizing. To some, it implies the grind. It means sweat, grit, blood, and sacrifice. To others, it sounds like obligation. It’s something I ought to do, but probably don’t want to. It’s guilt-inducing. I’d like to simplify the word for all...
I’ve always preferred the term “thankfulness” over “gratitude”. When I express that I am thankful, it means that I’m full of thanks. I’m filled up. It’s easy to turn your eyes to the next thing – the next project, the next meeting – without pausing to express...
Just before I left for my honeymoon, a colleague handed me a little book by Parker Palmer called Let Your Life Speak. The book explores the nature of vocation, and how we often miss the clues to what we are truly wired to do and be because we aren’t listening for...
In his books about the creative process, author Steven Pressfield shares an ethic that is common among screenwriters in Hollywood: “One for the studio, one for me.” “One for the studio” means that in order to do your job, you need to do work – in this case, write...
Have you ever considered what you're really chasing after?
How do you define a “rich life”? Have you ever even considered the question? Many creative pros spend their career chasing after something… undefined. What are you trying to achieve in life and work? Today’s guest has spent decades helping others define what a...
How do you know when an idea is right? One distinct challenge of creative work is its subjective nature. Two people can have very different perspectives on the quality of a particular idea. Without a framework for making a decision, it’s difficult to have a...
Some workplaces like to parade the notion that their work culture is a family. No! The workplace is not a family. Family membership is unconditional and not contingent upon performance. A job is contingent upon delivering upon expectations and maintaining...
Yesterday we discussed the importance of making a commitment. Of saying “yes”. However, there is equal power in saying “no”. When you close a door, you are effectively channeling your focus, time, and energy in the same way as saying “yes”. However, many creative...
A commitment is a powerful force of nature. Something magical happens when we say “yes”. Not magical in a mystical way, but in a far more important and pragmatic one. It seems that the moment we commit to something, we begin to orient our life around bringing that...
When do you do your most effective thinking? Some people wake up ready to go, while others seem to do their best creative work late in the evening, or even after hours. The challenge is that most of us do not have an option to work when we want to. We are required...
In my book Herding Tigers, I wrote about two common profiles of team members who can disrupt your team dynamic. The first is what I call “The Spark”. This is a person who has never met an idea they don’t like. They are in constant idea mode, and can toss out a...
When I ask creative pros what prevents them from sharing their idea, or putting work into the world, it’s often that they fear the work isn’t good enough. Or, that they aren’t good enough. Or, that they just don’t really belong in the room. On this episode, we...
How fear can paralyze you and some specific strategies for limiting its grip.
Inevitably, every creative pro reaches a moment when they begin to think that maybe they’ve lost their touch. What came so easily just a few years before feels more challenging, and what once would have felt intuitive now takes a while to understand. It’s going to...
Where do brilliant ideas come from? More often than not, it’s when something “clicks” into place and there is a sense that things suddenly make sense in a way they didn’t just before. You see things more clearly, and maybe even feel a little excited about taking...
“Don’t apologize for your existence.” This is a phrase I coined to help people on my team stop apologizing for sharing a bold point of view. I noticed that a lot of creative pros – myself included – have str uggled with “sorry under my breath” syndrome, or the need...
You probably have a number of objectives you are trying to deliver on at the moment. However, there are likely only a few very critical goals that will build momentum for everything else you are doing. In his book The 4 Disciplines Of Execution, Chris McChesney...
