Search Results for:

High Focus + Deliberate Daydream = Creativity
|

High Focus + Deliberate Daydream = Creativity

Note: High summer seems an ideal time to hang low, retreat from the bright spotlight, and practice the art of Productive Loafing. Productive Loafing is the intentional act of retreating from “doing” and from public engagement. It can come in many forms as this series of articles will show. While “hanging low” during high summer, I’m posting ideas…

Creative Mind Breaks for Productive Loafing
|

Creative Mind Breaks for Productive Loafing

Note: As I hang low in high summer (working a little more behind-the-scenes), I’m printing and re-printing pieces this month in The Art of Productive Loafing series. Here’s an archived piece I think you’ll appreciate. Archived: The Secret Stance to Create What Matters 1. To Stand & Stare What is this life if, full of…

How the Talent of Productive Loafing Aids Creativity
|

How the Talent of Productive Loafing Aids Creativity

Note: High summer seems an ideal time to hang low, retreat from the bright spotlight, and practice the art of Productive Loafing. Productive Loafing is the intentional act of retreating from “doing” and from public engagement. It can come in many forms as this series of articles will show. While “hanging low” during high summer, I’m posting ideas…

The Accomplished Creative’s Afflictions
|

The Accomplished Creative’s Afflictions

When many people come to me, they arrive having tasted accomplishment already. They’re motivated by wit, persistence, and a hunger to learn – the kind of people I thrive running with. PhDs, scholars, VPs, corporate consultants, established authors, professors, media personalities, restauranteurs, tech wizzes, spiritual guides, business owners, healers, coaches, or performers. So what afflicts…

Essential Tools (& Tips) for Digital Publishing
| |

Essential Tools (& Tips) for Digital Publishing

Not long ago, the closest an author could achieve to creating an e-book himself or herself was converting a word processing document into a PDF and then e-mailing copies to close friends and family members. Today, though still a burgeoning industry, e-book publishing is becoming creative and fruitful in ways comparable to traditional book publishing….

The Give & Take of Entrepreneurial Wise Failure
| |

The Give & Take of Entrepreneurial Wise Failure

We get ourselves in trouble as creatives when we try to build our presence – that is, in how we promote, market, and brand our work. How we give and take gets us in trouble. What we expect of others gets us in trouble. How we take care of ourselves or not gets us in…

3 Reasons Apple Still Captivates & Elevates
| |

3 Reasons Apple Still Captivates & Elevates

Any animus toward Apple aside, they still captivate and elevate in ways that small businesses, solo-preneurs, creative professionals, and creatives & authors can learn from. Many of my clients and groups struggle with telling the Story of who they are and what they do with consistency and integrity. And others actually feel trapped by their…

Inadequacy & the Flip Side of Why You Create
| | |

Inadequacy & the Flip Side of Why You Create

A series of phone calls I have had this week hearten me about humanity. A thought leader, a start-up co-founder, a memoirist, an herbalist professional, a novelist, a marketing boutique owner-cum-memoirist – they all reminded me of the importance of why. But they also remind me of the flip side of why. And that positive…

Your Big, Bold Creative Life with Melissa Dinwiddie: Tracking Wonder Conversation
| | |

Your Big, Bold Creative Life with Melissa Dinwiddie: Tracking Wonder Conversation

We often hear about the importance of play when it comes to creating new things and ideas. John Cleese says, “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” But what about creating a new life? A whole new way of viewing yourself and of acting in the world? Where does play come…

4 Keys to Write & Finish a Book – Really?
| | |

4 Keys to Write & Finish a Book – Really?

Not so long ago, people really didn’t know about the book launches my clients had or their New York Times best-selling successes or Oprah appearances or simply finishing the books that had been brewing inside them sometimes for years. I used to think it poor form to draw attention to my work or to my…