Why business artists & creatives need to climb trees instead of ladders
My unstoppable productivity can exhaust the best parts of my mind. My “optimized” studio – with standing desk and white board walls and the best digital equipment and the best books at my disposal – sometimes cheers on Captain Productivity a bit too enthusiastically.
To snap the Captain out of his usual modus operandis, I often step outside of that studio self and into the woods. Every three months – April, July, October, and January – I’m certain to spend considerable time at an outdoors Horizon Spot.
It’s here I ask myself and track notes on key Horizon Questions.
I’m curious: How do you step back and look forward and ask yourself questions like
- What will you create and how will you be creating differently next year?
- How will what you create – your books, your programs, your business – engage people differently next year?
- How will your full creative life have even more meaning and fulfillment next year?
- How are your present actions lining up with that Horizon?
I know – you’re probably noticing that even when climbing a tree, the Captain shows up with big questions. But this is how I let Captain Productivity and Boy Wonder play together.
In this video, I show you this season’s Horizon Spot and share with you why adventurous creatives and business artists need horizons to awaken one of their survival tools. Below I invite you to find your own spot and share a photo of it.
00:00 a shot of me in a tree and what a Horizon Spot is
01:15 What to bring to your Horizon Spot (and a peek at my TrackPack)
01:56 Your Horizon Questions
03:15 Finding your Horizon Spot
03:52 Why we human beings have needed expansive horizons for centuries
04:21 The history of this tree (factoid Jeffrey alert!)
05:10 An invitation to share your Horizon Spot
In our Get Things Done culture of productivity, I’ve witnessed how easy it is to lose sight of our most important faculty for working with innovation and living with integrity: imagination.
Imagination is not simply the engine for innovation – as innovators from Einstein to Jobs knew. Imagination also is the reservoir that stores the dynamic images of your future. Your future work, your future life, your future self.
Imagination is the faculty to invent your future. Give it a wide horizon.
Here’s my invitation:
Find your Horizon Spot.
Then post a photo and description in the comments below. I’ll be sure to post it on this blog and on my other social media channels so we can compare notes this season.
Thanks for climbing with me,
Jeffrey
#Wonder365
