In this video, I take you through an introductory Quest instigation that helps you envision your best self doing your best work in the coming year. Your responding to this instigation sooner than later will help you have a rich Quest experience this December.

You can read about the psychology research that supports this special instigation in this article I wrote for Psychology Today.

Find a quiet, private place. Then, follow these instructions:

​​​​​​​Imagine your best possible self one year from now. It can help to envision yourself in a specific place: maybe a favorite chair, a deck or balcony, a mountainside. Imagine you are reflecting upon your progress in 2020 and how you have shown up in your work and in your life.

​​​​​​​As your best self “looks back” upon the year (2020), reflect and write in intimate detail your response to these questions:

• How have you shown up for your best work? What kinds of distinct activities have you been engaged in? What have you been making or creating as part of your best work?
• Who have you engaged and how has your work positively impacted them?
• What have you done differently that has stretched you?
• What 1, 2, or 3 big goals have you reached?
• In the process, what challenge has your best self met and how?
• What skill set or craft did you learn or improve upon?
• What 1 habit did you add, adjust, or drop?
• And overall, how have you felt throughout the year when you’re engaged with your best work?

Visionaries You’ll Hear From

Tom Hodgkinson founded the Idler in 1993 and went on to join the Guardian newspaper as a columnist and head of editorial development. He and partner Gavin Pretor-Pinney then set up their a creative consultancy and undertook editorial and advertising projects for Channel 4, Sony Playstation, Paramount Comedy Channel, John Brown Publishing, Mother ad agency and many more.

In 2002 Tom quit the commercial world and retired to a farmhouse on the coast of North Devon to write books. His first book How to be Idle was a global best-seller and was followed by How to be Free, The Idle Parent and Brave Old World.

Tracy Fullerton, M.F.A., is a game designer, educator and author with twenty-five years of professional experience. Her most recent project is a game called Walden, a game based on Henry David Thoreau’s experiment in living at Walden Pond. She is currently Director of the joint USC Games Program, which is a collaboration between the School of Cinematic Arts and the Viterbi School of Engineering. Tracy is the author of Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Designing Innovative Games. This design textbook is in use at game programs worldwide. Her research lab, the Game Innovation Lab, is a leading center for game design research.

Push play below to listen to today’s #TodayTuesday instigation and visionary conversation with Tom Hodgkinson and Tracy Fullerton.

FUTURE FRIDAY

Push play below to listen to this week’s #FutureFriday instigation.

Visionaries You’ll Hear From

Srinivas Rao is the host and founder of The Unmistakable Creative podcast where he has conducted over 500 interviews with thought leaders and people from all walks of life. This has given him an incredibly distinctive view into branding, storytelling, and marketing. He’s also written multiple books including the WSJ Best Seller The Art of Being Unmistakable (2013) and his recently released An Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity for Its Own Sake (2018); created, planned, and executed a 60-person conference called The Instigator Experience. Somewhere along the way his compass led him in the direction of an economics degree from UC-Berkeley and an MBA from Pepperdine University. Extracting unmistakable stories out of people is his superpower. And in his spare time he’s usually chasing waves.

Director of CEO Branding at Liquid Agency, Marty Neumeier spends most of his time lecturing all over the globe about the role of creativity and innovation in the creation of relevant and meaningful brand experiences. He is a firm believer that clarity about a brand’s purpose has an inextricable relationship with business success and the role of design in business. He has penned several books, including The Brand Gap (New Riders 2005), The Brand Flip (New Riders 2015), MetaSkills (New Riders 2012), and his most recent Scramble (October 1, 2018).

Push play below to listen to today’s #TodayTuesday instigation and visionary conversation with Srinivas Rao and Marty Neumeier.

FUTURE FRIDAY

Push play below to listen to this week’s #FutureFriday instigation.

Visionaries You’ll Hear From

This week, we’re sharing two exclusive conversations. The first one is a conversation among Mark Osborne, Tracy Fullerton, and myself. Tracy, you will recall, is the video game innovator whose team at USC Game Innovation Lab designed the ground-breaking Walden the video game. Mark Osborne is a filmmaker twice nominated for an Oscar for best animated film and winner of the coveted Cesar Award in France for best animated film for his animated remake of The Little Prince.

The second conversation is between me and Julianne Swartz – a world-renowned installation artist – and Denise Markonish – curator of Massachusett’s Museum of Contemporary Art (or Mass MOCA). Only you get to hear this bonus conversation where they will give you suggestions for designing for wonder through what you create.

Push play below to listen to today’s #TodayTuesday instigation and visionary conversation.

FUTURE FRIDAY

Push play below to listen to this week’s #FutureFriday instigation.

Visisonaries You’ll Hear From

Push play below to listen to my introduction to LOVE and my conversations with renowned teacher Susan Piver on the challenges of love as well as with Chip Heath and Chris Flink.

This week, we welcome back my dear friend and renowned Shambhala Buddhist teacher, Susan Piver. Susan is also a New York Times bestselling author, and founder of the world’s largest virtual mindfulness community, the Open Heart Project. Chip Heath is the Thrive Foundation for Youth Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and co-author of The Power of Moments. Chris Flink is the Executive Director of the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, and co-founder of Stanford’s d.school: a place where people use design to develop their own creative potential.

AUDIO ONE below: Intro and Visionary Conversations:
00:00 – Introduction: The human need to love what is other vs the wiring to “make everyone and everything the same”

05:33 – Susan Piver, teacher: The 4 noble truths of love, the natural instability of standing in love

09:00 – Susan Piver: How to practice an open conversation of love

AUDIO TWO below:
00:00 – Experiment 1: The 6 Rings of Impact Meditation

06:40 – Experiment 2: Have a Wonder Talk of true openness and intimacy:

09:08 – Experiment 3: Design a Memorable, Delightful Moment for someone else

Push play below to listen to today’s #TodayTuesday instigation and visionary conversation.

FUTURE FRIDAY

Push play below to listen to this week’s #FutureFriday instigation.