How To Get Inspiration

A common question in today's world of 9-5, M-F, and sometimes, constant 24-7 work. It's either creatives having a block, or managers looking to get more productivity out of a creative department (or IT department - I'd make the argument that programming, is in fact, creative, just a different kind).

Here's the secret - honor thy energy.

If you're a creative, your "life energy" is a little different than most folks. And, if you're trying to tap into previously undiscovered creativity, you need to realize it just doesn't appear. You need to give it space to do so.

What does that mean?

It means it's going to show up when you expose yourself to creative situations, and when you work comfortably.

That means that although a suit-and-tie atmosphere devalues you for working at 7:30p and not at 7:30a, it's OK. Some of my greatest creative inspiration has come after Thanksgiving dinners, or in the middle of a conversation. That's tough for others to live with, but it's how it goes. You can't just "produce" art at a time that your body and mind don't want to.

I also strongly advocate folks take a good look at David Allen's GTD system and 43Folders on productivity. I'm not saying you need to join the cult, but there are really good ideas. A key to being productive is not having stress... and having a "mind like water" attitude. Not to mention, avoid timesinks... a great synopsis on avoiding timesinks is here.

But backing up a moment, what is "mind like water?"

Let's draw a metaphor. The water is your brain, your soul, your you - the rock is the stuff you have to deal with. What happens when you throw the rock in the water? It creates waves and distorts for awhile, but eventually returns back to a serene state.

I'm guilty of this too - where something happens and it just discombobulates you to no end. But, if you keep in mind to keep your mind like water, you'll be more creative, come up with better ideas, and be much, much more productive.

Technorati Tags:
Mind Like Water, How To Get Water, GTD, Merlin Mann

Podcast as an adcast = misses the point

I had to post this one, from my new Interactive Media Tips blog...

http://interactivemediatips.com/online/2007/11/21/prweb-podcasting-aka-sales-puke-cast/

An experiment

So, I'm trying to take the best interactive nuggets on here (as well as some new ones) over to our new blog project, Interactive Media Tips (http://www.interactivemediatips.com).

I want to have some more freedom around blogging here about all the things I care about - over there, I'm going to keep it straight interactive, podcasting, blogging, and more.

If you think it's a good idea, comment - or a bad one. I'm trying something different because I've gotten plenty of people who want a clean feed of interactive/web 2.0/podcasting stuff without my Detroit/Politics/Every day ramblings.

I'll do my best to dual post as well... so thanks!

It's Podcast, not Pod Cast or Pod-Cast

Mini-rants and tip for all the folks trying to be hip and in with Web 2.0...

It's Podcast.  Not Pod-Cast or Pod Cast.  Podcast, for better or worse, with Zune putting it on the main menu with it's now revision, will be the word that is used for the medium of audio and/or video provided on demand and by subscription.  If those two agree, then that's what it is.  I'm surprised, but that's how it's shaken out.

If you write Pod Cast, Pod-Cast, Pod-casting, or any other incorrect form of the term you automatically will be perceived as not knowing what you are talking about.  So just don't do it.

Leopard Stacks to Grid Productivity Tip

Lots of people hate stacks in Leopard, and it's one of those features that I think will be revised in future updates. And, frankly, I find stacks as they're initially implemented useless.

However - I have found a solution that to me is really productive.

What you should try in your dock is this...

Right click (or control-click) the stack icon or folder. Up will come a little menu, and what you're going to want to do is go under "View As" and switch to "Grid" instead of "Automatic" or "Stack."

Grid is immensely more useful to me and works for now. Eventually, I hope that you can resize the icons in the Grid. I theorized that maybe it was tied to the icon size of the Finder window, but no dice. If I could get the icons a little smaller in the Grid, then I could have more stuff visible.

And of course, following Merlin Mann-Fu, organize by most recent or by date so the most recent opened items are first. Really helps when you're working on projects.

Great TWiT epsiode on social networking

Well, the whole thing isn't on social networking - but Jason Calacanis was a great addition to the regulars, with a great discussion giving insight on the social networking space and search.

Of course, with Mahalo, Calacanis has skins in the game - but that's okay. He's useful, and although I don't always 100% agree with him, he's one of those folks you'd like to get coffee with.

The Zen of a Fresh Machine...

Being semi-savvy in technical areas, I've managed  to keep my original setup migrated all the way from 2003 - and that can mean a lot of baggage.

I used Leopard as an excuse to refresh EVERYTHING... down to the iTunes star rankings.  Time to unlearn bad habits, and break out of the top 100 songs from years ago back when I had eight CDs in iTunes, and so they're so hopelessly skewed in my favorites that there will never be new ones.  

And, it's... liberating.  Of course, you need your documents, email, and other business riff raff.  However, getting freedom is wonderful.

And, the Intel platform blows the doors off the PowerPC.  Had the pleasure of retiring them to file servers this weekend.