Bagpuss & a Sad, Creative Tale. July 16, 2007
Posted by selfworks in Uncategorized.Tags: creativity
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This is a tale that’s more specific than most, and will make the most sense to you if you’re of the age, (and possibly nationality-I don’t know if the BBC ever exported it) to remember from your early child hood that Bagpuss
“…was just an old cloth cat, but Emily loved him”.
If this isn’t your area or vintage, the principle still holds good, so stay with me. Bagpuss was just one of those childhood memories that clearly got under, not just my skin, but that of a many others.
For example, when I first arrived to read law at university, one of the other new students observed that one of the tutors, “Looks just like Professor Yaffle”.
All knowing the character from Bagpuss, we laughed, bonded instantly, stopped even attempting to talk about law, and behaved in proper student fashion in the bar for the rest of the evening.
Later, when I first met my Long-Suffering Spouse and indeed, before he was a spouse, we had a long debate about whether Bagpuss had been orange-and-white, or pink-and-white. (For the record, I lost that one-it seems that we had had a dodgy early colour TV that made pink look orange).
Anyway, you get the picture. for people of a certain age, just the word “Bagpuss” conjures up nostalgic warmth.
Imagine…
Imagine my nostalgic delight then, when I found out that the creator of Bagpuss, Oliver Postgate, was giving a rare radio interview.
Imagine also how that delight turned to horror when he revealed that he still didn’t think that anything he’d ever done was quite good enough. Even Bagpuss, source of delight to millions of children.
Even when the interviewer (clearly one of my own generation) tried to suggest that delight, it still didn’t seem to lift this man’s self-esteem in any way….and it was almost as if he had felt that he had needed this low self esteem (or “witch’s gift” as he called it) to be creative. Even though he also seemed to know that this was a self-imposed rule, rather than a general one.
So some lessons for creative people everywhere come out of this.
1. You don’t need to be miserable to be creative. Really, you don’t.
2. If what you make delights other people, being delighted yourself is a better match for them, and will leave both of you feeling more comfortable.
3. If in doubt, let the consumers of your efforts tell you how good something is, and if they like it, accpet that you may not be the best judge, and make every attempt to believe them.
Finally, Mr Postgate , if you’re out there, if you ever want to shift that belief of yours, gratis, in exchange for all the pleasure you’ve given me, you know where I am!
Hope this helps you, wherever you are, and whatever age.
More soon
Clare
PS. Blogs should begin to appear more often again now as things are getting back to normal work-wise. Apologies for the lengthy gaps.
Turning on the Tap? July 9, 2007
Posted by selfworks in Uncategorized.Tags: abundance, creativity, law_of_attraction, LOA, love, personal development
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Hello again-and no, just in case you’re wondering, this blog’s title doesn’t refer to the truly appalling weather we experienced on holiday last week. Let’s just say that my Long Suffering Spouse and I had plenty of time to get rest and relaxation.
Anyway, down to the point of the post.
Over the last few days, I’ve also had cause to meet a whole bunch of people with different ideas about life to my own. And as a result, here’s a new thought/idea that you might find useful too.
Not to put too fine a point on it, many of these people were enjoying a type of abundance that made my head spin. Not because of intrinsic greed (at least, I hope not). And in fact, many of the same people, far from being greedy, were also sharing out the goodies in a way that the rest of us can only dream about (so far).
At the same time, some of those same people were not so blessed in areas such as as creativity, or good old-fashioned love, as I’m so very thankful to be.
Which got me to thinking…Why do we, as human beings, tend to “turn off” the flow of various good things towards ourselves?
For a long time, I just put it down to a weird kind of emotional masochism.
Then, on applying the “law of attraction” and related principles, I thought it was all a part of “pinching off supply” by not feeling worthy. Which it is. But there’s more to it than that (or at least, a slightly more practical way to understand and overcome these self-imposed obstacles).
You see, experience suggests that most of us are actually pretty sensible creatures, who want the best in life for ourselves and those close to us, as a fairly basic instinct.
And there’s only one basic instinct that could have any chance of defeating an evolutionary success drive that’s that strong. Fear.
So then it hit me. If you increase the supply of some “good thing” into your life that’s been missing, you are also then often forced to live your life in a more “full-on,” kind of way. For example, allowing more love into your life brings with it relationships, extra concern for others, commitments and obligations.
And it looks as if the increased choices available to super-abundant individuals also bring with them a responsibility towards others, and an amplification of the speed and pace of life, that may not suit everyone. It would, in fact, take large amounts of self-confidence and internal wherewithal to negotiate that path successfully.
So in fact, a part of each of us may be keeping a close, if unconscious, eye on the flow through the “tap” of abundance, love, or whatever, in order to feel secure that we have the internal resources that match the external situation.
Or, to put it another way, perhaps this is why the sages have said for aeons that “all change must begin from within”.
Does this mean that we should all be content with the merest dribble from the metaphorical “tap” in certain areas of our lives? Absolutely not. But the challenge for each of us is to realise that we really do, already have all the resources to cope with increased flow if we choose, and that anyway, the rate and amount of flow really is in our control.
I’m off to experiment with some ideas around this and will report back. (As if on cue, we now have a thunderstorm. Nature, it seems, has no difficulty turning on the tap).
Hope this helps
More soon
Clare
How to Move a Mountain May 25, 2007
Posted by selfworks in Uncategorized.Tags: creativity, getting_things_done, procrastination, productivity, projects, writer's_block
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Well, yes, OK, a real, physical mountain might be pushing it. But if you’re surrounded by a project that seems too huge even to start, let alone complete, this post is for you.
Breaking it down into stages is the answer, but the places where you choose to break are just as important as the breaking down. Stages that are short, and feel, “complete within themselves” allow you to give yourself a pat on the back with each completed one..Thereby making it more likely that you’ll get started on the next stage another day.
Breaking a project down, (especially one involving creativity or report-writing…though the two need not be mutually exclusive) into smaller parts has the added advantage that your unconscious mind can work on upcoming segments in the breaks between the different phases.
Typical parts of a project
So what are these mythical “component parts”? Well, oviusly no two projects are identical, but if you split yours into the following five phases, then tweak it to your own needs, you’re likely to see positive results.
1. Research, eg. asking questions like, “What’s my outcome?” or “What’s needed?” If this is your own creative idea, this stage mayseem to be less important than if someone else has asked for your output. . But thinking about the people who’ll receive the fruits of your labour is always a good idea. Plus, rumour has it that even that icon of creativity, J.K. Rowling, spent several years planning out the Harry Potter books in her mind before putting pen to paper.
2.. Give an idea a broad shape, getting down the first flashes of inspiration.
This is the equivalant of a surveyor or garden designer marking out proposed changes to a piece of land.You’re sketching the outline, and key points that stike you at once, so you know thye’ll be safely captured for later.
3. Produce a first draft or attempt, without judging it at all.
The key thing here is just to keep producing without judging your efforts. Plenty of time to make judgement calls later…when you’ll be heartened by the amount you have already done.
If the project is a large one, consider breaking this down further, into sections within the project. Eg. if you’re writing a large proposal, one day you might rough out the introduction, the next the key benefits, etc.
If you’re subdividing here, keep each “chunk” small, so that you’re sure to get that “quick win” feeling, within an hour ideally, and within two at most.
4. Polish and check the project or piece of work.
This is the time to get picky. Polish all you want, change and re-jig. Get others to review your output so far, if appropriate. But again, keep your timings, and the mini-goal of finishing this segment, in mind.
5. Publish, or otherwise distribute or announce the project.
Output time. How you give that output, its structure and format, will of course depend on you and the project. But after that, have an even bigger celebration…knowing that you can now use this system whenever you want to make thing more manageable, and generally “move mountains”.
Hope this helps!
More soon
Clare
"Outside the Box"-Literally March 28, 2007
Posted by selfworks in Uncategorized.Tags: creativity, meetings, out-of-the-box, outdoors, teams
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Here’s something refreshingly simple, cheap, and effective. Not sure how many people in the corporate world are ready for it yet, but it’s definitely worth a thought.
There I was, up to the eyeballs in the transfer of all the Goodybag data into its new format. (A long, long job, as regular readers will know.)
Unable to resist the sunshine any longer, the Long Suffering Spouse and I went to the woods (which are nearer to Central London than you’d think).
And who did we find there, apart from the usual dogwalkers and mothers-with-babies?
To my great surpise, there was a group of people, clearly from an office, who were planning to have a meeting in the open air, papers and pizza boxes in hand.
Now, obviously, this might not be the greatest thing to do if your subjuect-matter is top-secret.
But otherwise, it’s the most refreshing, energetic and (if you’ll pardon the extreme cliche) out-of-the-box solution to blocked creativity you’ll ever find. (As individuals outside offices have known for centuries).
Obviously, I don’t know how the meeting went. But it proves that you don’t need to have a “let’s-get-wet-in-Wales-and-be-miserable-for-a-weekend” team outing for business and the outdoors to mix.
And as for me…I might finally have cracked the Goodybag issue too.
More soon
Clare
Are offices working? January 26, 2007
Posted by selfworks in Uncategorized.Tags: creativity, office, productivity, stress
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Here’s thought that will horrify some and cause others to pause and nod. Find out which camp you’re in.
Office partitions, let alone walls, are becoming rarer than a snowflake in June. Received wisdom states that this practice of wall removal is, “a good thing”. It’s supposed to encourage communication, interaction and a whole host of management-speak phrases ending in “tion” as well.
But over the last few months, I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve said things like:
“I can’t hear myself think in the office”.
“There’s nowhere just to sit quietly and plan things out”.
“I work much better from home, in my own space”.
“It’s hard to be creative when people just come and bug you all the time”.
Add to this the statistic lodged in my brain (from where, I’m not sure, but lodged it most certainly is) that your average CEO spends up to 85% of the time thinking about their business, often alone. Even average CEO’s of course, tend to have their own offices.
Then put into the mix the times when you yourself have had an idea “pop” into your head form nowhwere…and I’m guessing that you probably weren’t in a crowd at the time.
And it’s little wonder that many people in our ofices today feel that they are stressed, “never get anything done” and aren’t being as creative as they could be in their role.
What’s to be done?
What is to be done? Should go back to the days of everyone in their single, tiny, segregated office?
No, because there really are benefits to people being able to mix freely.
You may have a better suggestion than this, but I propose a two-part solution.
1. If at all possible, give people the choice of whether they want an enclosed working space, work from home etc or not. Then different people’s jobs, temperaments and circumstances could all be taken into account.
2. If that utopian ideal is a bridge too far, more workplaces could at least set aside small, “quiet rooms” and trust that the people sitting in them might actually be putting in useful and creative thought therein.
In that way, and for very little money, it’s likely they’d see a bigger increase in employee creativity, productivity and well being than any extra “management” seminar could possibly yield.
More soon
Clare
