Time to Write

The power of being a contrarian

Someone described the essence of wisdom as being aware of what everybody else is doing…and doing the opposite. Hmm, I wish I’d done that when everybody was buying stocks…

 It’s true that the breakthroughs in any field tend to come from contrarians, not from people doing more of the same. Yet most of us come under pressure—not least from ourselves—to go along with the majority. “Nobody else is doing this” feels like a reason not to do it, rather than what it is—the best reason to do it.

 In fiction, it’s zombies and vampires at the moment. Good reasons to flee!

 In non-fiction, it’s about how to make do with less. I’m not suggesting you write about how to have a larger carbon footprint or splash money around, but if I were trying to come up with a self-help angle I’d be looking at thriving rather than just surviving.

In marketing, everybody is scrambling to Twitter their way to riches. Might be a good reason to take a closer look at the old-fashioned print media.

 What are the people in your field doing? What’s the opposite? Might there be a way you can capitalize on the opposite?

(for tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to BstormUK@aol.com)

Bill Mechanic's advice to film-makers (and how it applies to us, too)

Bill Mechanic (formerly of Disney and Fox) recently gave a keynote speech to the annual Independent Film & Television Alliance Production Conference.

 He pointed out that the audience is being lured away from cinemas by variety of other sources of entertainment and that independent producers won’t succeed by trying to copy the big block-busters but without their big budgets. He said:

 “If it’s any consolation, it will be harder on the studios than the independents. Not only is it harder for big companies to change, to adapt, but there are legacy issues in terms of personnel. And within the next few years, their big market advantage, the bricks and mortar of their distribution operations, will become a disadvantage in the democratic age of digital. I would assume at least two of the majors to be sold or consolidated by the middle of the decade.”

 Citing “District 9” as a film that found a way to tell a sci-fi story without depending on massive special effects, Mechanic made his main point: do something different. I think the ideas of playing to your strengths (in the case of independent films, stories rather than big effects) and being unique also comprise the right strategy for any artist or creative person who wants to thrive in this marketplace.

(for more tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to BstormUK@aol.com)

To change your thoughts, change this, too...

Have you ever noticed that when people attend a lecture or any other kind of public event with open seating, after a break they always return to the seat they had? If you dare to sit where they were sitting, they will be outraged: you have stolen "their" seat! Whether or not this leads to open conflict depends on where it happens--in the UK, usually you'll get only a dirty look. In the U.S. I'd be worried about concealed weapons.

It's a human attribute to get attached--to make a routine of everything as quickly as possible. However, this is not consistent with having lots of new thoughts.

If you tend to sit in the same place when you are working on creative projects, when you want a fresh idea, go to a fresh place. The next time you need a new idea, try this:

1. First, come up with three ideas (no judging) in your usual location.
2. Then go to a different room in your home or place of work (e.g., the kitchen) and come up with three more ideas.
3. Then leave the building and have three more. If you have time, go to a coffee shop, otherwise just walk around the building once.
4. Then walk up some flights of stairs or up and down if there aren't many, until you feel a bit out of breath. Then generate three more ideas.

The odds are very great that these twelve ideas will be wider-ranging and more creative than if you'd just stayed in your usual location. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

(for monthly tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to BstormUK@aol.com)

Keeping your imagination going with people-watching games

I have a new book coming out in the UK in October called "Creativity Now." One of the chapters is about how being playful is the essence of creativity. Even on days you don't write or otherwise express your creativity in a tangible way, you can keep your creativity working by using your imagination. Here are a few suggestions for people-watching games you can play anytime:

THE SECRET
For the first person who catches your eye, make up what you think would be their deepest, darkest secret.

THE LIFE-CHANGING EVENT
Imagine what is the biggest thing that ever happened to this person and how it changed their life.

THE BLIND DATE
Imagine what would happen if this person went on a blind date with the very next person you see.

It's fun and who knows? You might even get a story idea out of it!

(For tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to BstormUK@aol.com )

Seth Godin says you're too creative! (for writers & others)

Are you a writer or other creative person who has lots of ideas but doesn’t follow through with them?

 Here is the ever entertaining Seth Godin talking (in his roundabout way) about how the important thing is not having ideas but turning those ideas into something real (that’s also the topic of one of the four sections in my new creativity book, which comes out in October). 

 He warns against letting your primitive “lizard brain” stop you from finishing your projects and sabotage yourself.  He also warns that once you commit to finishing what you start, you need to be careful what you start. The video is about eighteen minutes long and offers a lot of food for thought!

Michael Eisner's strangest inspiration

Former Disney honcho and still a major media player, Michael Eisner recently talked to the New York Times about how he works--he was talking mostly about a new animated show, "Glenn Martin, DDS," which runs on Nickelodeon.

He said, “When I have an idea, I’ve got to get it out on a piece of paper,” he said. “It’s stuck in my head on a to-do list, and until it’s all done I can’t relax."

"The way I ran all the companies I was at, whether it’s ABC or Paramount or Disney, was totally from an idea point of view: let’s put in this ride, let’s do this Broadway show, let’s do this television show, let’s do this movie, let’s do this acquisition.”

He also revealed one of the more unusual sources of inspiration for the dog character on the new series:

“This idea actually began with a dog that was owned by Tom Staggs, who is the C.F.O. of Disney,” he recalled. “Occasionally on summer vacations we’d be together with our families, and he had this dog that was a Swiss Army dog. It was about the size of a table. It had a tail that went straight up in the air” — and, he added, a rear end that was “beyond disgusting.”

 “But nobody ever said anything about it,” he said, “because what do you say? So when the dog was in the room, you just couldn’t even look at the dog because you would be obsessed with this part of the anatomy. And when the dog turned around and walked away from you — it was like, please. So I just wanted this dog in a television show.”

From idea to ugly success

 From the uglydolls.com website, here is the story of how some doodles became award-winning products (and a lucrative business):

“From the creative minds of two love struck artists David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim emerge the Uglydoll family! What started as a drawing of a playful orange character known as Wage has turned into a whole new world of fun! In 2001, when David's soon to be wife and creative partner Sun-Min had to return to Korea, he sent her many "I miss you" letters with his little Wage character drawn at the bottom.
Sun-Min sewed Wage into a plush doll and sent him to David as a surprise gift. David asked Sun-Min to sew a couple more for the Giant Robot store in Los Angeles and they sold out in one day! A very excited Sun-Min sewed many more and those sold just as fast! Sun-Min and David then began to pull more characters from the Uglyverse, a universe where UGLY meant unique and special, to translate into plush Uglydolls. They both met again at their very first Uglydoll Toy Fair booth (a small 6x6 booth made of felt and wood) in New York, where they would go on to win Toy Of The Year 4 years later!”

 The Obama daughters were seen clutching Uglydolls recently—hmm, I wonder how much that’s worth in marketing—and the line now includes different size dolls, keychains, books, stationery, and t-shirts.

 It started with doodles (but I’m sure there was a lot of hard work along the way, too).

(For tips and techniques for how to be more creative and productive, sign up now for my free monthly Brainstorm creativity e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to BstormUK@aol.com)

To be more creative find someone who disagrees with you!

In the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Laurie R. Weingart and her colleagues published the results of a study that showed that conflict within a team working on a project can actually enhance performance. Here's the summary:

Teams of students from the disciplines of engineering, design and MBA programs were asked to collaborate on a product. The teams in which the participants had significant disagreements took longer to get going, but ultimately their outcomes were judged to be more creative or inspired than those of the teams on which the members all agreed right away. It seems that when thinking is challenged, better solutions appear.

The study also noted that for this result to take place the teams have to take everybody's viewpoint into account rather than just deferring to the most assertive member.

The lesson for individuals might include being sure that if you ask for feedback, don't go to people who you already know will agree with you. Seek out those who bring different viewpoints to the process and strengthen the work by taking their ideas on board.

(for more tips and techniques on how to be more creative and productive, sign up now for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to BstormUK@aol.com)

The power of music to kick-start your creativity

The other day I mentioned that in a survey of how to break creative writing blocks, listening to music came up high on the list. In Psychology Today, Amy Fries wrote about the power of music to feed and steer your imagination. She writes,

 

“I know a number of writers who listen to music while they write, but they're very particular about what they select. For example, one friend prefers classical; another, the familiar echoes of classic rock, the kind of music that's so ingrained in your psyche you just slip right into it. In both cases, the music helps them enter their creative worlds. Once they're completely in the flow of writing, the music is relegated to the background and they don't even notice it anymore. In that way, music functions as a gentle ramp that helps glide them into their zone.”

 

Fries is the author of a book called “Daydreams at Work: Wake Up Your Creative Power.” She says, “[in the book] I talk about the case of a pro football player who listened to hard-driving rock before a game not just for the typical energy jolt it produced but because the music prompted him to fantasize about being a bad-ass rock star and that gave him the confidence, courage, and crazy arrogance required to stomp the opposition. Likewise, Lance Armstrong frequently tweets about the music he's listening to pre-race to help him get psyched up and after the race to help him calm down.”

(You can get more tips and techniques for being more creative and productive by subscribing to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to BstormUK@aol.com)

 

Multi-tasking, mini-tasking, and why people who are texting on the street are annoying

  Generally, multi-tasking has been shown not to work because in fact we don’t do several things at once, we just cycle back and forth between them. This is why people who are walking down the street and trying to text at the same time don’t do either one well.

 However, there is one time that I have found this alternating useful, and that’s when I’m brainstorming. When the flow stops, sometimes it helps to also have my email window open and take care of a couple of emails and then return to the task. It doesn’t always work but often this frequent switch to thinking of something different means that when I return to brainstorming I quickly have fresh ideas.

 Some people to whom I’ve suggested this said it works for them, too, others say it drives them crazy. The only way to find out is to try it!