We have all sorts of standards, rules, and musts we have picked up here and there. Standards on how we should work, what we should work on, how much we should produce, etc., etc., etc. These standards are largely unconscious and come up to block us before we can even get started. Learn how to…
Category: Don’t Do This
What we do to get ourselves good and stuck. Don’t do it!
Don’t Let an Old Unfinished Project Stop You from Starting
The promises we make to ourselves can keep us stuck and keep us from living the life we want. Here is one of those promises: “I can’t start any new projects until I get an unfinished project that has been hanging over my head, done. Until I get it done, I have to push away…
Your #1 2019 Goal: Be Rough and Ready
We really, really need to think less and do more. That’s it. Make that your standard operating procedure for 2019. Think less and show up. Think less and just try something, anything. Put movement ahead of finesse. Effectiveness ahead of sophistication. Blisters of the hands, feet, and mind ahead of the refined. Definitions of Rough…
The Finish Line Trap – It feels so good to quit
We’ve made it thru a tremendous amount of work. We have beat back all the temptations not to do our work or to continue our work and we have arrived, at the finish line at last. The finish line can be any big project, finally completed. Ah, the joys of having done it. Time…
[video] Fix Your Thinking – Harmful Comparisons
Don’t Ask Your Inner Rejector Questions
Of course, it is alright to ask questions like: What project do I want to do? What creative field do I want to explore? Who should I approach to learn more? How can I apply this or that to my life? What do I feel like doing? When should I get started? Those questions and…
Truth #1 – We Are a Participant In Our Distractions
All of our distractions flow through us. We are not simply a passer-by, but a direct participant in our distractions. Because our distractions flow through us, we participate in: what is perceived as a distraction, how that distraction affects us, and by how much what we do when distracted what we do to avoid, lessen,…
Beware of Biographers
The positive side of reading a biography is its potential to inspire. We see another human working away who finds answers, takes actions, who receives benefits, or overcomes obstacles in some manner we wish to emulate or fate grant us. We want what they have. Maybe not all of it, especially the part about suffering…
[Video] Resistance – The Deeper Reasons
This is a Talking Typewriter Production – Which means this video has also been turned into text. So…you can read this video below or you may watch the video itself, above. It’s the same stuff. It’s your choice. Today, we’re going to concentrate on information from our insight series, series of information and videos on…
The Curse of the Too Early Opportunity
Obviously, I have nothing against people getting opportunities. However, let me caution you about a type of opportunity that you might want to pass up. There is a type of opportunity that we have to carefully consider and approach. It is an opportunity that is way beyond our current skill level and very unlike anything…
Don’t Watch Limitless
Your eyes won’t explode but the effect is worse. Limitless, a 2011 semi-mystery movie, will explode your: will, focus, expectations, and set back your maturity. Limitless is a perfect expression of our base fantasy: Without work we can achieve great things; without work, our trapped genius can be realized and released; without work, we can…
Darwin’s Regret
Building a Regret “My mind has changed during the last twenty or thirty years… Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry… I have also almost lost any taste for pictures or music… My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large…
Unsung Music
“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894)
Bunches of Reasons Not To Commit to Anything
To pass from casual creative to productive creative, commitment is required. Commitment that sometimes is hard to muster, painful to carry out, and the last thing you can handle at the moment. Commitment to work, to practice, to make your creativity a big part of your life, commitment to springing back after criticisms and hard…
The Seduction of Scattering
Scattering is wonderful. I have been scattering for the last 40 days or so (evidence: lack of regular posting to this blog). First, I threw myself into an unexpected short-term project. Loved it. Learned a lot, got to present to a brand new type of group. Felt great. Next, some new, great books have been…