Creativity
Five Questions to Ask if You’re Not Enjoying Your Creative Work
Creativity can, and should, be an incredible source of fulfillment, meaning, and joy—and so, if you’re not enjoying your creative work, something might be wrong. If so, try answering these five questions: 1) Do I really want to be doing this? Sometimes we take on creative projects for the wrong reasons, like ego or to…
Read MoreProcrastination is Hoarding
We procrastinate, in large part, to avoid the hurt of criticism or rejection. If you don’t hand your work in, after all, it—and, by extension, you—can’t be criticized or rejected. And even if you do manage to hand it in, procrastination provides a built-in justification for any disappointing outcomes you receive: “I was rushed.” The…
Read MoreWe’re All Done With Pandemic Shaming!
Happy to report that there’s been a swift and strong pushback on the whole “use your pandemic time productively” push. From the meme world… From the New York Times… …and from J.K. Rowling herself! No quote tweeting, but if you’re a ‘life coach’ who’s on here implying people are losers if they aren’t learning a…
Read MoreFocusmate: a Productivity App That Really Works!
So I don’t recommend products or apps very often, and when I have, the results have been mixed. (Libro.fm IS a good indie-bookstore-supporting substitute for Audible, but CBD oil as a sleep aid is probably an expensive placebo at best.) But I have NO hesitation in recommending Focusmate, an inexpensive app that gives you a…
Read MoreHow About We Not Be Perfectionist During a Pandemic?
Sorry I’ve been quiet: I’ve been finishing my latest book, Productivity is Power: 5 Liberating Practices for College Students. I’ll have more to share on that shortly. I’m compelled to write now, however, because there’s been a spate of posts by people who seem to think that shaming others for their supposed underproductivity during a…
Read MoreBiographer Robert Caro on How It’s All About Perspective
Most books (and many theses and other projects) take years to produce, and that’s a simple fact. And yet, the “When will you be done?” question can bedevil new writers in particular. (Even worse when it’s phrased disrespectfully, as in: “What? Are you still working on that thing?”) That’s why this anecdote from Caro’s autobiography…
Read MorePerfectionism is All Lies and Oversimplifications, Part One Million
This tweet has it all, from a perfectionist standpoint: It: Sets an impossibly high standard for success. (You should be as successful as Apple’s Steve Jobs, etc.) Is shaming. (“What’s your excuse?”) Makes specious comparisons. (Between you and these ultra-successful outliers, most of whom also achieved their success decades ago, in a very different society…
Read MoreRoll Over Beethoven!
At a recent performance of Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony, the conductor told how, when Brahms was just starting out, the elder composer Robert Schumann praised him to the high heavens. Here’s the story: Brahms was only twenty years old and as yet little known….Robert expressed his admiration first in a letter to Joachim, and then…
Read MoreThe Conversation You Have With Your Work
Creative / scholarly work is actually a conversation between yourself (your ideas, emotions, perceptions) and your materials and influences. Or, as glass artist Davide Penso recently put it in an interview in Glass Art Magazine: “I didn’t and don’t presume to work in glass, but to support it and assign it the task of molding…
Read MoreDogs Like LoFi Hip Hop Too!
Recently I wrote about Lofi Hip Hop YouTube radio channels, which many people like to listen to while studying, writing, etc. Turns out dogs like Lofi, too! Enjoy these remaining dog days of summer, and don’t forget to draw lessons from them that you can use to live a happier life all year long. Also,…
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