Getting a Kick from Wreck this Journal

by Barbara Martin on July 2, 2009

in Creative Juice

Wreck this Journal Pie

Wreck this Journal Pie

Here’s the latest update in the ongoing saga of our Wreck this Journal game. (#WTJ)

Last Thursday afternoon: mailed book to self. Deep breaths.

Friday noon: BOOK IN MAILBOX! Stamps not cancelled, no postmark, in fact not a single new mark on it! Must have been hand carried with kid glove treatment.

I toss it on my desk. I leave the tape on it. I wish it had taken a little longer to get back to me — this week I am icing my shoulder every two hours and am a little short on patience. Anyhoo. The week progresses.

Saturday: Book stares at me

Sunday: Book stares at me

Monday: Book now glaring at me

Tueday: More of the glare-stare

Wednesday evening: THREW BOOK OUT THE WINDOW

It fell nine stories and bounced really hard. First bounce off side of building (hope not off a window but hard to say) then a five foot bounce off the sidewalk and out into the street.

Damage report: barely a dent in one corner (bottom right) with a slight case of buckling, it’s possible the mailing tape helped reinforce it.

Well, that was kinda fun. By now it is nine oclock at night and getting darker and windier by the minute. Am beginning to feel like a hooligan!

Daughter and I head to the neighborhood park where there is a fountain. We first float the book by resting it on a raft made out of an aluminum pie pan. That looks dumb.

Next we float the book all by itself. That’s okay but there’s no action to speak of, the thing just floats and spins lazily like it’s doing a lazy float trip down the river. Nice but no cigar. By this time a few people are watching us in an idle sort of way.

So we stick it under the fountain where the water gushes out. Nice! Somebody laughs.

Wreck this Journal in Fountain Torrent

Wreck this Journal in Fountain Torrent

We retrieve the book and doggone it there is really no damage to speak of. A little water seeped under the tape, a little bit soaked through around the hole I drilled through it with the single hole paper punch, but nothing to write home about. The postage stamps are still intact.

All of the sudden I dropkick it across the plaza and my purple Croc flies in the air along with the book. People dining in the cafe next door applaud.

We run home laughing.

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How to Outsmart Perfectionism

by Barbara Martin on July 1, 2009

in How to Tips

Deep in Chapter 8 of Eric Maisel’s Coaching the Artist Within, we come across a nugget on identifying and dealing with perfectionism. Maisel argues that we are culturally conditioned to value a high gloss perception of perfection over reality. Reality, of course, includes both glossy and matte, highs and lows, successes and failures, perfection and imperfection, the good and the not so good or, okay, let’s just call it bad.

Looks Count!
From Hollywood movies (and starlets) to the supermarket produce section to the job interview, we are taught that a perfect appearance is to be valued over substance. Accordingly, we expect and accept nothing less than the superficially perfect. We admire beautiful but tasteless tomatoes, dumb movies with supreme production values, and unwearable couture. We have internalized this value system.

Good and Bad, Perfect and Imperfect
All this warped surface valuing and believing means we haven’t learned to honor the creative process in a realistic way. We insist on instant (superficial) face value perfection right off the bat — or assume it’s no good.

But that’s silly. Of course we are going to write/compose/draw some absolute dreck along with the good stuff and the occasional inspired bit: It’s to be expected, it’s part of the process. That’s why we develop skill, learn to edit, and eventually use our own judgement as to what is good enough.

“Practice makes perfect.”
“Learn to walk before you run.”

Old clichés, yes, but there is at least some truth there and you know it. The question is, how far to push for the perfect — and does it matter? This automatically brings up how we deal with criticism, self doubt, why we get anxious and procrastinate, and any other aspect of self sabotage we can think of.

You Can’t Edit Without a First Draft
The key idea here is that we can edit later, but only if we accept the words/paint/notes/moves as they come – good/bad/indifferent/quote unquote perfect – and put them down on the page/canvas/keyboard/film in the first place!

Feeling Free: Internal Permission to Be Bad

Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it. ~Salvador Dali

Sometimes we realize that perfection is an unattainable ideal and are willing to simply aim for good or “good enough.” But this, too, can cause a perfectionist stall or block. If we are only willing to accept and produce “good” stuff, we may never start! How’s that for self sabotage?

Creative people must recognize and accept that the route to the “good” stuff is by being willing to put up with the “bad” stuff, too. They come together, Maisel says, “by eternal law.”

How to Avoid Perfectionism
When creative people accept this eternal law and allow ourselves to perform badly or do bad work, we gain the freedom to create regardless of quality. If you can accept that you are allowed to produce bad stuff, then you are free to produce whatever you produce at this moment: be it good, bad, indifferent, spectacular – it’s ALL good.

Perfectionism can’t touch you if you are mentally ready to produce results all over the quality spectrum.

Is the Perfectionist inside You?
Think about what’s holding you back. Is it there a little perfectionist inside you scrambling with your creative process? So, honestly, which “mistake” scares you the most?

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Although many artists, writers and other creative types talk about “the creative process” as though there is only one, we can actually work with a goal-less process or with a goal-oriented process. Eric Maisel highlights this critical distinction in his creativity manual, Coaching the Artist Within. Working without a goal is way easier. It’s also a great way to evade taking responsibility for your results.

Goal-Less or Goal-Oriented Process
People who work with a goal-less process tend to be fatalistic, satisfied to passively “honor the process” and take whatever results they might happen to get — or not get.

In contrast, those who work with a goal-oriented process understand that taking the steps required to achieve a goal is how you will accomplish what you set out to accomplish, how you are able to “manifest your potential and do the creative work you’ve always dreamed of accomplishing.” Ouch.

How do YOU Cultivate Your Creative Efforts?
Maisel uses the analogy of a vegetable garden. Either you plant and weed and reap what you sow, or you sit back and let nature take over — and go hungry.

“Both approaches are of course “part of the process,” but they are parts of different processes, only one of which serves you.”

I guess maybe that’s not really a secret, is it.

If you found this interesting or helpful, please share it with a friend. Make sure you get your next Reptitude fix by RSS (orange button tip top right) or by email update using the form on top right sidebar.

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Honor the Creative Process

by Barbara Martin on June 30, 2009

in Creativity, How to Tips

Are you committed to the process of making art, or are you one of those creative types who, as Eric Maisel describes in Coaching the Artist Within, would much rather imagine that other (lucky!) people’s creative projects finish themselves joyfully and magically by effortless genius while you, meanwhile, refuse to get out of bed?

Dilemma: Show Up — or Stay in Bed?

Some creative people approach their projects with so much wishful thinking that they never even begin to do the work because we are waiting for a miraculous occurrence wherein the thing writes or paints or sings itself. How likely is this, really?

And some of us look at our output and are totally derailed to discover that some of what we create, some of our work, might be ok or maybe even inspired, but a lot of it is not all that good or may be uninspired or even lousy. Discouraging. “Why bother?”

Sometimes we start a project but soon begin to hate doing it, because it’s, um, work. And then we quit because we don’t think being creative should take work. “Nobody told me it would be work!”

But is work really such a four letter word?

According to Maisel, we must recognize and accept reality. There is no way around it: a commitment to process is required so that the work gets done. Otherwise, we’ll never accomplish anything.

And if you stop to think about it, this is true for both process-oriented work and for goal-oriented work.

Be the Exception
And either way, proving the exception – being the one who shows up and does the work as required, does what is right at this time, taking the next right step, for their project at hand –being the one who honors the process as well as a goal has a better chance of success.

How do you Honor the Creative Process?
Are you doing anything currently to dishonor your creative process?

If you set out to purposely honor the process of your current project, what would you do differently?

If you found this interesting or helpful, please share it with a friend. Make sure you get your next Reptitude fix by RSS (orange button tip top right) or by email update using the form on top right sidebar.

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Wrecked Journal Goes Postal

by Barbara Martin on June 25, 2009

in Creative Juice

The book is in the mail!

The book is in the mail!

In which we embark upon a new stage of the journey, this week’s #WTJ post being installment three or four depending who is counting the progress of our multi-player game involving the book, Wreck this Journal.

Wherein, having duly swaddled the book in miles of strapping tape and applied a ragtag assortment of postage stamps and block lettered the from: and to: addresses in only slightly smeary ink, I slipped the book into my handy tote bag and hoofed it over to the main branch city post office where, on a lovely warm and sunny Thursday afternoon wherein the air at the nearby farmers’ market was redolent of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and many fine herbs, we bid the silly little black book “Adieu, Farewell and Bon Voyage!” and abruptly ceded control to … the USPS.

Yes, I plopped it unceremoniously into a blue mailbox, possibly the second one from the left as shown in the photo. (By the time I looked both ways to cross the driveway and stepped back to take the photo and waited for pedestrians to exit the frame, and took off the lens cap, I had already forgotten which box I stuck it into. So anyway, one of these sturdy blue boxes.)

Now we wait.
Meanwhile, WRECK ON!

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Learning to Center Yourself

by Barbara Martin on June 22, 2009

in How to Tips

In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity expert and psychologist Eric Maisel devotes an entire chapter to “Achieving a Centered Presence.” He describes a simple, six-step, one minute process for carefully breathing and thinking yourself into a grounded state of calm so you are ready to create and take the next right step for the project at hand.

Feeling Focused or Rushed and Scattered?
Many creative people have trouble with exactly this issue. As a self-coach, this type of technique can help you to take advantage of your creative time so you can jump right in and do what needs to be done. If you don’t have a sure-fire way to focus on your work, you will probably waste those precious opportunities.

Personal Grounding Strategy, Technique or Ritual
How do you pull yourself into a grounded, centered, focused frame of mind so you can create without hesitation? Do you have a strategy or a technique or a ritual, perhaps found through yoga or meditation or a sequence such as Maisel offers? What happens if you don’t? Do you stay stuck or blocked by in fear, anxiety, procrastination?

Get Yourself Calm and Centered
What could you accomplish with this kind of simple, instant, (and cheap!) self-help?

Might be worth a try.

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In his self-coaching creativity manual Coaching the Artist Within, Eric Maisel offers four specific tactics or strategies you might adopt to help yourself create more consistently and more easily.

“Don’t Snivel”
Stop complaining. Take that time and energy-sucking, self–indulgent complaint/excuse-generating habit and redirect its power and intensity toward doing the work instead. Do you seriously have enough creative mental energy that you can blow it off?

“Avoid Anticipating”
Avoid feeling any pressure by beginning your work without expectation – no high standard, no big dream, no anticipated fabulosity, no grand sweep. Picture this: the great muddy Mississippi River starts from a sleepy little pond up in the wilds of Minnesota; a marathon run starts with picking up one foot; an epic novel starts with one letter; a painting starts with a single brushstroke.

“Imagine a Flawless Ignition System”
Maisel uses this technique himself. Before beginning to write every morning, he imagines himself starting a car step by step, right through turning the key and getting that immediate roaring engine response. This play by play mental picture allows him to assume he will start writing effortlessly so he doesn’t worry about the road ahead.

Not into cars? Experiment and find a metaphor that works smoothly for you. I’m a gardener from way back, so I think of a big fat bean seed germinating. Those suckers are programmed to grow!

“Suit Up and Show Up”
Assign yourself a time and place to create, no matter what, come hell or high water. With this rock-solid routine, you place yourself at the easel, at the keyboard, at the desk and do some work. Whether the work is good or bad doesn’t matter. This is of course borrowed, you may realize, from a widely known 12-step AA program.

You owe it to yourself to give these a try, see which one(s) work best for you. In my experience, establishing the daily habit is the key, although you may find something quite different. It’s worth trying these out — because staying stuck in the alternatives is rotten. And the typical ineffective methods we try tend to be less than optimal.

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Still Wrecking This Journal

by Barbara Martin on June 19, 2009

in Creative Juice

Wreck this Journal with coffee!

Wreck this Journal with coffee!

Kitty and I blithely sloshed, dripped, and finally dumped coffee dregs on the book, driving the resident-home-for-the-summer-college-know-it-all to raise an eyebrow:

“That’s sure not something you see every day!”

Truth or Consequences/TMI?
I’ve been using the book as a handy coaster all week. One day I kind of missed and splashed doused the keyboard a little. Good thing nobody saw that but me.

Right/Wrong, Left/Right, Two/Three/Whatevah!
Good thing, too, there is no right or wrong to Jamie Ridler’s Wreck this Journal fun because I am not sure if this is technically week 2 or week 3 as far as the posting sequence goes. It’s the third weekly post but only the second week of doing. The left side of my brain finds this detail bothersome. The right side says who cares.

Hope everyone is energized – Wreck ON!

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How Not to Create More

by Barbara Martin on June 19, 2009

in Creativity, How to Tips, Motivation & Inspiration

Creating in the middle of things is admittedly not easy and often difficult, fraught with all kinds of risks and fears and do-ability issues. If “Just do it NOW!” doesn’t push you to take action, then you may need to work on some strategies to help yourself get moving. In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity expert Eric Maisel describes several constructive approaches creative people could use in their attempts to be more consistently engaged and productive.

Some approaches of course are more effective than others. First off, let’s dispense with some of the less effective but fairly typical methods of dealing with stalled creativity.

Move to a Dark Cave
Some of us will run away and hide from the world and or as Maisel puts it, “violently withdraw from life” so that the necessary creative solitude morphs into a destructive and unhealthy situation, a dark place. This is a particularly bad answer because it leaves you stuck smack dab in the middle of your own mind – still waiting to create instead of doing it now.

Hapless Wishing for Inspiration
Another poor option is to create “sporadically and accidentally” when those rare clear flashes of brilliance bowl us over so hard we can’t help but create. This means we spend waste a lot of time waiting around for elusive adrenaline-arousing “Eureka!” moments.

Ignore and Suppress
Yet another undesirable tack is to dither vaguely and make excuses and not create anything at all and not do anything to figure out why not. This last one is, to my mind, like dying a slow withering death. It’s also one of the most common ways we tend to deal with being stalled or blocked.

All of these leave us in a sort of limbo, wanting to create but blocked, not being able to work smoothly and effectively, regularly and with a healthy rhythm. Do you recognize yourself in these patterns? What do you think you could do to move through to the other side where you are able to create regularly?

Coming soon: a couple of specific unblocking suggestions you might consider trying.

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There’s a newly published little book on creativity by Hugh MacLeod that I think you should read. Why? Try a sample of vintage Hugh from his CDF (Crazy Deranged Fools) newsletter, dated today. He starts out by addressing us as dear crazy deranged fools, and I love that. MacLeod (aka @gapingvoid) writes:

“Here’s the reality: The Creative Bug will give you everything, and it will take from you, everything. It will cost you your life, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.

But knowing this, of course, is what ultimately sets you free.”

The book has stuck with me ever since I read an early version in pdf so I am thrilled to be able to recommend it to you. Despite the irreverent title and the surface cartoonishness of it, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity is a serious book. It might scare you, it might help you. It will probably surprise you. It has profanity, just so you know. Also line drawing cartoons, smart ones. And some amazing insights into the creative process.

I think good cartoonists, including Hugh MacLeod, are some of the smartest, most perceptive and observant and aware people around. And MacLeod certainly is well aware of the tortuous potential creative people risk facing — and living — every day. For anyone who wants to understand the creative process or seeks insight to use in self-coaching or even coaching or managing or working around creative people, this is an important book.

So consider taking in some of the wisdom from a guy who lived Madison Avenue ad agency style stuff and walked away to do his own thing – drawing on business cards and a whole lot more. He’s also blogging and on Twitter, hawking his drawings and prints and some kind of fancy winery in backwater Texas and … saying stuff.

Even though MacLeod tells you to ignore everybody, you might want to take a gander at what he’s written about the creative process because it might speak to you the way it did to me. I think you’ll get something valuable out of it.

Pick up a copy of the book already. It is a gem.

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