Publishing the first issue of Scoops and Swoops newsletter has emboldened me. The thrill of hitting that send button is close to the terror I feel leaning over a precipice, an abyss, or my balcony. (You can subscribe to it on the sidebar right. Next issue is sometime in November. First issue is archived here.) […]

Just came across a quick but high performance interview piece with creativity expert Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way . She explains “how she does it” and offers an overview of her techniques for unlocking creativity and tips for overcoming some common blocks or obstacles. Check out this Success Magazine article for highlights including […]

If you haven’t read the old 80’s era creativity book, A Whack on the Side of the Head: How to Unlock your Mind For Innovation by Silicon Valley creativity guru Roger von Oech, you should. As von Oech describes it, the book explains how you can engage in mental sex – meaning “sex of our […]

A few weeks ago I suggested making small changes to your daily life to help your brain practice thinking in new ways. You can open your mind to new thought patterns by purposely setting yourself up to adapt to change. How did you do? (Here’s the list of suggested mind expanding changes.) Did it put […]

I sometimes write in a coffee shop. I might go there because the peeps at home are driving me nuts, sometimes because I am feeling uninspired and hope a short stroll and change of scenery will help jolt my creativity, sometimes because I am away from home and just plain need a pit stop with […]

I am convinced we are both overtly and subtly influenced by the space we are in, including our work place. We need what works best for us so we can feel ‘right’ and do our best creative work. Vibe is important! How Sense of Place Influences Creativity During years of designing landscapes and gardens, I […]

Listed below are a few deceptively simple ways to implement small incremental changes to help you become accustomed to generating fresh thought patterns and building creative momentum. Changing routine habits helps develop and strengthen your creativity “muscle”. As your mind becomes accustomed to processing change and filtering experiences through different perspectives, it also becomes increasingly […]

Ultimately, whether creative ideas are large or small, they are firmly rooted in the details we process through our minds. Every new idea, regardless of scope, begins from a small detail, something that catches our attention and holds us rapt long enough to think outside the immediate. All it takes for this to occur is […]

You know how you come back from vacation or the weekend at the same time relaxed but also all jazzed up and ready to roll? And then you re-enter the routine of daily life and the energy seeps out of your being until you are right back where you started with the same sapped-out feeling […]

Recent Reptitude posts examined some of the ideas, exercises and techniques psychologist and creativity expert Eric Maisel presents in his self-taught creativity course or creativity manual, Coaching the Artist Within. You might find these posts useful as a companion to the book or as self-review tools, or as reminders to help you stay on track […]