Spinal Secret

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

Twyla Tharp’s new Sinatra music show is coming to town. This reminded me about The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for Life, her richly practical and inspiring book. Among many valuable insights, she describes “the spine” and its essential role in creative projects. Can you guess what this week’s creativity tip touches on? […]

How to Succeed by Failing

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

When a creative project seems to fail, what do you do? Many times we take an initial failure as a sign that the project is not meant to be, or that we are not the person who is meant to carry it out. This is self sabotage at its sneakiest. Do you let frustration and […]

When Your Mind is Blank

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

What do you do when you are backed up to a wall, a deadline looms and you’ve “got nothin’” — no muse, no idea, no concept, no nothin’ — and that all-too-familiar panic is about to set in? What are you gonna do? If the idea of “positive vibes” sounds abhorrent, listen up! Here’s the […]

Do you have a big hairy deal exciting creative project languishing in the back of your mind because it’s too big, too bold, too overwhelming to contemplate in detail? I know you have a project like that, because we all do! This week’s creativity tip and experiment will help you get started on it — […]

Get this week’s all new “free, quick and easy” creativity tip now! I just updated the tip line with this week’s creativity experiment and I hope you will listen to it. It introduces another simple yet surprisingly powerful creativity-enhancing exercise; this week’s activity is based on the age-old practice of walking the labyrinth. As always, […]

Get this week’s all new “free, quick and easy” creativity tip now! I just updated the tip line with this week’s creativity experiment and I hope you will listen to it. It introduces a simple yet surprisingly powerful creativity-boosting game you can play alone or with friends. As always, no special tools or equipment needed […]

You are invited! I  have just founded the Reptitude Center for Creativity. Please try out the inaugural activity: A simple creativity boosting experiment you can complete in three minutes or less, no special equipment or supplies required. All you need to do is listen to a short recording! Also, it’s free. To listen to the […]

Since creativity is not easy to measure, you can’t consistently quantify your daily creative effort beyond the simple question: Did I show up today? Showing up means arriving at the studio or desk or workspace ready and willing to do the work as required. Some days, what is required may be the joyful task of […]

A Sweet Path to Habit Change

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

I have been working on a new habit. As a coach, of course I am familiar with theories about how to change habits, or how to stop doing one thing and start doing something else. Unfortunately, in defiance of all logic, my mind generally refuses to play “those games” so progress can be difficult at best.  Like many creative people, […]

Stirring Broken Eggs

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

At the beginning of my creativity coach training with Eric Maisel, one of our assignments was to break some fine fresh eggs into a bowl, shells and all, and stir them around.  Keep the bowl of broken eggs at your workspace and each time you feel tempted or compelled to get up and go do some distraction, […]