100 Ways to Be More Creative
Posted: April 10, 2012 Filed under: Creativity Leave a comment »
2 years ago, I started writing my first book. Honestly, I didn’t know it was a book at the time. I was just trying to get better at my job- to learn, to grow. It dawned on me that I had been hired by Word of Life to “be creative”- to generate and execute new ideas. I figured that I had better start getting good at it, so I started reading everything I could about creativity and the creative process. I didn’t like most of what I found. I was not fond of the mainstream understanding of how creativity works. Perhaps because of my upbringing, I believe it is possible to study, practice and get better at creative work. I believe it is possible for anyone to be MORE creative than they are right now.
The next most natural question is: How?
So, I started keeping a list of “Ways to Be More Creative”. I wrote the first one, Learn what Creativity Is, in the spring of 2010 and have been adding to it on Thursdays ever since. Now remixed for print, my list of 100 Ways to Be More Creative is available in 3 formats.
PDF | $5.00
Thanks to the wonderful service of Gumroad.com, I can offer my book in PDF at the rockbottom price of $5.00. If you want read on an iPad or a Kindle Fire, this is your best option.
Kindle | $7.99
Personally, this is my preferred reading method. (I’m a Kindle junkie). It’s not much more for the same content in eInk for your ocular pleasure.
Print | $12.95
If you’d rather have a physical copy of the book, the softback is also available from the nice folks over at Lulu Press.
Special thanks are in order to Brandon Collins for designing the cover, which is spectacular. In addition to being awesome, it also demonstrates the book’s premise: behind all the whimsy, creativity is a measureable, repeatable, learnable process than anyone can master.
Building Great Sentences
Posted: March 29, 2012 Filed under: Personal Growth | Tags: Brook Landon, building great sentences, writing Leave a comment »I just finished listening through a series of lectures about sentence construction that has been very informative and enjoyable. The course, called Building Great Sentences, was taught by Dr. Brooks Landon of The University of Iowa.
Dr. Landon focused mostly on cumulative syntax which forced me to explore a few sentence constructs that I don’t regularly use. I found myself settling into a new style which I felt had a little more cadence and flow. It has been fun to learn and grow.
Video Game Storytelling
Posted: March 23, 2012 Filed under: Consultation, Creativity Leave a comment »This weekend I’m working on a story pitch for a video game developer. You may not realize, there is a lot of story-telling that happens inside of a video game. The game that I’m hoping to work on is scheduled for release in 2015, and would represent a major step forward in the industry. I’d be more specific if I could, pesky non-disclosure agreement and all.
I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Book Cover: 100 Ways to Be More Creative
Posted: March 20, 2012 Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Published Works | Tags: Creativity, RayDeck3, Waystobemorecreative, Word of Life 2 Comments »I have been blogging about creativity for almost 2 years over at RayDeck3.wol.org, and that work is now in the process of being remixed for print. Below is an sneak-peak of the book cover. Cool, huh?
The book, 100 Ways to Be More Creative, comes it at just over 100 pages and is due out in May for kindle & print.
Ignore Your Job Description to be more Creative
Posted: March 19, 2012 Filed under: Blogging | Tags: Blogging, Creativity, job description, Productivity Leave a comment »Ignore your job description for a short period of time, and you’ll be more creative. It sounds crazy, I know, but it works. Stay with me for a minute, and I think you’ll see what I mean.
Your job description is a fence. It keeps you focused on certain tasks, and keeps others away from those same tasks. A job description can be either explicit in the traditional corporate sense, or it can implicit, informal and self-imposed. 90% of the time the fence of clear job description is very healthy. In a collaborative setting it prevents redundant effort and should allow you to focus on the narrow slice of actions that land in the intersection between what you love to do and what you are good at doing (assuming you have a job doing something that you both love to do and are good at… if that’s not the case, you have a different problem entirely).
However, a rigid job description, whether official or self-imposed, can limit creativity. Most all of us tend toward the industrial utopia of greatest return for least possible effort. We take the path we know, for no other reason than the fact that we know it. We do what we’ve always done, and we get what we’ve always got. If you want to upset the status quo, try ignoring your job description.
Hand some of your ordinary responsibilities to someone who has never done them before. Have someone totally unqualified proof your work. Ask the opinion of someone who shouldn’t have an opinion.
If you do this, be prepared for what will inevitably happen: they will give you advice that makes absolutely no sense.
But you should listen anyway. Don’t ignore them because they’re unqualified; embrace their input because it’s different. You probably already know the easiest way to accomplish the creative task in question, but maybe the easiest way isn’t the best way?
For a short time, and in a totally experimental way ignore your job description and you’ll get (or give) a fresh perspective that will make you more creative.
This post was originally published over on my Word of Life blog at RayDeck3.wol.org.
The Ah-Ha Moment is a Myth
Posted: March 15, 2012 Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Published Works Leave a comment »I’ve been entering a few writing contests of late, and one article that I wrote, “The Ah-Ha Moment is a Myth” came out a winner, and went on to be the Seventy8Production’s top post that week. There ‘s some really interesting science behind why ideas seem to appear suddenly. I wrote about how it feels to get a new idea, where they actually come from and how to generate more of them. Here’s an excerpt.
Everybody loves the Ah-Ha moment. That single instant when an exciting new idea materializes. It is the moment just after the apple landed on Isaac Newton’s head and he ‘discovered’ gravity. It is the twinkle in your eye when you finally think of a solution to a problem that has been hounding you for weeks. It is the moment in the planning meeting that begins when someone says, “What if…” Everyone loves the ‘Ah-Ha Moment’. There is only one problem.
The ‘Ah-Ha Moment’ is a myth.
Scientists have proven that feeling is generated in the same part of your brain that understands symbolism and processes jokes. Just like a joke, the idea is built on preexisting information. The moment of sudden inspiration is not when that idea is born, but when you become consciously aware of it.
Ideas are created by a predictable, sustainable process. Some individuals work through this process with greater aptitude than others. A few individuals are so good at creating new ideas that all three steps of the process happen in the time that it takes to put a twinkle in their eye, but it is a process none the less.
You can read the whole post over on Seventy8Productions.com | The Ah-Ha Moment is a Myth by Ray Deck III.
Contributing at TMCnet.com
Posted: March 14, 2012 Filed under: Content Marketing, Published Works Leave a comment »I’m happy to announce that I have been hired by TMCnet.com as a contributing writer. My debut article was about growth in the network security industry, a topic that was both fun and challenging for me. Here’s an excerpt:
With the growing popularity of the Internet hacktivism group, Anonymous, raising digital mayhem is in vogue. It should be no surprise that network security is a growing industry. Many organizations have increased spending on network security solutions especially to bolster their defenses against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Viruses are created for a wide variety of reasons, sometimes of nothing more complex than the novelty or thrill of altering the highly pliable digital world, sometimes in support of a political or idealistic agenda, and sometimes with a more heinous objective such as espionage, fraud, identity theft, or larceny. Regardless of the rationale behind the growing wave of attacks, network security companies are scrambling to meet the increased demand with varying degrees of success.
I hope that my first article, Network Security a Growing Industry, is only the tip of the iceberg with TMCnet.
7 Keys to Effective Brainstorming
Posted: February 25, 2012 Filed under: Consultation | Tags: brainstorming, Creativity, ideas Leave a comment »The objective is simple: Generate as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time. The momentum created by a well-run brainstorming session is intoxicating. Brainstorming is easy – anyone can do it, but it is also an acquired skill. Not everyone brainstorms effectively. Learning how to brainstorm well and brainstorming often is definitely a way to be more creative. The way I see it there are 7 steps to a highly effective brainstorming session.
1.) Have a Specific Objective
The more clear your goal, the more focused your thoughts can be. Drill down to an objective that is laser focused and obviously measurable. You want to know exactly when you have accomplished your objective. For example: Generate 3 ideas to get students more involved in the ministries of the church. That is highly specific and obviously measurable.
2.) Handpick Your Team
It is possible to brainstorm on your own or with whomever is at hand, but you are going to have your best success if you build a think-tank intentionally based on the objective. Select a group of people with complementary skills and diverse life experiences. One of the major pitfalls of brainstorming meetings is that only a certain kind of person gets invited. This is very limiting. Diversify your brainstorming team for better results.
3.) Prepare for Massive Success
Sounds a little dramatic but if you expect your brainstorming session to be successful, then it probably will be. If you don’t have expectations, you probably won’t get anything. Have everyone on your hand-picked team prepare to experience success. Think about the objective ahead of time, do your research and get psyched up. Make sure you are rested and mentally alert.
4.) Stay on Task
Especially in idea-generation situations, it is really easy to get sidetracked. You should have a way to capture all the ideas that come up, but someone should act as a facilitator to filter out the off-topic ideas. Those ideas should be captured and saved for later. Don’t lose them, but don’t allow them to derail you either.
5.) Embrace Conflict (Hammer it Out)
When (not if) you come upon conflict, don’t avoid it. You have handpicked a diverse team on purpose. The differences of perspective can give you a 360˚ degree view of the issue that you would not have been able to experience without a diverse team. You are inviting differences of opinion. Let the conflict play out, and don’t assume that you need to conclude the meeting on the same page. Make sure that all of the perspectives have an equal voice so that intelligent ideas can be created and ultimately a well-informed decision can be made.
6.) Conclude Your Meeting
End decisively. You have a measurable objective, so work until you’ve reached it and then close. Make sure to capture all of the work that was done. I like to take notes throughout on a whiteboard and then snap a picture of the board on my phone. It’s fast and comprehensive.
7.) Follow Through Tenaciously
The last step before you stick a fork in it is to decide who is responsible for what. Hand out assignments. No brainstorming session worth anything comes without work afterward. The brainstorm is not the end; it is the beginning. Now the real work begins. You must be tenacious in following through on the ideas that you created.
Video: Awaken Your Creativity
Posted: February 25, 2012 Filed under: Consultation, Content Marketing | Tags: Creativity, ideas, TransferLIVE, Word of Life Leave a comment »For 2 years, I have been blogging weekly about creativity at RayDeck3.wol.org. I have been keeping a list of Ways to Be More Creative. Below is a 10 minute explanation of my perspective on creativity, what it is and how to have more of it. By the way, TransferLIVE is a part of the content marketing campaign that I designed and now maintain for Word of Life Fellowship.
