Liisa Kyle's Blog, page 12

Seven Olympic Lessons to Enhance Your Creative Projects

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When you think of the Olympic Games, what features of the event come to mind?  What about Olympic athletes — how would you describe them?  There are aspects about the Olympics that you can apply to improve whatever creative projects you have on the go.  As a DaVinci — someone juggling multiple ideas, projects and talents — it’s worth it to take a moment to ‘think Olympic’.

Here are some ways to use the Olympics to enhance your creative projects:

1.  Opening Ceremonies

Whether it’s jawdropping Chinese synchronicity or a bizarre montage involving a ginormous Voldemort  and a parachuting monarch, the Olympics start BIG.  They get participants excited to be involved.  They generate buzz.  There’s nothing like a little fanfare to get folks motivated.

You can do the same thing:  whether it’s an official launch of a project… or a daily ritual to spark your creative juices…the attention you give to getting started makes a huge impact on your creative projects.

As you commence a new project, give some attention to how you begin.  Launching a project effectively by definition means you’re increasing your chance of success.  This is your opportunity to set the tone, involve key others and establish expectations.  It might be a public event.  It might be a private strategizing session. It’s up to you to decide what makes sense to launch a given project.

Similarly, how you begin any work session plays a significant role in your productivity.  Author Stephen King, for example, begins each writing session at the same time, in the same physical location with the same items on his desk.  He’s trained himself to get cracking as soon as he sits down to write…and to keep going for hours.  Contrast this with a working session in which you fuss around, check your email, surf the ‘net, etc. before actually starting the task at hand.  The latter approach can be frustrating, stressful and guilt-inducing.  If you (a) know what it is you’re aiming to accomplish in a particular session and (b) set things up so you begin straight away, you’ll get more done, more easily with less stress and less frustration.

2.  Think beyond your own borders.

The Olympics is one of the truly international events.  It gathers together diverse participants from hundreds of countries.  It fosters attention and interest across borders and in unforeseen directions.

Your creativity is tethered to your imagination and your experiences.  This can take you far — and yet you can go so much farther when you step beyond your own limitations.  To the extent you can involve others’ perspectives, you are enriching your creative project.  Even if you’re working solo, take a moment to consider other perspectives:  How would a child tackle this project?  Someone of the opposite sex?  A scientist?

Even better if you can think beyond your own neighborhood — or culture — or nation.  There’s a whole world from which to draw diverse insights and inspiration.

3.  Eyes on the Prize

Olympic athletes have clear goals in mind:  whether it’s to set a personal best or bring home the gold.

Whatever your creative project, it behooves you to clarify your purpose and desired outcomes.  What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish?  Why?  What can you do to keep these things in mind consistently as you proceed?

For more ideas on setting goals, check out my book on the topic.

4.  Practice Practice Practice

Most Olympians have been working, consistently, for years to prepare for their Olympic participation. It’s not like they wake up one day, don a jaunty beret and suddenly find themselves to be tops in the world in their sport.

What effort and investment are you giving your creative projects?  What practices or habits have you established to make consistent progress on your projects?  What baby steps can you take every day or every week?

5.  Take Good Care of Yourself

It’s not enough for Olympians to take good care of their bodies…to be effective participants they must also cultivate mental discipline, emotional well-being and general life balance.

How about you?  As you work on your creative projects, to what extent are you taking good care of yourself — physically, psychologically and emotionally?  What can you do to foster a healthy life balance?  If that’s a challenge for you, here are some ideas.

6.  Be a Good Sport

It’s inspiring to see Olympians cheering on other athletes — especially those of other countries.  It’s that aspect of ‘Olympic Spirit’ that encourages us to make friends with other DaVincis.  To support their creative efforts as you would have them support yours.  To cheer them on.  To see them as fellow creatives, rather than competitors.

By the same token, the Olympic athletes we admire enjoy the opportunity just to be there.  To what extent are you enjoying your talents and creative projects?

True Olympians do their best, then deal gracefully with the consequences.  When things work out well for you in your creative endeavors, be gracious.  When things don’t go your way, avoid being a jerk.

7.  Closing Ceremonies

The Olympics conclude with a spectacle designed to acknowledge the accomplishments of all assembled…as well as to turn attention towards the next Olympics.

When you conclude a creative project, finish it well. When you acknowledge and celebrate what you finish, you reward yourself for your accomplishments…and you boost your motivation, creativity and productivity in future projects.    Here’s how to finish a creative project well.

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Activity:  Think of the Olympic Games. What are some features of the event that you admire?  Of the participants?  How could you apply any of these features to your creative project(s)?

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Want more tips and technique to get thing done?  Check out my book  YOU CAN GET IT DONE:  Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish

Available here for only $3.99: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone

 

 

***

Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .

Handling the Enemy Within

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Warning!  There may be an enemy lurking deep inside your brain. Do you have a little voice inside that is causing you damage? Do you have an inner saboteur that makes you doubt yourself, derail your progress, and/or otherwise create havoc in your life?  If so, join the club. As a coach, I work with smart, successful people, almost all of whom have one (or more) little tyrants inside of them that cause them to do things against their best interests.

You know yourself best.  Which of the following sound familiar?

The Fear Monger

Anything new is scary to our inner protector. Any change — even a good change — is regarded with anxiety and caution. On the plus side, The Fear Monger keeps us physically safe and prevent us from taking wild risks. On the down side, The Fear Monger keeps us riddled with doubts and insecurities. It keeps us questioning our talents, rather than enjoying them. The Fear Monger sucks all the joy out of the creative process. It keeps us paralyzed, fearing the future, rather than taking concrete actions today. The Fear Monger is particularly concerned about “them” and what “they” will say. (What will the critics say? I can’t write *that*! What will my mother say? What if my play bombs?  I’ll be a laughing stock. I’ll never work again.)  Also, the Fear Monger makes us demand constant reassurance from our friends, families, and colleagues:  this makes us draining and unpleasant to be around.

The Delayer

Perhaps the cleverest inner saboteur, the Delayer can find untold impediments to block our progress.  Symptoms may include a sudden urge to do chores. Or eat. Or nap. Or do more research. Or walk the dogs. Or surf the ‘net. Or consult with someone. Or check Facebook. The Delayer impedes our decision making:  we find ourselves hesitating to commit to a particular choice or option, let alone take action along a particular path. The less we do, sadly, the more frustrated and unhappy we become. We beat ourselves up, feel weak and ineffective and otherwise think poorly of ourselves.  This is heartbreaking for people who care about us.  For others in our lives — especially coworkers — The Delayer makes us undependable, annoying, and difficult to work with.

The Judge

The Judge is rarely satisfied. No matter what we do, our inner Judge knows we could have done it better. It’s the voice in our heads intoning, “This is not good enough.”  Ironically, we tend to do excellent work.  Because the Judge is picky with sky high standards, we tend to be conscientious, hard-working, and brilliant.  The downside is that we do so by putting tremendous stress on ourselves and those around us. We work frantically and joylessly, and seldom pause to acknowledge our accomplishments.  We assess every situation, every person, every thing we experience. The people around us find it uncomfortable to share with us, knowing that we are apt to assess and critique them.

The Distractor

This inner saboteur is adept at finding bright, shiny objects to dangle in front of us. We just get going on a project when suddenly, we are made aware something new that hooks our interest. The Distractor is a master at scattering our efforts in random directions so we don’t make sufficient progress in any one direction. The Distractor keeps us very, very busy — our lives are interesting and full — yet we don’t seem to be getting anything done and we always seem to be running late. Our friends, families, and colleagues get fatigued trying to keep abreast of whatever’s captured our fancy today.

The Quitter

You’re chipping away at something when you hit a roadblock. Before you can seek or implement solutions, The Quitter wails in despair, “We’re doomed! We’re done! We can’t go on!” We end up walking away from a perfectly viable project…or delaying it’s progress unduly. While the Quitter may make our lives easier in the short term, it dooms us to longer term dissatisfaction and unhappiness. The Quitter interferes with our efforts on things we actually yearn to do.  When we don’t do them, we can’t help but feel like failures.  We emit that ‘loser’ energy few people want to be around.

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If one or more of these Inner Enemies is sabotaging your thoughts, work, or relationships, take heart:  You are not alone.  Many people face the same inner demons.  There are proven way to overcome each of them. Step One is to

 Recognize what’s happening.

Given the sneaky nature of these inner saboteurs, job one is to detect them. (Hmmm. Why haven’t I picked up my banjo in a month? Good grief! The Delayer strikes again).

Once you are aware that an Inner Enemy is operating, dig deeper. Be specific:  what messages is the saboteur broadcasting in your brain? What actions are you taking because of it? What actions are you avoiding? What impact are you having on the people around you, personally and professionally?

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Activity:  Begin with the Inner Enemy that is causing you the most disruption right now. Clear 5 – 10 uninterrupted minutes to write out (or type out) answers to the following questions.

– Name your Inner Enemy.

– What messages is it broadcasting?  What thoughts is it generating? (If in doubt, scan your mind for any negative, painful statements about yourself that you can latch onto).

– What actions are you taking because of this Inner Enemy?

– What actions are you avoiding because of it?

– What impact is this Inner Enemy having on your personal relationships?

– What impact is this Inner Enemy having on your professional relationships?

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2. Look for effective countermeasures.

To fight The Fear Monger, try these techniques.

To defeat The Delayer, try these approaches or this program.

If you are in the clutches of The Judge, start with this article.  For a more comprehensive solution, try this book.

To disrupt The Distractor, try these techniques.

The best way to conquer The Quitter is to take action. Pick something — anything — to do and move forward. Here’s how.

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The goal is to get into the swing of recognizing and countering your saboteurs as they arise.  When you get adept at this, you may even laugh at them.  “Oh, there’s ol’ Distractor tempting me with another bright, shiny project.  Nice try, D, but I’m going to finish the thing I’m working on first.”

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For more solutions, check out my workbook: YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE:  A Workbook to Become the Person You Want to Be. Available here: http://bit.ly/ChangeYourLifeWorkbook
 

 

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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at  http://www.davincidilemma.com/  .

Health Benefits of Creativity

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For a while there, I was quite worried about my husband’s health. He was not eating healthfully, exercising, or sleeping well. He was stressed out, sedentary, and generally not delighted. I was concerned.

Then, out of the blue, he got back into photography. This was once a happy passion of his — but one, sadly, he had shelved for the past few years.  Thankfully, as soon as he started taking photos again, his whole energy changed. He happily planned local excursions to shoot new material. He deep-dived into researching new technology and techniques for shooting, editing, and printing.  He shifted his schedule to include some photography time every day.  His smile reappeared, as did a spring in his step.  His transformation reminded me just how important creativity is to our health and well-being.

You’ve probably seen in it your own life:  when you are create, you are healthier. You have more physical and mental energy. Your mind works faster. Your mood is elevated.  You sleep better.  You take better care of yourself. Compare this to how you feel when you are not creating:  your energy is lower. You are more sluggish in mind and body.  You are probably crankier and more pessimistic. Your sleep is likely to be disrupted. You may self-medicate with booze or junk food or random chemicals.

Research supports our anecdotal experiences.

Did you see the New York Times article about the health benefits of knitting and crocheting? It reminds us that creative crafts can lower heart rate, blood pressure and levels of stress hormone. Scientific studies have proven the therapeutic effects of crafting in managing pain, alleviating stress, reducing depression, and enhancing cognitive functioning. This literature review summarizes the research that has chronicled many mental and physical benefits of expressing creativity through music, visual arts, movement, and writing.

These studies reinforce what many of us have experienced: Creativity elevates our mood and reduces stress.  When we create, we take better care of ourselves. Let’s dive deeper.

Creativity elevates our mood and reduces stress.

First and foremost, creative expression is an instant mood lifter. It’s fun. It feels good.  It makes us happy.  When we get in ‘the zone’, our minds and bodies relax.  Our neurons emit happy endorphins producing euphoria and blocking pain. (How do dancers dance on broken toes?  Endorphins.)

Let’s compare that to what happens when stress hormones such as cortisol are emitted by our cells. In the short term, stress hormones are very helpful and essential to our nature. They allow us the physical capacity for ‘fight or flight’ on the spot.  They instantly amp up our fear.  They divert energy towards our limbs and circulation while suppressing immune, digestive, reproductive and growth systems.  This is wonderfully helpful if we need to, say, fight off a shark attack or run away from a bear.

These biological responses are also triggered by modern day stresses like the bosses’ random demands, commuting, paying bills, and so forth. The body detects our stress and tries to help. The problem is that, unlike shark attacks which are relatively brief, modern stressors persist. When stress persists, our biological responses persist, too. Our fear remains amped up. Our immune, digestive, reproductive and growth systems remain suppressed. The longer this state persists, the greater the damage to our bodies and our health.

One way to curtail the ravages of stress hormones is by meditation.  Taking a few 3-4 minute meditation breaks in the day can be enough to disrupt and offset stress. (For more information, here’s an article about meditation techniques you may find helpful).

Much as I enjoy and appreciate meditation, it can be challenging to commit to a regular meditation practice.  And frankly, it’s not exactly exciting. A more fun way to offset stress is to create.

The more time we spend creating, the more endorphins we release, the happier we are and the less stress hormones we emit.

But here’s a caveat: if you create for a living, you may find your creative process has been infiltrated by all kinds of stress-producing elements. The budget!  The stakeholders!  The critics!  All these pressures can curtail the health benefits of your creative endeavors.

To the extent you can focus on the creative aspects of your job, rather than the practical, the healthier you will be.

To do this, you need to first, monitor your stress level i.e. pause and take note, several times a day. Second, you need to take action accordingly.  If you are feeling happy and relaxed, carry on. If, however, you are stressed or brooding or unhappy, pause and problem solve:  Do you need a break? Do you need help?  Do you need a different approach?  What is REALLY the problem:  the situation or your fears or feelings about it?  What is solvable?

What can you put in place to monitor and curtail your stress level?  Some people find it helpful to wear a FitBit or other bio-monitoring device. Some prefer to pause a few times a day to check their mood and stress level, and then take action accordingly. Some make a point of inserting stress-reducing activities into their day.

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Activity:  How can you monitor your stress level, several times a day?  Take a moment to think about what will work for you, given your unique circumstances and preferences. Make a list. Pick (at least) one. Now make a point of implementing it this week.

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Alternatively, what creative expression do you enjoy, outside of work? This is where DaVincis — multi-talented people — have a real advantage in life. Most of us have many creative pursuits, some of which are caught up in our identify and livelihood, and some of which are not. The latter can heal the stress induced by the former.

For example, as much as I love writing, it is woven up in practical factors such as my career and my identity as an author. I do adore making silver jewelry but I sometimes fret about the commercial appeal and distribution of my creations.  In contrast, I feel no such tangles with other creative pursuits I enjoy such as making tapestries or crafting birthday cards or mucking about with acrylic paints.  These are happy diversions done simply for the fun of it.

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Activity:  What creative pursuits do you enjoy just for fun?  (Ideally these would be activities that have little or no connection to your personal identity or to your livelihood). Make a list. Of these, which are easy and fun for you to engage in most days? If you don’t already, make a point of indulging in some purely fun creative activities this week.  Even a half hour a day, several times a week can give you a huge mood boost.

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The important thing here is to start.  To establish a habit of inserting stress-free creative expression into your regular week. Another way to do this is to sign up for a class.  You could learn a new skill or hone existing talents.  The advantage of a class is that it is a regular appointment with you and your talents. As well, it’s a change to connect with like-minded others. Or maybe you prefer to teach a class.  Or to set up a self-directed study via the internet. Whatever works for you to establish a routine of regular creativity.

Once you have regular opportunities for creativity in your life, your mood will life and your stress will decrease.  And you will gain other health benefits pretty easily:

When we create, we tend to take better care of ourselves.

We eat better. We give our body some attention. We lay off the booze or potato chips or chemical forms of self-medication.

Take a moment to think about what easy things you could do to improve your health.  Make a list.  (If you want some ideas, here are some).  Now, pick one thing to implement this week.  Once that becomes a regular habit, go back to your list and choose another idea. Implement it.

Why bother?

The healthier you are, the more you will fuel your creativity. The more creative you are, the healthier you will be.

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Check out my workbook: YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE:  A Workbook to Become the Person You Want to Be. Available here: http://bit.ly/ChangeYourLifeWorkbook

 

 

 

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If you’d like to share or publish this article, you may, if you include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people athttp://www.davincidilemma.com/.

Scattered?

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Are you scattered? This is one of the biggest challenge for most DaVincis. The problem is twofold. First, there is a scattering of our cognitive activities.  Our thoughts ping around among many, random topics. We are interested in many things and easily distracted. Second, there is a scattering of our efforts.  Left to our natural tendencies, we end up doing random things, our efforts go in different directions, and we make minimal progress in any of these enterprises.

So what’s a DaVinci to do?

We can train ourselves to focus on one thing at a time.

It’s helpful to corral our ideas. Otherwise, we can be at the mercy of random, ever-changing thoughts. We can train ourselves to take charge of our minds in a couple of ways.

First, we can practice controlling our thoughts through meditation. This can be as simple as pausing a few times a day to close your eyes and ‘be’ for three minutes. Clear your mind. Breathe. As thoughts pop up, gently push them aside.  When you can reliably take control of your brain during these brief mini-meditations, you are taming your ‘monkey mind’. You are learning how to be the master of your thoughts, rather than at their mercy.

Second, we can use structure to focus our ideas on specific tasks.

One way to apply structure is to prioritize.  Rather than doing random things in a random order, be deliberate. What is most important right now?  Choose something on which to focus right now.

The next step is to select a period of time for this priority.  You could choose to focus on it for fifteen minutes.  Or an hour.  Or all day. Or all week. The duration will depend on your unique circumstances — just how important is this priority? What else is competing for your attention? What would be a realistic, achievable commitment, given what’s going on in your life? A particular creative project may be our top priority but we can only give it an hour a day. So give it an hour a day. Actually spend an hour a day on it.

Now, consider your second highest priority. How much time can you spend on it?  Fifteen minutes a day, three times a week? Great. Do so.

If you are reacting to this approach with skepticism — perhaps you doubt the utility of fifteen minutes commitments, for example –I encourage you to try it. Odds are you can get more done in fifteen minutes than you expect. Certainly, you can get more done in fifteen minutes than if you spend zero time on something. Fifteen minutes, three times a week gives you 45 minutes of progress.

What works best among my coaching clients is to select minimum time commitments that they absolutely, positively know they can accomplish. It’s an achievable promise to themselves that is gratifying to accomplish. If they do more than the minimum, that’s a happy bonus.

As DaVinci’s we have more than one thing going on.  The challenge is to find the right combination of priorities and time commitments that work for our personal and professional lives.

Think of these time commitments a ‘time boxes’: precious gifts you give yourself (and your priorities) on a regular basis.  Once your top priority ‘time boxes’ are established, you’ll make steady progress on what’s important to you AND you’ll have the have freedom to juggle other projects, tasks, and activities as needed.

For example, my own top priorities these days are writing, making jewelry, working out, and walking my dogs.  I’ve worked out a pattern of time boxes so that these things happen regularly throughout the week. (I also commit to fifteen minutes a day of domestic duties because, alas, my household isn’t going to run itself).  Once all these time boxes are in place, my schedule still has lots of gaps for professional and personal activities — and the flexibility to do whatever needs doing at a particular time.

It’s the flexibility of this approach that makes it effective for DaVincis.  Once you establish your time boxes, you can adjust them to accommodate whatever else is going on in your life.

Let’s say you commit to thirty minutes of practicing guitar every day. Let’s say you have a day job with rigid hours. What will work best for you? Practicing before work, after work, at lunchtime or some combination of the three?  Likely you’ll figure out the pattern that works best for you by trial and error.

For example, I know I’m going to write for at least an hour today. I like to write in the morning but I don’t have to.  If, say, a client calls with an urgent issue, I can attend to that when it arises, then defer my writing hour to the afternoon.

The other essential step in this approach is to monitor your progress. There’s something intrinsically gratifying about crossing a commitment off your list as ‘done’ or giving your calendar color-coded star for different activities. It acknowledges your progress and motivates you to continue the practice. It reinforces that you are doing more of what you want (and, by extension, less of what you don’t).  Bonus points if you reward yourself for your accomplishments.

If you jot down some specifics about what you’ve done , you can save yourself time doing similar things in the future.  For example, I keep a log documenting things like the gauge of wire and the diameters of mandrels I use in making particular jewelry pieces. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to look up my notes to fabricate something I was SURE I would remember. Yes, I could figure it out again but it’s much faster and less irksome to simply flip back a few pages and read what I did before).

Perhaps more importantly, when you make a regular practice of monitoring your progress, it makes it clear when things are not getting done. An absence of colored stars on your calendar or a dearth of notes in your documentation logs makes it much harder for things to slide of the rails. Without monitoring, distractions have a way of kidnapping your attention and efforts such that a month later you find yourself asking, “Um, when was the last time I did X?” and/or “Why did I stop?”  Instead, ask yourself proactively: how can I easily keep track of my progress on my time boxes?  Start monitoring your activities and, should you notice any lapses, take action to correct your course.

If doesn’t matter how much you’ve got going on:  you CAN make focused progress on what’s important to you. If you find your thoughts or efforts are scattered, pause and regroup. Focus your thoughts.  Prioritize.  Figure a way to time box your efforts, given your circumstances. Monitor your progress. Acknowledge your accomplishments and make adjustments as you go.

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For for tips and techniques to be more productive, check out my book  YOU CAN GET IT DONE:  Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish

Available here for only $3.99: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone

 

 

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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .

 

Stuck? Unproductive? Wasting Time? Try Quotas

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Are you stuck? Is motivating yourself a challenge? Are you procrastinating or wasting time or otherwise NOT doing what you intend?  Maybe you are chipping away at some task…but doing so unproductively or less effectively than you’d like. If you haven’t done so recently, you may wish to revisit the notion of “quotas” — of assigning yourself a minimum amount of tasks to be completed within a given amount of time.

For example, many writers commit to a daily minimum of words or page written. Business people may aim for a certain number of cold calls or new clients per week or per month. Dancers, musicians, and athletes may set goals for certain amounts of specified training or practice on each day of each week.

One reason quotas can be especially effective for DaVincis – smart, creative people juggling several talents, projects and ideas — is that quotas provide a very light structure to support and enhance creativity. It’s simple guiding notion — rather than a complex, oppressive, 9-to-5 prison.

Quotas can motivate you do get things done — while still providing you with flexibility in how or when you do so. For example, if I commit to write (at least) four articles a week, I can do them whenever I want, fitting them in among whatever else my week holds. It doesn’t matter what arises in work or any other life domain…as long as a minimum of four pieces are filed by end of day Friday.

Besides flexibility, another upside is that quotas tend to specific a ‘minimum’. Once you accomplish your intended goal, it’s intrinsically gratifying. As a bonus, if you choose to, you can do more, which can feel even better. In fact, my coaching clients often find it more motivating to assign a conservative quota that it is relatively easy…and oh so pleasant…to achieve, in part because it often stimulates them to do more — to exceed their minimum target.

Quotas have other benefits as well.

They can ensure you are actually participating in the things you wish to do. Just as they work for professional activities, they also can work for other areas of life. If you are looking to improve your nutrition, you could make a point of eating a salad every day. If you love to read, why not aim to read a book a week or a month (or whatever rate make sense your life situation)?  If you love being outdoors but notice it’s been weeks since you did so, establishing a minimum ‘time outside’ target can ensure you don’t let this simple pleasure slip get forgotten amid everything else you’re doing.

It’s up to you to decide what’s important.

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Activity:  What would you like to be doing more of? What are you not doing enough of? Make a list. Now, for each item on your list, ask yourself: what would be an appropriate target quota to aim for, given your life circumstances these days?

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Also consider that quotas can motivate you to tackle activities that are less enjoyable but necessary.  For example, if you don’t like housework, you could set a minimum amount of time per day or per week to your chores. It’s surprising what you can get done in even fifteen minutes a day. Alternatively, you could create a realistic list of minimum ‘to do’ tasks for the week.

When tackling things you don’t enjoy doing, it’s important to choose the smallest, easiest, more conservative quota possible. If your target is too ambitious, you won’t do it and you’ll feel worse about it. If in doubt, aim for less.

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Activity:  What necessary activities do you find it difficult to make yourself do? Make a list. Now, for each item on your list, ask yourself: what would be the smallest, easiest, most conservative target quota you could aim for, given your life?

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Along the same lines, quotas are great for starting new healthy habits.

For best results, being with laughably small targets. For example, let’s say you don’t like to exercise but would like to start. Rather than beginning by committing to run for thirty minutes every day, why not start with something you KNOW you can do — and that you know you WILL do — such a walking at least six minutes a day. Start with that. When you do this reliably for, say, a week, you might replace one minute of your walking with one minute of running. Gradually, as you experience success meeting a particular quota, you could increase the challenge a titch. If you did so, it wouldn’t take that long before you were, actually, running for thirty minutes a day, three times a week.  (Here’s an eight week plan to do just that).

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Activity:  What healthy habits would you like to start? Make a list. Pick whichever of these is most important or most interesting for you right now. Now, ask yourself: what would be a laughably easy way to begin?

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Quotas can also curtail unhelpful or unhealthy behaviors.

If you are an internet junkie, for example, you can use quotas to help you shift your habit.  You could limit your internet surfing to, say, 30 minutes per day. This gives you permission to indulge but prevents you from over-indulging.

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Activity:  What unhealthy or unhelpful habits do you have? What would you like to be doing less of? Make a list. Pick whichever of these is most important or most detrimental for you right now. Now, ask yourself: what would be reasonable new limit on this activity?  What target quotas can you commit to?

***

Quotas can be reinforced and enhanced with rewards.

While meeting quotas in intrinsically gratifying, you can solidify your preferred behavioral patterns by rewarding yourself whenever you meet your quotas.  This is especially true if you are using quotas to curtail an unwanted behavior:  I strongly suggest you reward yourself for each and every successful accomplishment along the way.

The challenge with rewards, however, is that many of us have a hard time actually treating ourselves. It’s up to you to identify what are fitting, pleasant, reasonable, do-able rewards for meeting your target. It doesn’t work if you promise yourself a massage a week for exercising if you don’t then actually enjoy a massage for each week you exercise.

It’s up to you to actually treat yourself. It’s up to you to set up your rewards so they really happen when you meet your goals.

***

Activity: What is a quota you’d like to establish?  What would be a pleasant and fitting and do-able reward you would enjoy for meeting your goals?  How can you put this in place so it actually happens?

***

Will quotas work for you?

It depends on the nature of your creative work, your personality, your situation, and your personal preference.

Reflect for a moment:  Have quotas worked well for you in the past? Are you using them currently? If not, might it be an opportunity to reinstate them? Do they need any tweaking?

If quotas have not worked well for you in the past, ask yourself why not?  Were you overly ambitious in your targets or time frames?  Were your targets too complex or numerous for your schedule?  If so, would a more conservative approach work better for you?

If you haven’t yet tried using quotas as a motivational technique, give them a try. See to what extent they can help you get more done with less procrastination and stress along the way.

***

For for tips and techniques to be more productive, check out my book  YOU CAN GET IT DONE:  Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish

Available here for only $3.99: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone

***

Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .

 

Wanna Play?

image via commons.wikimedia.org

Every morning, my Labrador prances into the kitchen with his favorite toy in his mouth. He pounces up and down, wiggles his butt and wags his tail. Without words, he is very clearly communicating, “Dude! It’s playtime!”

To what extent do YOU play? A surprising number of DaVincis don’t play very much at all. We are juggling so many projects, ideas, and life demands that we don’t allow ourselves much, if any, playtime. If that sounds like you, please read on.

Play is important. It’s fun. It gives us energy. It sparks ideas. It enhances creativity. It gives us joy.  Every young mammal plays. It’s part of being alive. Of interacting with others. Of learning new behaviors.

What happens among people, however, is that many of us are told, at some point to “grow up”. To “get serious”. To “stop playing around”.  Most of us bow to societal pressure. Some of us impose restrictions on ourselves — limiting our playtime or doling it out it a miserly fashion, perhaps as a reward for certain achievements.  At some point, many of us just don’t play any more.

How about you?

First, what do you consider “play”. What’s fun for you? What are your favorite ways to play?  My client Janet loves to dance.  Hank adores computer games. James likes flying kites. Kim enjoys surfing.  I get a kick out of playing hide and seek with my dogs.

Take a moment to create your personalized “Play List”:  What are your favorite ways to play? What’s fun for you? Make a list.

Now: go thought your list and, beside each item, write down the last time you did it.

Review your list. Consider the patterns you see. Would you benefit from more play in your life?

If you start to balk — if you’re reaction is along the line of, “I can’t possibly” or “I have too much to do” or “I’ll play when I’m retired” — consider the benefits of regular play.

1. Play gives you energy.

If you feel sluggish or stressed out or or otherwise “icky”, odds are you need more play in your life. Once you give yourself the gift of regular playtime, you will have more energy to tackle your personal and professional responsibilities.

2. Play gives you ideas.

If you are stuck or slogging through a project, some playtime can create a shift in perspective to get you moving or spark a fresh approach.

3. Play enhances your creativity.

The more you play, the more innovative you can be.

4. Play improves your relationships.

Play makes you happy. When you are happier, your personal and professional interactions are more positive. You are easier to be with.

5.  Play is an antidote for procrastination.

If you are avoiding doing something, it’s because you’ve made the task into something onerous or Very Important or otherwise terrifying. No wonder you are hesitating to being. To the extent you can shift your attitude to “Okay let me just play around with this a bit,” you can nudge yourself into moving forward. Play lets you take action from a more positive, less fearful place.

6.  Play is an antidote for perfectionism.

If you tend to be hard on yourself — if you tend to set high expectations of yourself and others — you know the pain of perfectionism. You sit down expecting to make “something excellent”. This sets up a dynamic so that whatever you are trying to create is being judged at its very genesis. This is crazy-making. It’s impossible to simultaneously generate new thoughts — and keep them coming — if you are jumping all over them, judging them as soon as they emerge.

A different approach is to compartmentalize. First, allow yourself some playtime to generate — without judgment. Go ahead and slap one some paint, jot down that first draft. Just get it out there. Play around with whatever tickles your fancy. Enjoy your creativity!  Have fun with it. Then, when the generation phases concludes, revisit your project to assess and hone as needed.

***

Whether or not you believe in the value and benefits of play, why not give it a try? Try to add some playtime to your week this week. See what happens.

***

Activity: This week, make a point of playing every day. If this is a challenge for you, commit to play at least five minutes every day.

Bonus Activity: If there is something on your ‘play list’ you haven’t done for a while, make a point of doing it this week.

***

Now let’s say, it’s a week from today and, somehow you didn’t play. At all.  For whatever reason, you didn’t give yourself even five minutes of playtime.

What interfered?  What stopped you?

Take a moment and answer honestly.

Maybe life intervened.  Perhaps you had way too much going on. Hmm. I’d like to challenge you on that. Surely there were ways to inject some play into the tasks at hand. Certainly you could give yourself five minutes to play a bit of Wii Golf or a round of backgammon or to try doing a cartwheel in the backyard.

Maybe it’s guilt?  Do you need permission to play?  Do you feel that you haven’t yet ‘earned’ your playtime? Allow me to help:  Because you’ve read this far, you have absolutely earned at least five minutes of play every day for the next week (and beyond).

Let’s try the activity again:

***

Activity: This week, make a point of playing every day. If this is a challenge for you, commit to play at least five minutes every day.

Bonus Activity: Play at least five minutes a day, every day, for the next year.  See what happens.

***

Check out my workbook: YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE:  A Workbook to Become the Person You Want to Be. Available here: http://bit.ly/ChangeYourLifeWorkbook
 

 

 

***

Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at  http://www.davincidilemma.com/  .

Creative Input: Fuel your Creativity

image via skitterphoto.com

Want to amp up your creativity?  One of the best, most effective — and most enjoyable — ways to inspire and hone your own imagination is to experience the creative work of other people. It doesn’t matter if you are a mathematician or a musician or an entrepreneur or an visual artist:  you can fuel your own creativity by experiencing the work of talented others in your field.  It’s a way to replenish your ideas, shift your perspective, and spark new insights and innovations. It can inspire you to stretch in new or different directions. It can illuminate new skills or techniques…or prompt you to figure novel solutions to the task at hand.

Begin with the people you admire in your chosen field. Who’s work do you love? Make a point of keeping up to date. It’s funny how we can have a favorite author or musician….and yet manage to miss the release of some of their titles. Maybe there are some hidden gems before they made it big. Perhaps you had a busy year and missed their most recent releases. The same thing happens with architects we admire, dancers we adore, and enterpreneurs we wish to emulate:  unless we make a point of tabs on them, we might be missing some inspiring examples of their creativity.

***

Activity:  Make a list of your favorite creators in your field(s). Now spend a few minutes googling each name: what have they done that you don’t know about?  Make a list.

Bonus activity: This year, make a point of catching up on anything you’ve missed.

***

Sometimes, we get so caught up in our own efforts, we neglect those of others. Sometimes, life intervenes.  Our schedule is packed. Our plate is full.  We have other priorities.

Of course. And to the extent we can include a regular stream of creative input into our lives, the more our creativity will benefit. Maybe it’s just a little: perhaps listening to music while we commute or exercise.  Perhaps it’s keeping an ebook loaded so that when unexpected time gaps occur in our day, we can read a paragraph or two.

Or maybe you have more flexibility in your schedule to add more creative input from multiple sources. Perhaps you’re able to spend an hour  a day on YouTube or Pinterest or podcasts for inspiration. Or maybe you make it a point to get to a gallery or museum once a week.

What works for you, given your current situation? Ask yourself what habits you can put in place to ensure you have a regular stream of creative input fueling your creativity? You are no doubt doing some of this already but here is an opportunity to take stock and ensure that you aren’t missing out on what is important to you.

***

Activity: What creative input is important to you? Make a list.

Activity: Brainstorm ways to ensure each of these things is a part of your life on a regular basis.

***

Now as much as you can profit from soaking up the innovations of heroes in your field(s), you can benefit even more when you experience creativity in other fields. This is especially true for DaVinics — creative people juggling several talents, projects and ideas — because our skill sets tend to be broader. We can see how something might enhance work and spark innovations in numerous projects. We are accustomed to cross-pollinating techniques and ideas across fields. A painting might inspire a song lyric that gives us an idea for a workshop that sparks a concept for a new product.

Start with the creative endeavors you admire, but don’t participate in. If you’re not that strong on the business side of things, for example, check out what successful entrepreneurs are doing. There are no shortage of YouTube videos, books, workshops, and teleconferences through which you can learn.  If you are not a gifted singer, listening to those who are can give you insights into story-telling, performance skills, and more.

***

Activity:  Make a list. What creative fields are you drawn to?

Activity: For each item on your list, start to make new lists. As you hear of creative people or products, add them to your list.  Going forward, when you are seeking creative input, check out someone or something on your list.

***

Many of us keep ‘to read’ lists. As we hear about books of interest, we jot them down. Ditto for ‘to view’ lists of movies, television series, and documentaries — or ‘to listen’ lists of music. When it’s time to indulge in creative input, we can easily and efficiently remind ourselves.  It’s easy enough to expand this practice to include whatever creative work we want to sample more of.

What do to with all these lists?  Keep them handy, for reference. Make a point of using them. Keep adding to them.

The simple act of beginning a list increases the likelihood you will treat yourself to more creative inputs.  The more options you add, the more diverse these ideas are likely to be. The more diverse your creative exposure, the more innovative you are likely to be.

The more creativity you experience, the more ideas you will have.  The more creative ideas you generate, the more will flow.

***

***

Check out my book  YOU CAN GET IT DONE:  Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish

Available here for only $3.99: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone

***

Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .

Do You Think Too Much?

Courtesy Geralt via Pixabay.com

Thinking is good. It’s essential to creativity:  Thinking lets us conjure ideas and products would of thin air, devise solutions to problems, and put things together in novel ways. Alas, like many good things, there’s a risk of overdoing it. Especially for DaVincis — people juggling many ideas, projects and talents.

One problem:  it’s easy for our Monkey Minds to hop around erratically from thought to thought, from project to project, from ‘the task at hand’ to any number of procrastinating activities. This can disrupt our focus and our progress by scattering our efforts in random ways.

Another cost of over-thinking: we can over-complicate things. It’s ridiculously easy for us to create great drama out of simple situations. We can generate a thousand ‘what if’s’ and complications for any scenario…none of which are very likely or relevant. We can think of convoluted rationalizations to talk ourselves into — or out of — things we shouldn’t. We can see problems where there really aren’t any. We can get sucked into a never-ending loop of activity, aiming for an unrealistic level of perfection.

And then there’s the impact our overthinking has on others. The way our brains function can be bewildering, or intimidating, or annoying to those around us.  We can introduce new information or options at a time when it doesn’t seem relevant to the task at hand. We can ‘download’ and share too many ideas at once, making others confused or uncomfortable or confused. We can inadvertently squash other people’s ideas because they assume we’ve already thought of it.

Without meaning to, we can push people away. They may not want to disturb us or challenge us in the midst of a brainstorm. We can give off a negative vibe. Women who think too much risk “Resting Bitch Face” — looking angry when we’re really not. This occurs when the wheels are turning happily in our brains and we’re not aware of the position of our facial muscles. It’s not fair but our society is such that if your face looks tense or serious or the corners of your mouth aren’t up, people may assume you are unhappy or negative or unpleasant and interact with you, accordingly.

Alas, there are costs to our oh-so-active minds. So what’s an overthinking DaVinci to do?

1. Be aware.

Be attentive to what you are experiencing. If something feels unnecessarily fraught or difficult or complicated, pause and take stock. Ask yourself: Am I overthinking this?

2.  When possible, simplify.

There are many, many roads to Rome.  If something seems over-complicated — if you’re mired in too many details and options — ask: Is there a simpler or easier way forward?

3.  Train your Monkey Mind.

You don’t have to be held hostage by the thought pinging around your brain. You can learn to control and manage your thoughts through techniques such as meditation.  It can be as quick and easy as pausing two or three times a day for less than five minutes.

4. Capture and manage your ideas.

What are simple, easy ways you can capture your thoughts and ideas as you go through your day? On paper — in a small notebook, index cards or post-its? Digitally — in your computer, tablet, organizer or phone? Tape recorders and voice mailboxes also work great – and are especially useful for musicians, singers and composers to capture auditory ideas. When you get in the habit of capturing and saving your ideas, you know they are safe — and you tend to generate more and better ideas.

If you are working on something and new thoughts arise, you can capture them, then ‘park’ them for later so you’re not distracted from the task at hand.

5.  Watch for cues from others.

Be attentive to the impact of your Monkey Mind on people around you. They may well love your contributions…but there’s a probably a limit. Reel in the need to express every thought, idea, and option that crosses your cranium. Edit what you share and how you share it.

6.  Help like-minded others.

When you notice someone else is over-thinking or over-complicating things, ask if there’s an easier or simpler alternative. Together, your Monkey Minds can no doubt generate countless other options.

***

Question:  What do you notice when your Monkey Mind is active? What kinds of things do you do? What triggers you to over-think things? What kinds of things do you do or experience when you overthink things? What do you notice in the people around you when you over-think or over-complicate things?

Question:  Think of a specific instance when you over-complicated a situation. What happened? How did you feel? What were the consequences?

Thinking back on it now, what might have been a simpler way forward?

Question: What are the simple, easy ways you can capture and manage your ideas on a regular, ongoing manner?

***

Want more tips and techniques on getting things done?  Check out my book  YOU CAN GET IT DONE:  Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish

Available here for only $3.99: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone

***

Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The Da Vinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/.

Make the Most of 2016

December is a wonderful time to look back at the preceding year and make decisions about how to live the next twelve months.  New Years can be a pivot point to do more of what you love and less of what you don’t.

I’ve prepared this workbook as a Do-It-Yourself workshop so you can get the most out of 2016.

It’s a self-guided workshop designed to help you experience, learn, acquire, accomplish or complete your real priorities this year.  Think of it as a deeply discounted, personal seminar with a recognized expert.  Inside this workbook are proven tools you can work through at your own pace to foster whatever is important to you — tailored to your unique circumstances.

A Word About ‘Resolutions’

I’m not so keen on traditional ‘New Year’s Resolutions’.  In my experience, the way most people do them, they’re not that effective.  They tend to be overblown lists of ‘to do’s’ that become the source of unnecessary disappointment and frustration.  They can be overwhelming, intimidating or worse, forgotten.

For DaVincis –smart, creative people juggling too many talents, projects and ideas — traditional resolutions can interfere and distract you from what you’ve already got on your plate.

As an expert in getting things done, I have developed proven techniques to figure out how you’d like to be living your life and how to make that happen.  This might look like specific goals — or it may look like something else, based on your unique circumstances.  Instead, it may involve doing more of what you love and less of what you don’t.  Or recognizing your true priorities.  Or participating in some key projects to enhance your life.  Or establishing new habits or practices that are uniquely fulfilling to you.

I devised Making the Most of 2016 as a workbook and guide so you generate ideas for all areas of your personal and professional life, recognize your top priorities for 2016, make achievable plans and keep on track all year.

Available here for a limited time for only $2.99 (or free with Amazon Prime):  http://bit.ly/MakeTheMostofYourYear

Or FREE with Amazon Prime

Click here for Free Reading Apps so you can enjoy this workbook on your computer, tablet, phone and/or kindle:

http://bit.ly/FreeReadersForYourComputerTabletOrPhone

Here’s more info:

This self-guided workshop is designed to help you experience, learn, acquire, accomplish or complete your real priorities this year. Think of it as a deeply discounted, personal seminar with a recognized expert. Inside this workbook are proven tools you can work through at your own pace to foster whatever is important to you — tailored to your unique circumstances. It’s developed by Liisa Kyle, Ph.D., an author and life coach who specializes in helping people get organized, get things done and get more out of life. Over the past fifteen years, she’s coached individuals, facilitated groups and delivered inventive workshops on four continents. She’s developed this workbook to help you:

* understand and appreciate 2015

* generate ideas for all areas of your personal and professional life

* recognize your top priorities for 2016

* make achievable plans for 2016

* keep on track through the year

Give yourself — or someone else — the gift of a wonderful 2016.

Available here:  http://bit.ly/MakeTheMostofYourYear

The Threat of ‘Triple Threats’

image via commons.wikimedia.org

Are you a ‘Triple Threat’ — someone who is overtly talented in three skills?  Maybe you’re a singer/dancer/actor.  Or an inventor/engineer/marketing guru.  (I’ve even met a writer/pastor/master gardener).  If you excel at multiple things, be aware:  you may be scaring people.  It’s not deliberate.  You are just doing things you love that you are good at  — but you may be inadvertently posing a threat to other.  Without meaning to, you might be making others feel jealous or inadequate or less than competent.

This is one of the stickiest challenges faced by a DaVinci — someone juggling many talents, projects, and ideas:  How to enjoy, develop, and succeed in multiple arenas, regardless of others’ reactions.

If you have more than one skill, you’ve no doubt experienced a range of reactions to your talents.  Sure, some people are appreciative and supportive. Yet others might be uncomfortable.

It doesn’t make logical sense: whatever you’re doing should have no bearing on how others view themselves. But it often does. Most notably among those prone to jealousy or competitiveness or self-doubt.  A scathing review may have more to do with the author’s own issue of self-worth than what you’ve actually done.

Now it’s one thing to receive a cold shoulder or some polite distance or a hurtful review. (Or worse, a mediocre review.  “Meh. It’s okay, I guess”).  These negative reactions can be especially challenging when expressed by someone is close to you. I’ve coached countless DaVincis who have suppressed or avoided talents, lest they overshadow a sibling or parent or spouse. What a sad irony! To miss out on something you love to avoid ‘hurting’ someone you love.

Now some will say — “Hey, if they really love you, they’ll want you to express your talents.” Sure, at some level. But at other — probably subconscious — levels, they may be exuding pain or disappointment in themselves and it’s natural for you to want to spare them that.

For example, you may end up focusing on other skills that the person doesn’t share, so there’s no implicit comparison or inadvertent competition.  One of my clients is very musical but he specifically avoided learning the instrument his older sister played.

So what’s a Triple Threat to do?

1. Be aware.

As a Triple Threat, know that you can irritate or scare others. Be sensitive to your impact on others. Be kind. Avoid trying to impress others. Avoid undue pride, arrogance, or obnoxiousness.

Be prudent in how you share your talents, under what circumstances, with whom. Just as you don’t tell strangers your entire life story, nor does it make sense to blurt out descriptions of your every skill, project, and accomplishment in one fell swoop. Allow different aspects of yourself to be revealed, as makes sense under the circumstances.

Let passion be your motivator, rather than external validation:  Come from a place of ‘This is what I love to do’ instead of ‘Look how good I am at this’.

2.  Recognize what’s happening.

Understand that people are going to respond to your talents in random ways that may have very little to do with you. Their reactions might be more indicative of their own self-worth or comfort in their own skin or even the kind of day they’ve had.

3.  Savor the positive.

When you do receive true appreciation or support for your talents, be grateful.  It’s rare.

4. Minimize the negative.

Haters gonna hate. Trolls are gonna troll. Jealous people are gonna be jealous. Competitive people are going to see gauntlets everywhere they look.  There is NOTHING you can do to prevent these reactions.  What you CAN do is minimize the impact they have on you.

Is there any worthwhile kernel of helpful feedback in what they are saying? If so, accept it. If not, put it aside and move on.

5. Involve people you care about.

If you are experiencing a negative reaction from someone important to you, see if there’s a way to comfortably involve them in what you’re doing. Does it make sense to ask for their input? Is there some role they can play? Is there a way they can contribute to your endeavors? Alas, this isn’t always possible but when it is, proven way to transform negative vibes into something much more positive. Maybe even helpful.

One challenge of being a DaVinci is finding ways to share your talents comfortably with others — and managing negative reactions when they arise.  What’s worked well for you in the past? What hasn’t? What else might you try going forward? How can you use your creativity to devise new ways to manage the ‘threat’ that sometimes comes with being a ‘triple threat’?

*****

Check out my workbook: YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE:  A Workbook to Become the Person You Want to Be. Available here: http://bit.ly/ChangeYourLifeWorkbook
 

 

*****

Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at  http://www.davincidilemma.com/  .