Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Full Disclosure

Please close this window immediately if you do not want to think less of me. I am disclosing the truth about myself this morning. Okay.........here goes.......I am not always organized. Now, first let me say, when it comes to our orders and our customers, I am extremely on top of things. HOWEVER, when it comes to all the little thoughts and ideas that never stop in my mind, I. am. not. I have so many ideas for the business and for this blog, but when I'm busy keeping up with the day to day things, I just can't get to them......especially when my notes for things are everywhere. You see, I have discovered a habit. As soon as creative genius enters my mind, I grab the nearest piece of scrap paper and write it down. Later, when I want to take another look and decide whether or not it really was creative genius, I can't find where I wrote it. I can visualize the piece of paper, but can't find it. Too many small pieces of scrap papers pile up on one side of my desk until something like an avalanche occurs. Then I have to spend an entire day going through all the notes and rewrite them into a journal that I have just for these kind of thoughts. Yes, that was my Sunday....complete waste of time and a Sunday. The sensible person would probably be asking why doesn't she just write them down in the journal to begin with. No idea what so ever. Anyway, all this leads me to a point. I picked up a book yesterday that my artist friend recommended called The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. The first review on the back of the book sold me. I appreciate that they acknowledge that it won't be anything you don't already know.
"An entertaining 'how to' guide. The Creative Habit isn't about getting the lightning bolt of inspiration, but rather the artistic necessity of old-fashioned virtues such as discipline, preparation and routine."
-Cathleen McGuigan, Newsweek
I also liked a page I opened to that said...
Creativity is not just for artists. It's for business people looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.
Have any of you read this? Since I was brave enough for full disclosure here, what habit is getting in the way of your creative life?

I couldn't help but think of the work of Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday. If you don't know her story, she started by setting aside Thursday as her creative day. To see more of her work go here.

5 comments:

please sir said...

Thanks for the recommend - I need something like this. I am the same way. I'm organized, but not so much in my brain!

Uncle Beefy said...

Wow...this was a diappointing post. I cannot believe how inherently flawed you are as a human being, Jae? I've always been PERFECT so I can't imagine what a handicap it must be to be you?

OMG! Are you kidding me? One, I do THE SAME THING AS YOU DO! But I also wrestle with time management (we're SO not friends) and fear. I'm trying to break through...and perhaps I should pick up this book...? Honey, I'm thinkin' good thoughts for you. Wish me luck too!

And I love Marisa's story and work! She's a great inspiration! :)

jae said...

Diana - I just read where she suggests you sit for 10 minutes and let your brain be full of all kinds of thoughts. The exercise is to see where you will allow your brain to take you instead of trying to sit quietly like meditation. Sitting quietly with my mind.....I can not do. Sitting and letting my mind ramble....I can do this!

U.B. - your comments always have me laughing!

She talks about fear right away in the book. Her words....

"Someone has done it before. Honey, it's ALL been done before. Nothing's really original. Not Homer or Shakespeare and certainly not you. Get over yourself."

It seems like there is something for everyone in this book and she just says it like she is your best friend....brutal and honest. She is very open about her mistakes. I like that in successful people. Show us you're not perfect, but how you learned to work around it. So far, it is an interesting read.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a must read! I've had so many projects in my head that I've just been paralyzed over---having something in mind is SO different from actually making it happen!

One of my worst naughty habits is that I keep my computer such a mess---random files everywhere, images just dumped onto the desktop with know way of accessing them and knowing the source...makes it hard to compile ANYTHING into something meaningful!

Relyn Lawson said...

I'm not sure how I missed this wonderful post, but I'm so glad I followed your linky love to it. Now, for your question: Hmmm.... vegging and blogging. Yup. I need to not sit down at all. Once I sit down at the computer, I won't get anything else done at home. For sure. Yikes. Here I sit at the computer, and it's early yet.