This seems as good a strategy as any for handling change and stress. Isn’t this exactly what we do for our characters in our writing?
Category: creativity
Inspired: A carpenter’s approach to writing
A few weeks ago Seth Godin wrote a blog post about the two questions we should ask before we build anything. I also think they’re worth asking before we begin any creative project and before we start any piece of writing.
What’s it for and how will we know if it worked?
Think of a carpenter. He or she builds a house to provide shelter from the elements. If it keeps out the rain, sleet, or snow, it works. Simple. Elegant. Understandable.
Imagine if we began everything we do with these two questions. Everything we create would have a reason for being and a usefulness that’s clear. Don’t make it any more complicated than that.
Inspired: Oprah on the work of finding your calling
“We’re all called. If you’re here breathing, you have a contribution to make to our human community. The real work of your life is to figure out your function—your part in the whole—as soon as possible, and then get about the business of fulfilling it as only you can.” ~ Oprah
Somewhere along the way our society decided it was best to be practical rather than passionate, that we had to be much more concerned with the path of least resistance rather that the path that made us feel alive. It became obsessed with back-up plans rather than making and following the plan that made us excited to get out of bed in the morning.
To hell with those ideas.
If all we ever are is practical, then what kind of world will we have? We’ll become a community of people who blindly follows, who buries their collective heads in the sand and does what they’re told. No thank you. I’d prefer not to. I’ll take the hard knocks and the tough lessons and the massive disappointments that sometimes must be faced in order to go out on the edge and see what I can actually do and make and see. The only work we need to do is find that thing that fills us up—body, mind, and spirit. That’s our calling. We all have one. The fun of life, and its meaning, is to find that calling, to pick it up and carry it forward. That’s why we’re here. That’s what I care most about: that you, me, and everyone else finds what they’re called to do and then makes it happen. That’s what the world needs.
Inspired: The magic of sleep and its impact on creativity, clarity, and writing
Dan Levitin’s latest research on the power of sleep to bolster and ignite creativity is fascinating. For writers, this research is especially valuable because one of our chief tasks is to connect disparate dots of information to create a cohesive story.
Levitin reveals a number of actionable pieces of advice on how to make our sleep cycles most beneficial to our imagination. The brain prioritizes the thoughts we have right before going to sleep and spends a good deal of its sleep time working on them. I’ve been spending time before bed working on my most important personal projects and challenges. The results of this practice have been amazing for me. I’m waking up with insights and connections in my work that I haven’t been able to see in my waking hours. I’ve also been going to bed and waking up hours earlier than usual and that’s tripped a powerful switch, too.
While we often think of creativity as elusive and unexplainable, I’m fascinated to learn how we can engineer it at least to some extent. At the very least there is much we can do to make room for its arrival and help it to feel welcomed and valued. Sometimes all we need is awareness and openness. Sometimes all magic needs is a space to happen. Get some shut-eye and create.
Inspired: Cities—other than New York—that are good for writers
My friends are leaving New York City by the truckload. Some by choice and some because financially they had no choice. And I get it. This city can chew you up, spit you out, and then look at you like you’re the crazy one for wanting to be treated better. New York City is a crotchety old man.
Though like so many crotchety old men, it is an incredible teacher and good lord has it taught me. I grew up in the dirt of rural America (to this day there is a tractor crossing sign across from my childhood home) but I came of age in New York City. This great gorgeous place changed me and changed my life for the better. I showed me what matters. On these streets I figured out what matters to me and why. It gave me passion and heart and confidence. It gave me and put me through fire (literally and figuratively) but I emerged from the other side polished and transformed in ways I never imagined. New York City showed me what was possible by showing me my potential and daring me to take it.
Like so many of my friends, I am beginning to hear the exit music, or at least the exit music to this New York chapter of my life. And let’s be clear, I want to stay in New York. I fiercely love this city and its people and myself among them. There’s a part of me that will always be Christa in New York. Always. But, as life has shown me so many times before, what I want and what I need are often two very different things. And what I need now, in this moment, may be a change of scene. At least for a little while. At least for right now. Even Joan Didion, a towering figure in the literary world who famously penned her essay “Goodbye to All That” when she left New York for LA, eventually found her way back to Gotham. But she did need to take that journey. She needed to go away to come home again.
There’s a lot of New York in New York, and it may be time for more of us to spread our New York-ness to other places that need inspiration and courage to follow a less traveled, less conventional path. This world can’t stay on its current path of self-destruction and quiet desperation. We have to carve a better way forward.
New York doesn’t need another writer like me, but plenty of other places do. Friends, there’s a lot of blank canvas out there, a lot of stories that need telling, and they’re not coming to us. We have to go to them. We have to get out on the road, discover them, and then get it all down as faithfully and as honestly as we can.
If you’re a writer, or someone who likes to hang around with writers and other creatives, then New York City isn’t your only option to call home. Heck, it’s not even your best option. I recently found two lists (backed up by plenty of data) of cities in the U.S. that are great for writers and New York City isn’t anywhere on them:
This one lists: St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Orlando, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Denver, Seattle, and San Francisco.
Another lists: Chicago, Charleston, Austin, Bellingham, Asheville, Washington, D.C., St. Paul, Seattle, Great Barrington, New Orleans, Miami, both Portlands, Ann Arbor, Savannah, Pittsburgh, Jersey City, Iowa City, Portsmouth, and Cambridge.
I have no idea (yet) if any of these cities are right for me. Maybe you don’t either. What they do reveal is that we have options. We always have options. Now, it’s about choices.
Inspired: Hello, Clarity!
“It’s funny how some distance makes everything seem small…I didn’t know what I could do until I tried.” -Elsa from Frozen
I’ve been away from New York City on an extended holiday to spend time with my family and figure out how I want the rest of my year to take shape. 3 weeks did the trick; I woke up certain and clear of my next few steps. They involve a lot of learning, a bit of traveling, and a boatload of writing, creating, and building. After months of limbo, it feels amazing to have arrived here more sure than ever that this is the way forward for me. Stick around – this is going to be a fun adventure!
Inspired: Check out my magazines on Flipboard for travel, stress-busting, product design, and office design
I’m now on Flipboard as @christanyc and created 4 magazines to curate content in travel, product design, workspace design, and stress reduction. I hope you’ll stop by and check them out:
Travel on Purpose – use your travels and vacations to build a better world
Insanely Cool New Products – the coolest new product innovations and the awesome people who make them
Crazy Creative Workspaces – interior design inspirations for the places where we work
Stress Sucks – the science of stress and how to bust it
Inspired: I write down six impossible things before breakfast
Today’s impossibilities are tomorrow’s realities. That’s why I’ve been inspired by Alice in Wonderland, my favorite book, to take up a new morning ritual. As soon as I wake up, I write down 6 impossible things before I have breakfast. It gets my creative engine running right off the bat. Give it a try and let me know what you come up with!
My 6 impossible things lists so far:
7/22/14
– The ability to send people messages through dreams
– Trees that grow everything we need – even bicycles
– A composter that could recycle anything and everything – zero trash
– Grass that cuts itself when it gets too long – and we get to decide what’s too long!
– A memory bank where we could house everything we ever learn and believe and experience forever
– A way to truly understand exactly why another person has a certain opinion and everything that lead them to that opinion
7/23/14
– A system that quickly and easily moves water between flood areas and draught areas so everyone has enough water
– Fireproof trees and shrubs
– Shoes that give us energy
– A machine to turn our steps into energy that we can use anyway we want
– Self-monitoring plants that tell us when they need water and food and how much – for those like me who are green-thumb challenged!
– A machine that can take an image in my head and translate it onto any surface
7/24/14
– Compressed food that stays fresh and ships easily and grows if you add water
– A body scanner that we could use to check our vital signs everyday
– A filter that would alert us when we are about to say or write something hurtful before we actually say or write it
– An individual environment control to give us control over the temperature around us
– A way to save and review dreams after we wake up
– An automatic way to remind us of the good things in our lives when we are having a tough time
7/25/14
– A map to the end of a rainbow
– A way to instantly fix anything broken, especially in our bodies
– A way to see how our lives would unfold if we made different choices
– A way to record the world with only our eyes
– An instant language interpreter for every language so we could communicate with anyone, anytime, anywhere, even with animals
– Cars that generate their own energy without needing outside fuel
7/26/14
– Books that come to life
– Vehicles that drive, fly, and swim
– An emotion changer
– A thought releaser
– A brain health monitor we can use at home
– On-command suction hands and feet
– Breathe underwater without equipment
7/27/14
– Connect every town and city by high speed train
– A world where we can take our dogs everywhere
– Clothes that grow with us
– Hair that grows or shortens on-demand
– Instantly repairing skin
– Eyes and ears that never grow old
7/28/14
– Self-decaying tech that you decide when it should decay
– A meter that tells you how many positive and negative thoughts you’ve had in a day
– Something that makes me aware of every time I think something negative about myself so I can stop doing it
– A dog translator – canine to English and English to canine
– Instant basic knowledge of how to play any instrument
– A self-cleaning house
Inspired: You are your best asset
My friend, Alex, looks at all my new project ideas because she sees my blind spots. The one she always points out is that I don’t give enough credit to my own experience and point-of-view. When you pitch a new project, you make a list of resources you have. Things like money, time, and connections probably make the list. Do you list your talents that make you the best person to get the job done? You should. You’re what matters most. You are your best asset. Thanks for the lesson, Alex!
Check out Alex’s latest venture, Stargrass Paper, purveyor of keenly curated cards, journals, and writing instruments. (In full disclosure, I’m a member of the company’s advisory board and I think it’s awesome!)
Inspired: We have to defend and befriend the new – a lesson from Pixar
“The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.” – Brad Bird writing as Anton Ego of Ratatouille
Uber and Airbnb are two companies that challenge traditional industries. They face uphill regulatory and consumer battles every day. Can they be trusted, relied upon? Every new idea, product, service, and place faces this challenge: doubt. I love the new because it indicates growth, creativity, and evolution. I’ve made a pledge to befriend the new – to be open to new ways of thinking, doing, and being, for myself and of others. Will you join me?
Christa Avampato 