Category: creativity

creativity

Leap: Keeping Your Integrity as a Freelance Writer

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

Today’s post was supposed to be a triumphant one. This week I had closed the gap completely and in less than 4 months figured out how to cobble together the pieces to cover all of my expenses with freelance work. That changed around 2pm yesterday when I decided that my integrity was worth more than a steady freelance writing assignment I’ve had since June.

It’s tough for me to see someone take credit for my work, no matter how well they compensate me. It happened quite a bit at my last company before I went out on my own and it’s happened to me to varying degrees as a freelance writer. In some companies, it’s a common scenario and unless you’re prepared to leave your role, it’s not an easy thing to prevent nor correct. As a writer, I’ve sometimes taken on assignments as a ghostwriter but the terms were quite clear and for only a very short period of time.

What happened to me yesterday was on another level entirely.

I have been writing a series of articles for a startup incubator since I left my corporate job. The placement was decent and the PR person placing them seemed genuinely interested in my work. Then I noticed that he began to append his own name to the byline as an editor of my work when he had not edited a shred of content. What’s worse, he not only included his name but also added in a link to his other company that had nothing to do with the startup incubator.

I wasn’t sure if this was a common industry practice so I reached out to my friend and colleague, Amanda, a tremendously talented and accomplished writer and editor. I was concerned that perhaps I was being a bit too sensitive about my work. She called BS on this kind of practice and suggested I do the same. I spoke to the PR person and his elaborate explanation for his decision made me feel even worse. I decided I couldn’t continue to write for him. The trust was gone.

I felt badly about it all afternoon but when I finally decided to walk, there was a lightness that appeared. I was spending a lot of time on these articles and though the rate was decent, I couldn’t compromise my values to keep that check coming in. Also, I need to focus my energies towards some bigger projects coming down the pike that need and deserve much more of my attention.

More importantly, I left my job 4 months ago determined to do work that generates joy and satisfaction, to create things that make this world a better place. I wasn’t doing that with this writing assignment. I was just treading the same old water when I really need to be out there charting new territory.

It would have been nice to stop using my savings to finance my new venture 2 months ahead of schedule but that would have come at far too high a price. So my time to hustle is not yet up. Luckily, I can hustle with the best of them.

art, choices, creativity, decision-making, design

Leap: Curate Your Life

Christa Avampato
Photo from Lifehacker

“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.” ~ Ansel Adams

“Curating a creative life” has been my tagline for this blog for several years. At one point my obsession with change got the best of me and I toyed with changing the tagline as I thought about how I wanted to craft my career and my businesses, Chasing Down the Muse and Compass Yoga. After a couple of days of a new tagline, I changed it back. There’s nothing wrong with sticking with what works and makes us happy. I realized it’s much more than a tagline; it’s my mantra.

It would be easy for a museum curator to just get any pieces of art up on the wall but that’s not the role of a curator. He or she carefully chooses what kind of art to install, and how and why and for what purpose. An art exhibit needs to hang together. It makes a cohesive statement and the pieces support the whole.

Your life is a living, breathing house of art. You are the sole curator of it; you decide what to add, what to toss, and how it comes together. And you are the only one who gets to judge its worth and meaning. You have the best job in the world and it’s the only job you really need to do. Don’t just live your life; craft it by your own design.

creative, creative process, creativity, productivity, time, work

Leap: A Balance of Work and Play Leads To Our Best Creations

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

How many times have you churned your mind over and over to come up with a solution to a problem? And how many times have you found that taking your eye off of the proverbial ball, actually helps you to see the ball more clearly so you can hit it out of the park? This happens to me all the time. I read a lot of articles and books about the science behind creativity – it’s one of my favorite subjects to study – and from the research it appears to be true for many people.

So if we know that letting go of a problem will actually help us solve it, why do we hang on so tightly? Why do we have a problem relaxing and trusting in the process in which creativity works most effectively? It could be that we’re worried that while relaxation has helped us solve problems in the past, it will somehow fail us this time. It could also be that we are programmed in this society to believe that hard work equals self-worth. Without working hard, at every moment possible, will we somehow be less worthy?

I actually love to work hard. I love the feeling of accomplishment, of feeling like my effort matters. But here’s what I don’t love – the mania that comes from having a schedule that is so ridiculously packed that I have to remind myself to breathe. To balance this tug-of-war, I break projects apart into phases and give myself what I need in each phase to do my best work.

When I am working on the creative portion of a project, I give myself downtime to solve problems. I do trust the process of creativity, but I also give myself some guidelines. I get a few hours of downtime here and a few there, and I keep checking in with myself regularly to see if any new inspiration has arrived. When I am in the implementation phase and need to get something built, I really focus to give myself more structure and less downtime so I can do a lot of work while I’m in the groove.

Like anything, it comes back to needing balance – give both sides of your brain the opportunity to strut their stuff. They need different fuel because they do different types of work. If you’re taking too much downtime, or not giving yourself enough, try switching it up and see what happens. Creativity is all about experimentation.

books, creative, creative process, creativity, theatre, time

Leap: Learn to Love Your Constraints

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“You break out of the box by stepping into shackles.” ~ Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works

It’s a bit of a morbid visual but Jonah Lehrer’s quote made me pay attention.

Have you ever had the thought that goes something like this: “If only I had (blank), my life would be so much easier?” I have this thought several times a day, and when it pops into my mind I stop, breathe, and keep going. I’m sure somewhere in that breath there is a silent prayer for help to someone somewhere. Most of the time I don’t get that (blank) that I wish for, but to quote the Rolling Stones, I do get what I need. And often what I need is constraints. (No shortage of those lying around!)

Jonah Lehrer, and many other creativity researchers, make the case for loving constraints. Some go so far as to ask us to feel grateful for them. Why? They light a fire under us. If we had all the time, money, and resources in the world, would we really use them wisely? There’s at least the slight possibility that we would squander them to some degree.

I’ve seen this happen in many large companies. We get used to big budgets and flexible launch dates. Too used to them and it’s ultimately a curse.

When I worked in theatre, we were constrained in almost every area, especially by the hard deadlines. If there was going to be an audience on Tuesday at 8:00pm, then there was no way we could launch late. It forced collaboration, cooperation, and dedication from all parties involved. In theatre, the good of the many always outweighs the good of the few or the one so the few or the one had better get on board or exit stage left. That might sound brutal, but the curtain rises. The show goes on because of constraints, not in spite of them.

Maybe you’re working on a project right now that has constraints you wish you didn’t have. Rather than resenting those shackles, take a moment to recognize what they give you rather than focusing on what they take away from you. Creative work is a series of trade-offs. We get something and we give something. It is a sacred exchange.

choices, courage, creativity, strengths

Leap: Be One of the Best People

Christa Avampato

“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice.” ~ Ernest Hemingway, American author

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the colorful characters that comprise my life, thinking of friendships and relationships old and new, past and present. When I consider the ones who truly inspire me, whose mere presence lifts me up to new heights, their qualities match those from the Hemingway quote above.

They are the ones who have a real sense of design, and not necessarily design of products, services, events, and the like, but a sense of design for life.

They are the ones who courageously step out of the fray to do something good and important, not just for themselves, but for the world as a whole.

They are people who tell the truth with grace and dignity, even when it’s hard to hear, who stand for something and stand up for others who need support. They are also people who recognize that if you lift others as you rise, rather than put others down, that everyone rises together faster and with greater ease.

They are people who give up a bit today – whether that bit is money or a fancy title or praise or that pesky bit of ego – for the sake of building something greater than themselves. They understand that to win in the long-run often requires some kind of loss in the short-term.

These are the people I admire, the people who inspire me to keep being the best version of me every day. They are people who recognize that we may not always succeed, but that we always have the option to try and try again. They are my heroes.

creativity, risk, Sesame Street, strengths, time, work, worry

Leap: Turning Fear Into Fuel

Christa Avampato

20120926-133112.jpg“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” – Connie ten Boom, Dutch writer

People are worried about me. Some are afraid I am not making enough money. Some are sending me job descriptions just in case I’ve realized freelance work isn’t for me and I’d like to go back to working in a corporate office the way I was 3 months ago. I appreciate their concern and always answer these concerns the same way. I tell them I am just fine, not to allay their fears, but because I truly am fine. This is the life I wanted and it’s working.

Yesterday, I secured a wonderful contract through June 2013 with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center (JGCC) at Sesame Street to work on their National STEM Video Game Challenge. The JGCC is a digital media research lab within Sesame. (You can get more info on the program here – http://stemchallenge.org.) Pursuing my passion for tech that improves the world wouldn’t have been possible on this scale if I hadn’t taken a chance to go out on my own.

Yes, I still have to hustle. Yes, I am still working on lining up some additional assignments so that I can fully cover all of my expenses and not dig into my savings, but perhaps begin to add to those savings again. (If you can help on those fronts, I’m all ears!) I have all the tools I need to make this happen. I’ve been preparing for it all my life, and I know deep down that this is the path I want and need to take. I spent years acting on a plan to make this happen.

We can worry about tomorrow. We can let fear and anxiety stop us from doing just about everything. They are tough hurdles to clear, but if we are to ever doing anything extraordinary with our time, we have to go on in spite of fear. We have to gather our worries and burn them up to generate fuel for the work we are meant to do.

creativity

Leap: Fight Boredom; Seek Beauty

Christa Avampato

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.” – William Inge

Engagement and inspiration are the greatest motivators on Earth. With them, we persevere through difficult times, we rise to meet every challenge, we persist even in the face of probably defeat. They help us understand that we are a part of something greater, that we are part and parcel to a grander plan.

Today, consider the beauty of your work. Discover some new layer of truth. And if beauty and truth are not immediately apparent on the surface, dig deeper. Find them – in the work itself, the people around you, the cause your are supporting, in you as you learn, grow, and evolve as a result of the work. No matter what you’re doing today, beauty and truth are lying in wait for you somewhere. Shine a little light on them and watch how they begin to take root in you.

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creativity, design, social change, social entrepreneurship, technology

Leap: Day 2 of the Social Good Summit and Day 1 of Clinton Global Initiative

Christa Avampato

If you’re looking for a bit (or a tidal wave) of inspiration, head on over to the livestreams of the Social Good Summit and the Clinton Global Initiative. You can watch the sessions and participate in the conversations through Twitter with the hashtags #SGSGlobal and #CGI2012.

Here are my favorite highlights of the day:

Government is Worthy of Our Innovative Spirit
UN Ambassador Susan Rice spoke eloquently and passionately about public education, technology, government, and the need to serve. Every sentence had a nugget of wisdom in it, and the one that impressed me the most was her argument that we cannot give up on government as inefficient and hopeless because there are things that government can do that no other entity can do. She used herself as an example – as an African-American woman, she has the right to vote in this country because of government. She reminded all of us that government can and should provide opportunity for everyone within its reach.

A Lack of Secrets is a Blessing
Sol Adler, Executive Director of 92Y, gave a concise and powerful contemplation with these two questions: What would the world have been like in 1939 if we had Twitter? How many more relatives would I have been able to know if we actually knew what was happening in Europe? (Most of Mr. Adler’s family perished in the holocaust.)

He introduced Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Former Prime Minister of Poland, who explained that our world now is suffering from atrocities that are as grim as the holocaust and that technology has the ability to end that. If we can raise awareness and encourage action to support peace and understanding, then we will be able to truly be able to create a better world.

Unemployment Is a Flaw of the System, Not the People
I’ve heard Muhammad Yunus speak a number of times before and he never fails to impress and inspire. His life mission is to alleviate poverty through opportunity, and this is within our grasp if we can harness the collective creative power of people through technology. His message is clear, “Concentrate on building businesses to solve social problems. Human creativity is limitless.”

Designing for Impact
The Clinton Initiative took the definition of design and expanded it exponentially to serve as its theme for this year’s event. President Clinton kicked off the event with this poignant sentiment – “We live to prove the cooperation works better than conflict. We act with far great impact when we rely on one another’s strength.” And in that spirit the conversation turned to the subject of design.

Tim Brown of IDEO elegantly explained that all designers, no matter what they are designing, no matter if they have formal training or not, begin with the same question: “How can I be helpful in this situation?” And they find that answer in the field. They roll up their sleeves and work. “Design is learning by doing, not just thinking.”

The conversations continue today and tomorrow for both events. Check out their websites for more details. Talk soon.

creativity, writing

Leap: The Joy of Free Writing

Christa Avampato

“To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.” ~ George Kneller

This week, I attended two one-hour classes at the Gotham Writer’s Workshop, one on essay and opinion writing and one on children’s writing. In both classes, we did free writing exercises in which we have a topic in mind, put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), and write continuously until the instructor says “stop”.

I hadn’t practiced this technique in quite a while. Initially, I thought it was the stuff of high school writing classes. As I got into it, I found that it was incredibly helpful as it revealed ideas, opinions, and interests I never knew I had. It was also very liberating; it made me fearless.

At the start of the opinion and essay class, the instructor had us write down 6 topics that interest us. One of mine was tea and I chose that as my free writing topic. When I began, I had no idea what aspect of tea truly interested me but it became apparent very quickly. Below is the result that I hope to craft into a few different pieces in the coming weeks. This is the raw free writing copy without any edits:

Why is tea so comforting?
Is it the warmth or the body of the tea? Is it the loving kindness that it’s brewed with? Is it because it gives us time for reflection because we cannot simply hit go and have it be made like we can with coffee?

We have to actually open up the canister, fill up the tea soaker, boil the water, pour the water, and wait for just the right amount of time to get the right flavor

Tea demands all of our attention. It helps to focus us. We concentrate with tea in a way that we don’t concentrate in many other points in our lives. I also always think about the eyes that saw the leaves were just ripe, the hands that picked the ripe leaves and lovingly placed them in a basket. Tea leaves are picked by hand, not by machine. I think about the hands and eyes that roasted the tea, bagged it, packed it into a truck, and then drove it to a store or market. I think about the hands that placed it on a shelf, that rung up the order I purchased. So many hands come together to deliver a cup of tea. Dozens, maybe hundreds. Someone planted that tea plant, tended to it with water and soil, and sun. It took time to make, and I honor that time by taking time to brew it and drink it.

There’s a lot of introspection in tea, there’s a lot to ponder. I think I need another cup.

The is no end to the variety of tea, what type of leaf, how it’s roasted, what goes into it. There are so many grades and tea has such a history. Kingdoms have risen and fallen by its cup. It is amazing to think that at one point it was such a luxury, the beverage of kings and royalty, and now here I am in my humble apartment, sipping away, as if it’s just some choice I made from a supermarket, as if drinking it is just consequential, as if anyone could have it.

I think about free trade.

Have you ever tried free writing? Give it a shot:
1.) Think of a general topic
2.) Get out your pen and paper
3.) Set a timer for 5 minutes
4.) Go! And don’t stop writing until the timer goes off. Be completely free with your stream of consciousness. Forget all of the rules about writing and just get it all out. Write down anything that comes into your mind on the topic. You may be surprised at the results!

**Minor editorial note** This weekend I will be live blogging the Social Good Summit. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, those live blogs will take the place of my regularly scheduled posts. Hope you enjoy the conversation! For more details, click here.

choices, creativity, dreams, meditation, work

Leap: Keep Chipping Away

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas Edison, American inventor

Are you a few months into a new project and thinking, “Hmm…so what do I do now?” Is it not going the way you thought it would? Is your initial idea not the silver bullet you thought it would be? Welcome to starting up – it has happened to everyone I know who attempted to do something wild, crazy, and wonderful.

I recently had some of these thoughts myself, and decided to let the back of my mind whirl away on them while I continued to focus my conscious mind on working my tail off. “An answer will come,” I told myself. It always does. And it did, and as it often does, it rose up in my daily meditation.

While in meditation, I found myself in a dimly lit room. I was seated across from someone, a man, though I couldn’t really discern his features and for some reason had no interest in those details. What was clear to me was his voice, and his simple actions.

“Which way do I go?” I asked him.

“Follow me,” he said.

He stood up and went over to the wall behind him. I followed. He pulled back a heavy, dark curtain and revealed an enormous brightly lit tower. It was so tall I couldn’t even see the top of it. It had all kinds of decorations and colors on it. At first I thought it was a cohesive structure and then I began to see that it was constructed from so many things that have meaning to me – photographs, quotes, and images of my life artfully pieced together. It was a collage of my varied interests and passions.

“Start anywhere,” he said. “Just pick any place and begin to chip away at it.”

“But I can’t choose. I don’t know where to start.”

He shook his head, laughing. “It doesn’t matter. Just choose any area. They are all connected so what you do to work on one will affect all of the others. All that counts is that you try.” 

And then my eyes popped open. I got up and started my day without fear. I gave myself permission to concentrate my efforts anywhere. It will all come together if I just keep going. It’s amazing what our unconscious mind will cook up if we just give it the space to do its work.