Comments on: Stop Lying and Start Creating

By: 28 Ways to Slay the Delay | Marc and Angel Hack Life

28 Ways to Slay the Delay | Marc and Angel Hack Life — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:02:34 +0000

[...] Make it crappy, but make it now! – “Pick a topic or idea – it doesn’t matter which one – and start doing something with it. If you’re a writer, commit to picking a topic and write 300 words about it. If you’re a designer, commit to free-handing the frame of the idea in your head. If you’re a painter, start the broad strokes on the canvas. If you’re a coder, define a problem or function and code the solution. Whatever you do, create something in the real world today, right now, for an hour. Make it crappy, but make it. You don’t have to keep it, love it, or share it, and you can undo anything that you’ve done. But you can’t undo or get back the time you’ve spent creating fictions for yourself.” – via Productive Flourishing [...]

By: The 25-50-25 Rule for Getting Things Done

The 25-50-25 Rule for Getting Things Done — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:33:12 +0000

[...] Gilkey from Productive Flourishing recently wrote a great article titled “Stop Lying and Start Creating” in which he talks about how lots of creative people get stuck in the researching stage of a [...]

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:51:26 +0000

@Juliet: My friend Duff would call this the Paradox of Productivity – by not focusing on becoming more productivity, we become more productive.

@Ashley: Because it’s easier and safe.

@Andre: You’ve got me tempted – I think I’ll start by batching my reading to afternoons every three or four days, which seems to be my cycle. I’ll let you know how it goes.

By: Curbing Info Porn with Batched Reading | Tools for Thought

Curbing Info Porn with Batched Reading | Tools for Thought — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:50:34 +0000

[...] as likely to provide new rabbit trails instead of closing current ones. Research, as Charlie Gilkey points out, is: . . . a prop, folks. Yes, part of the creative process requires that we research whatever [...]

By: Andre Kibbe

Andre Kibbe — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:50:30 +0000

The Low Information Diet is a great tool for clearing away unproductive info porn, allowing you to actually create something instead of “researching.” I recently resolved to batch all of my discretionary nonfiction reading for Sunday, and only Sunday. No books, no blogs, no forums, nada. Nonfiction books get read from start to finish in one sitting on Sunday. The only reading allowed during the week is (a) fiction and (b) information that resolves a specific problem (e.g. “What’s Error Code 89779?”).

It’s tough, because until you’ve disallowed yourself to look up “stuff” when bored or anxious, you have no idea how much you’re doing it on a regular basis. It’s also hard to resist the temptation to keep up rather than catch up, especially if you want to comment on other people’s blogs

Andre Kibbes last blog post..Mind Mapping a Behavioral Model

By: Ashley McFarland

Ashley McFarland — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 06:22:21 +0000

This is a great post and right on the money. Why is procrastination so darn easy to fall into? Sigh.

By: Give to Yourself, Start Afresh, Be Honest | WHAKATE

Give to Yourself, Start Afresh, Be Honest | WHAKATE — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:22:09 +0000

[...] Stop Lying And Start Creating [...]

By: LifeMadeGreat | Juliet

LifeMadeGreat | Juliet — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:24:54 +0000

Hi So true! I've become less of a productive person in order to be creative. I was always so busy getting things done on time as soon as possible, that I never had time for anything else. Now that I've stopped being so busy, I actually have more time! Juliet LifeMadeGreat | Juliets last blog post..Experiencing Fear As It Is Meant To Be

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:14:50 +0000

@Lisa: Hit those keys, indeed! And when are we going to share the secret to this redesign?

@James: I’ll save this size 12 just for you – let me know if you need it again!

@Sonia: Nike has forever changed the world with their mantra. Whenever I get stuck, those three magic words pop up every time.

@Sid: Nice post, Sid! The degree of overlap we can come up with independently is amazing.

@Sarah: The great thing about virtual boots is that there are no limits to how many you can swing. And keep on keeping on, Sarah!

@Duff: You’ll make it through just fine, my friend. And it’s great that you’re offering your valuable services for free. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the qualitative differences between free clients and paid clients sometime.

@Mike: I’ve had a gestalt switch here recently that I’m still trying to process when it comes to the structured planning thing. I spent so much time building the box to put things in that I wasn’t putting anything into the box – I found that building a box around the stuff was fair more productive. I’ll definitely have to think about a better way to express this.

@Tamara: Thanks for allowing me to help you and trusting me when you stop trusting yourself. You have so much to give – please show it to everybody.

@Zoe: There really is a finite limit of information that we can process. We can decide to output or input – or, in your words, we can consume or create.

@Nathalie: Thanks for commenting – but, just as importantly, thanks for taking the baton and going to write. It’s exactly what I’d hope people would do.

@Lynn: I avoided procrastination for the reason you say – people will try to rationalize the hell out of it when really they’re using it as a prop for fear. And I so agree that acknowledging the fear is important – and critical.

By: Lynn Crymble

Lynn Crymble — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:50:27 +0000

I kept expecting the word procrastination to come up at some point in this post because that is exactly what all the research is. And the reason for it is not laziness -no offense to any of the commenters - it's fear. Fear is there to protect us from something we may not even be aware of. Fear of failure, sure but fear of success is even more scary. So many unknowns keep us in the safe research phase. While I agree that just doing it is the way to go, it is so important to acknowledge why we haven't just done it. And by doing that, we are not fighting ourselves but becoming aware. And that usually helps us to get the thing done. Lynn Crymbles last blog post..Where's the Love for Canadian Internet Users?