fbpx
Browsing Tag

planning

creativity planning & productivity

Creativity and flow

January 11, 2015

Onsen

FLOW: ‘Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.‘

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in an interview with Wired: ‘Go with the Flow’

My word for 2015 is ‘flow’. When thinking about my word and focus for 2015, I knew it had to be something to do with creativity, writing, poetry and actually producing more tangible results.

When I reflected and searched for what would make this creativity happen, it kept coming back to flow as the essential active ingredient.

At first, the word came intuitively; then I sat down to reflect and test it further. I started with a mind-map and all sorts of connections arose:

  • flow of writing – ink, words on a page, lines
  • flow of ideas – associations, imagery, symbols, poetry
  • flow of energy – water, breath, blood, tides, oceans, yoga, chi, chakras
  • sacred flow – mandalas, Jung, archetypes, sacred geometry, alchemy
  • shapes and movement – flow of a dress, narrative, stanzas, brushstrokes, dancing
  • productivity – mind-maps, flow charts

Exploring with Pinterest I found more connections and associations, many tapping into special experiences and key symbols, like all was gathering around this word as a focal point for now and into the future picking up on the energy of the past.

So what’s flow all about really?

It’s about capturing the creative moment, being in the energy of it and enacting this.

It’s what you see, what you notice on a walk, looking up and around you. It’s what you pick up from the beach, it’s what you find on the bed of the sea-shore as you dive beneath the shallow waves.

8 shell 2

It’s shells, rocks, birds, trees, the sound of cicadas in the background, aboriginal carvings, ancient landscapes, your feet in the sand, your skin in the water.

It’s what you choose to capture in a photograph or in a series of ink marks on a page. It’s what you select or craft to share with the world in various ways like social media, blogging or publishing

It’s what comes to you – symbols, associations, ideas – what you notice and connect, and the process and product of what you do with what comes.

It’s the energy kindled inside of you and the creative parts of you sparking again. It’s the promise of engagement with a wider flow of chakras, shakti, chi, oracles and your place in the energy of the world.

It’s knowing that the steps to get there are within reach, knowing that you have the know-how, that you recognise the pieces and components to connect and focus on from the sequence of days and years you’ve already traversed and invested your time and energy in. You know you’ve just got to harness this in a productive way and find the flame to ignite it all.

As Danielle LaPorte says in What it really means to go with the flow

“Going with the flow isn’t about being passive or lazy. It’s not about just letting things happen “to you”. It’s not aimless wandering. It’s a co-creative act.

“The flow” is the ocean of cosmic intelligence. It’s the substance that carries the whole shebang. The flow is life energy itself.

Going with the flow is responding to cues from the universe. When you go with the flow, you’re surfing Life force. It’s about wakeful trust and total collaboration with what’s showing up for you.”

It looks like an exciting journey with my word of the year in 2015. I know others have also chosen ‘flow’ as their word for the year and I look forward to sharing the journey with these special fellow travellers.

What words are showing up for you for this year and what are they suggesting? Would love to hear!

2015 planning

 

3 Comments
blogging planning & productivity

Setting the scene

January 26, 2013

setting the scene

There’s been a certain amount of scene setting for 2013 going on here at present. I’ve moved my roll-top desk, the centre of my creative universe, from the back of the room where for some reason I had my back to the window and trees. It’s now closer to the window where I can see the trees and feel a cool afternoon breeze wafting in. My room is less cluttered, still busy and full of books and papers, but more organised so I can see and find things. It feels cooler, calmer and a more relaxed place to be.

Today is Australia Day and it’s a long weekend, so a wonderful time to breathe in and out, and work on the personal planning I need for 2013. Much has been rattling around my head and I’ve had the opportunity to read how others are working on their plans for this year. I  have especially loved reading about the 2013 approaches and plans of my Blogging from the Heart buddies, Victoria Smith and Liv White and so many others which have warmed and inspired my heart. Such different and wonderful approaches to thinking about this year; some more structured and others more free flowing and intuitive, and now it’s time to work though my own.

Key members of my Seven Stars virtual support team, nearly three years on, continue to be a huge influence. I will start with Chris Guillebeau’s annual review process which I have worked through for a number of years now; it’s good to have a process that is consistent to go back to and review over time. Susannah Conway is a wonderfully wise and gentle support in so many ways and her Unravelling the year ahead 2013 workbook will also be something I will work through.

In terms of participating in projects and e-courses this year, I have started off this year with blogging buddy, Flo Gascon’s ‘Time of your Life’ ecourse . It’s about refocusing so you realise the positives and ensure you are in fact having the time of your life and not some sub-standard version of what it might be. It’s the first week but already the thoughts that are being sown are powerful and I look forward to this renewal of perspective.

I’m also working through Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map multimedia guide. Again, I’m just getting my toe in the water but it’s already enabling some refocusing on what my core desires drive me to do and understanding this better. I loved working through ‘Style Statement‘ and the power that this gave me for bringing together aspects of my core values that I hadn’t previously connected. I’m looking forward to more of this and am in no rush; I will just take this one gently and deeply and as I can.

I’m also joining the Australian Women Writers’ Challenge again this year and will post soon on last year’s experience and what I hope to focus on this year. I absolutely love this challenge, the reading and writing experiences and the community it brings with it. I have learned so much more about a space that brings together three of my great loves: Australia, women and women’s issues, and writing. Linking with people who also share these loves has been a source of inspiration and learning.

So, lots of scene-setting, physical, mental and emotional, and I’m looking forward to sharing the evolving scenes here as they play out this year.

What scene setting are you doing for this year?

1 Comments
blogging creativity planning & productivity writing

The Productive Writer: Review

March 13, 2011

Two of my favourite topics are ‘Writing’ and ‘Productivity’ and the planning linked to bringing successful outcomes about. So Sage Cohen’s latest book, ‘The Productive Writer’ is perfectly attuned to my interests and priorities and I’m sure relevant to other writers interested in making the most of their time and creative efforts.

It’s eminently practical and full of tips for anyone interested in being more organised and able to produce outcomes, especially words framed in a meaningful way to make an impact. It’s relevant to all kinds of writing: poetry, fiction, business writing, non-fiction, blogs and freelance approaches. Ultimately it’s about the place of that writing in the context of your life and how to make all this work.

Sage’s key platform is that productivity is a ‘lifestyle choice’ as she outlines in the introduction:

Productivity, then, is your own, personal GPS as you navigate the endless windernesses of your mind, craft, or subject matter and bring the best of what you have to offer to the page – and the world. Productivity is a means of witnessing and steering yourself toward your greatest good and training yourself to weed out the interference along the way.

‘The Productive Writer’ then navigates its own GPS through these wide waters to cut a swathe of practical advice to assist writers to be as productive as they can in every facet of their work. The weave of the book traverses critical themes you can hang onto as signposts for your own journey. These include:

  • building a case for your future as a writer
  • studying your heroes and how they work
  • establishing a platform or organising principle for your work
  • thinking productively & capturing ideas
  • goal-setting and organisational tips
  • managing time and procrastination tendencies
  • revising tips
  • publishing and promoting
  • sustaining relationships around your work
  • celebrating your success

I especially loved Chapter 12, ‘Writing in the Margins of a Full-time Life’ that reminded me that I am not the only one working full-time and trying to write; that it’s not just about balancing work and writing – it’s about balancing life and writing; and the value of my day job to my writing life and the need to remember to acknowledge the skills I learn there. As Sage comments in the context of her own diverse mix of writing commitments:

Each skill I acquire in service to someone else’s goals becomes a part of my own toolbox.’ (p115)

Sage, as her name suggests, is a very wise writer. This book, linked in with her new platform ‘The Path of Possibility’, brings writing and productivity together in a way that amplifies both and clearly sets them in the context of a broader creative life. Like Sage’s previous book, the wonderful ‘Writing the Life Poetic’, ‘The Productive Writer’ has the effect of taking you by the hand and encouraging you, gently and practically, every step of the way from vision to fruition. Committing to writing is not an easy task and we all need all the support and advice we can get to overcome resistance, barriers and excuses. Sage’s book demonstrates that:

…when we see that there are endless ways to establish and sustain a productive writing life – at any age, in any work-family circumstance – we may have an easier time trusting that we will find our own way forward.’

As you can see from the recent gaps here, for a number of reasons, I am having my own struggles with balancing writing in my life. Thankfully, in the meantime, I have also been reading ‘The Productive Writer’. Whilst struggling with the immediate application at present, the ideas contained there will become a critical part of reorienting my own GPS in moving forward to achieve my writing goals.

Share

4 Comments
creativity planning & productivity transcending writing

About stillness

February 13, 2011

While I have been doing my annual review of 2010 and goal setting for 2011 (and yes I do know it’s the middle of February already!), I have been thinking about my theme and word for this year.

It has become a popular concept to have a word for the year. I like the idea of having a word to focus you, direct you and power you, offering the opportunity of a clearly identified source of strength.

Here are some writers and thinkers employing and celebrating the word of the year in their lives and work:

  • Sage Cohen wrote on this issue on her new site, the Path of Possibility, especially in relation to being a productive writer. Sage’s word of the year is grace.
  • Shanna Germain’s piece on her word of the year and how its various meanings might play out in 2011 is so full of energy. Shanna’s word is the very powerful prime.
  •  Ali Edwards has been writing about the power of One Little Word since 2007. She has a One Little Word online workshop where you can learn more about the power of working with the one word concept.  Ali’s word of the year is light.
  • Christine Kane has a Word of the Year worksheet tool which provides a framework for working through your words and your goals.

I have been reflecting on my word and waiting for it. It came suddenly and perfectly whole one day in January. The word is stillness.

This word is about all aspects of my life and especially how I source my strength. I am highly intuitive and introspective according to the Myer Briggs Inventory.  I spend most of my days in constant contact with people at work; often very extraverted people, full of energy and ideas. I am keen to be more aware of how to be still, to listen, to charge my batteries and to be calm and to make a difference wherever I am.

Some definitions of stillness include:

  • tranquil silence
  • state of being quiet or calm
  • the absence of sound
  • calmness without winds
  • a state of no motion of movement
  • motionlessness, immobility, remaining in place

Here are some examples of what stillness means to me:

  • choosing to close the door a little more to write and reflect
  • listening to others and learning
  • creating the space to enable people to come to their own solutions
  • asking the right questions at the right time
  • being early instead of rushing, being late or just on time
  • resisting a sense of urgency to solve everything now
  • being comfortable with a phase of muddle and overwhelm
  • finding the right way to focus a difficult or unproductive team or meeting
  • taking the time to consult and map a complex problem to get to the heart of it
  • keeping things simple and not over-complicating
  • knowing and allowing the space and conditions for creativity
  • a candle burning steadily
  • a walk on the beach and standing in a cool pool of water

Stillness is not always a complete absence of movement; it’s more the calm that will power the right moves and provide the time for reflection for myself and others. I am finding much strength in that ‘one little word’. As Ali Edwards says:

It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything.

There is a sense of ‘stillness’ being absolutely the right word to navigate myself and consequently others. Through a sense of ease and calm, it seems more likely that desired goals like creative process, business success, teamwork and balance will be achieved.

And via @DennyCoates on twitter, comes a perfect quote from D H Lawrence:

“One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be a mere rushing on.”

Perfect. What word is working for you in 2011?

Share

1 Comments
creativity planning & productivity writing

Gems #13 Time to write

January 30, 2011

I’m working on my annual review at present, reviewing 2010 and setting priorities for 2011. A consistent theme for me is about finding time to write. I work full-time in a very busy leadership role in the vocational education sector. I am passionate about my work and making a difference. At the same time, I am committed to creativity, writing and my personal goals. Making the time and space to write is a constant challenge.

Here are some gems I’ve come across recently, and in the past, about making time to write and basically getting on with it.

Anne Lamott’s article, Time Lost and Found, hit me pretty hard mainly because it rang so true. It’s about priorities in life, what matters and how we fritter away time and miss the important things. Her main message is that you need to make time for writing and other priorities and that this time can be found by having a good look at how you live. Twitter and other social media, television, cleaning, work and the gym are mentioned as areas where we might be losing time that we could allocate to our creative priorities such as writing. Anne says, in essence, that we do have this precious time and we can find it, though it might take some work to recover:

I’ve heard it said that every day you need half an hour of quiet time for yourself, or your Self, unless you’re incredibly busy and stressed, in which case you need an hour. I promise you, it is there. Fight tooth and nail to find time, to make it. It is our true wealth, this moment, this hour, this day.

An excellent article in last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum (January 22-23) by Australian author and teacher, Sue Woolfe, encourages us just to get on with it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the article online anywhere to link to but I can share the main points. Entitled,  ‘Don’t think about it – just keep scribbling’, Sue says that the way you need to work to write a novel is:

…to find a way of thinking that is mocked in our culture but that is all in the day’s work for artists, composers and writers.

This is a way based on discipline: reading fiction for an hour a day; writing for at least an hour a day; not rereading, editing or formulating and not sticking to a subject, character or plot when first writing. The whole focus is the discipline of writing and then later imposing other aspects such as narrative technique, plot structure and editing. In summary:

The whole endeavour is to lose self-consciousness.

However, it starts with those two fundamental ingredients: read fiction for an hour a day and write for at least an hour a day. Linking back to Anne Lamott’s article, the trick is to find this time by managing your priorities.

Some of my favourite practical articles on making time to write are by Australian blogger and author, Joanna Penn. Joanna lives and breathes this way of working and writing to come up with real outcomes such as completing her first novel, Pentecost and receiving a strong following and awards for her highly successful blog, The Creative Penn.

Joanna’s two posts: ‘On efficiency or how to get everything done as a multi-tasking writer,’ and ‘What will you give up to write your book?’ are perfect reads on the issue of writing and time and are grounded in practicality. Joanna’s tips include getting rid of the TV, sleeping less, maximising travel time, being organised and investing in education. Setting clear goals and priorities and ‘loving the process’ are also right up there as key motivators. 

As in Anne Lamott’s article, the emphasis is on the value of the outcomes spent on writing and other creative activities vs spending too much watching TV and engaging in an uncontrolled way with social media such as twitter. And as in Sue Woolfe’s article, the discipline to carry it all through is critical.

Now it’s back to my annual review with these valuable thoughts in mind. How are you making time to write this year?

Image, Time disappears by jtravism  from flickr and used under a Creative Commons license with thanks

Share

3 Comments
creativity planning & productivity writing

Planning for the Future Starts with Celebrating the Past

January 16, 2011

A guest post from author Sage Cohen

  A note from Terri:

I am thrilled to have Sage Cohen, pictured left, writing here for my first guest post. Sage’s background and the details of her latest work, including her new book, ‘The Productive Writer‘ are below.  I am indebted to Sage and her work as a gifted writer and teacher who has enriched my writing life.

In this post, Sage encourages us to review our broader writing successes in 2010 in preparation for a productive 2011! 

  

Happy New Year, writers! I believe that there is no better launching pad into the great, blank page of 2011 than a thorough inventory of all that went right in 2010. With this in mind, I’m going to ask a series of questions to guide you in recounting your many successes this past year! I encourage you to take your time and be as thorough as you can in listing every single thing you appreciate about yourself and what you’ve accomplished in each dimension of your writing life–even if the best you can do is admire that you stopped burning your rejection letters. Deal?

  • What was most fun, exhilarating or rewarding in your writing life this year?
  • What obstacles did you face and overcome?
  • What relationships did you build, repair or retire, and how has this contributed to your writing life?
  • What did you let go of (habits, relationships, attitudes, clutter) that was no longer serving you?
  • What did you read that taught you something about your craft, your platform or how to take your writing and publishing forward?
  • What did you earn or what opportunity did you land that felt prosperous?
  • How has your confidence and/or craft improved?
  • What have you learned about social media that is serving your writing life?
  • What strategies worked best for being effective with your time?
  • How did you nurture and sustain your well being–in mind, body, spirit?
  • Who has praised your writing or teaching or facilitating? What did they say and how did it give you a new sense of appreciation for yourself and your work?
  • What did you learn about your writing rhythms: time of day to write, managing procrastination, how and when to revise, making use of slim margins of time, etc.?
  • Who did you help, and who helped you?
  • What did you learn about yourself from rejection, and how has it helped your writing, your confidence or your submissions approach develop?
  • What did you do that terrified you–but you did it any way? And how did that benefit your life and your writing?
  • How were you patient?
  • When and how were you successful at juggling the competing demands of family, writing, work, and everything else in your full life?
  • Who did you forgive? Who forgave you?

Because it’s so easy to keep our minds trained to the loop of an unsolvable problem or two, you may be surprised at how many triumphs are revealed as you answer these questions. Every risk you took, skill you fortified and skin you shed in the service of your writing life is a foothold in the future you are aspiring to create. Nice work!

 About Sage Cohen

Sage Cohen is the author of The Productive Writer (just released from Writer’s Digest Books);Writing the Life Poetic and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World. She blogs about all that is possible in the writing life at pathofpossibility.com, where you can: Download a FREE “Productivity Power Tools” workbook companion to The Productive Writer. Get the FREE, 10-week email series, “10 Ways to Boost Writing Productivity” when you sign up to receive email updates. Sign up for the FREE, Writing the Life Poetic e-zine. Plus, check out the events page for the latest free teleclasses, scholarships and more.

Share

2 Comments

PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy Policy

COOKIE POLICY

Cookie Policy