All in Creativity
In the last episode, I talked about how everyone has a platform and how that can be a good thing.
But having a platform isn't for everyone, as it comes with a set of responsibilities around what we say and how we say it. Today's show speaks to some of what I believe are the ground rules for establishing your own platform.
At first blush, it seems counterintuitive but achieving a Greater Good for a particular group requires a measure of selfishness amongst the members of that group.
But when you really think about it, there’s a sound logic to that idea.
It’s easy to lose our sense of playfulness. In fact, at some point in our adult lives, so many of us do. We don’t realize it in the process. We really only figure it out well after the fact (if at all).
We tend to put it down to ‘growing up’, to becoming an adult. Just a normal part of life, because life is serious business, and only kids can afford the luxury of play.
Many of us believe we have a message to share, in one domain or another, and many of us long to actually share it.
Today's episode speaks to the fact that we all now have a platform to say, write and otherwise communicate, anything we want. But wanting to and doing so are two different things, and the discussion today focuses on that inner dialogue.
Getting advice is important.
From a young age, we’re taught (or at least should be) that it’s OK to ask for help, that we don’t have to figure out everything on our own, and that there are others who’ve tread our path before. So it’s not a weakness to reach out and ask for guidance. It is, in fact, a strength. I wholeheartedly agree with that.
At the same time, not all advice is equal and it’s well worth remembering a few basic things.
Not far from where I live, there is an intersection where the traffic lights operate in different ways depending on whether you’re walking or driving.
What I mean by this is that if you’re driving, the lights work as you would expect. They change at specific time intervals in an automated fashion. But if you’re on foot and you want to cross the street, the “walk” sign will not display unless you’ve pressed the manual “change traffic signal” button on your side of the street.
Today's podcast focuses on the idea of owning our messages.
In any work we do, we're called upon to present our ideas and findings in front of an audience. Often, we feel compelled to "do what we're told" or to "follow a script". The reality is that we need to own what we present, no matter our level. In this podcast, I discuss how.
Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are those characters in video games that cannot be controlled and are driven by the program itself to deliver specific pre-defined lines or actions, either playing a very specific role or no role at all. They don’t participate in any meaningful way, can’t be directed and more often than not, are there to simply make up the numbers.
Today's episode focuses on doing the things we want to do, but don't - either because we're concerned what others will say, or we overthink our own ability to be successful at it.
Sometimes, this thought process is helpful, but more often than not, it gets in our way. Better to focus on what we want and just do.
When I was in my teens and learning to play the guitar, there was a guy I knew who had been playing for a few years and was really quite good. He knew how to play all the cool songs I wanted to learn to play, knew all the cool riffs and could play by ear. But he wasn’t interested in sharing any of his knowledge.
I specifically remember him playing Stairway To Heaven, a song I was trying to learn.
Back in the 80’s, my dad bought our first personal computer, a thing of beauty at the time that would now be viewed as a hulking monstrosity. I don’t remember the brand and have only a rough memory of the specs - either an Intel 286 or 386 microprocessor, probably about 512KB of RAM and a 20 MB hard disk.
I think we spend so much of the “post-teen” part of our lives trying to be accepted, to fit in and be seen as a grown up, that we consciously decide to “put away childish things”. We see this as an essential act so that we’re regarded as an adult and hence accepted as a serious contributor to whatever work or social contract we’re engaged in. (In fact, most of us do so and don’t even give it a second thought.)
But at some point, many of us realize that…
Today's episode is a reflection on Bono, U2's legendary frontman. It's based on a post I wrote shortly after watching them perform The Joshua Tree live in Chicago.
Bono represents the ideal when it comes to achievement. He does what he loves, has achieved tremendous success and uses this fame and success to do more for others. It's an ideal worth us pursuing in our own ways.
Jerry Seinfeld was once asked by a young comic if he had any advice to help him get better.
His answer was simple: write better jokes - and the only way to do that, was to write every day. In fact, not only should he write every day, but he should keep track of this work:
Today's episode focuses on a story from Live Aid back in the mid-Eighties and a moment that set the band U2 on the path to global stardom.
But on the day, it didn't seem like it to the band - and represents a lesson about risk-taking that we can all learn from.
The reality of the learning process is that it’s often non-linear and, most importantly, unpredictable.
There’s a tendency to think of it (hope?) as a “paint-by-numbers” approach: follow these steps and you’ll get to your destination. And while aspects of learning are indeed structured and conventional in that sense, many others are not. That, in so many respects, is where real learning happens.
If we’re really trying to solve for a specific problem, we need to be obsessed with the problem itself.
We have to be so focused on the issues that problem presents, such that we can understand it to a level that we can uncover all of the points of concern - not only who’s impacted, but also the way in which they’re specifically impacted and to what extent.
This month's podcasts draw lessons from popular culture.
In today's episode, I discuss a quote from Thom Yorke of Radiohead about this idea of exposure and vulnerability and the role it plays not only in art (which we tend to accept) but also in business (which we often don't).
George Martin is often referred to as The Fifth Beatle for the contributions he made to the band’s recording process.
Without question, the core of their creative genius came from the four band members themselves, but there’s no doubt he facilitated and enabled their creativity in very real, very direct ways. From the classical instrumentation we hear in so many of their songs to pushing the technical envelope with the technology available to them at the time.
Bruce Lee’s philosophy when it came to learning was that there was no single best way to learn.
He didn’t prescribe to the idea of fixed patterns and approaches to education, rather he believed that real education is unique to the individual. It comes from absorbing what’s helpful (in your own judgement) rejecting what’s not and then defining your own ‘truth’, your own path forward.
