The Art of Disciplined Creativity

The Art of Disciplined Creativity

Denise R. JacobsWeb Afternoon / Atlanta

October 2011

The Art of Social Media

The Artist:@denisejacobs

The Medium:@webafternoon #webafternoon

The Subject:#creativityhabit

The Artist Still Known as Denise Jacobs

Speaker, Trainer, Author, Pan-Creative

On Creativity

What’s the point?

Concepts, ideas, tips to help you instill practices that will encourage you to become even more conversant and better able to collaborate with your creativity.

We are alchemists

Always delightful

Structure, Discipline, Path

Three Facets of

The Way

Three Facets of The Way

1. The Path of One

2. It Takes Two

3. The Way of Many

The Path of One

The Path of One

1. Eliminate

2. Incorporate

3. Train your brain

4. Gather and document

5. Gamify it

Eliminate Creativity Killers

Communication addiction

Multitasking

Banish you inner critic

The evil voices in your head

FEAR (“false evidence appearing real”or “f*ck everything and run”) causes unnecessary inhibitions which obstruct the generation of new ideas on a biochemical and neurological level.

Impostor syndrome

Comparisons

Incorporate Creativity Supporters

Show up everyday

Habit fields

Sprint

Delegate

Think with your hands

Lo-fi time

Train Your Brain

Get your alpha on

Balance your brain

Get physical

Be Willing

Be Mindful

Gather and Document

Collect and Curate

Get it down

Sketchnotes, mind-mapping, etc.

Voice

Tools• Zootool.com

• Imgspark.com

• Scrnshots.com

• Vi.sualize.us

• Emberapp.com

• Pinterest.com

• Evernote

• Diigo

• Delicious

• Flickr

Gamify it

Be heroic

It Takes Two

It Takes Two

• Externalize

• Invite

Externalize

Genius

Genius? (yes.)

Your inner Genius

As opposed to “being” a genius, consider that you have a genius – a mystical spirit that accompanies you and inspires and helps you to create fantastic work.

Genius? (yes!)

Muses

Who ‘dat?

The muses were thought to be the true speakers for whom an artist is merely the mouthpiece. Muses inspire people to do their best.

Memory (Mnene)

Voice (Aoide)

Practice/occasion (Melete)

Ideas

We are avatars for ideas

Extend an Invitation

Make it clear

Engage in a dialogue

You’re Doin’ It Wrong

“My f*cking book won’t tell me its name!”

“Well, if you’re going to talk to it like that, it’s not going to tell you anything.”

Sweet talk your ideas

Be ready for them to show up

You’ll get love

The Way of Many

The Way of Many

• Collective Ideation

• Learn. Teach. Master.

Collective Ideation

Incubate to Generate

Ideas are a network

The source of great ideas

Avoid

Diverse environments

Invite others to wonder with you

In praise of slow…hunches

Co-work to collaborate

Plus it

Reframe #fail

Share mistakes

Learn. Teach. Master.

Leaning? Always!

Learn from the masters

Teach what you know

Reach Mastery

Discipline is Victory

What do you get?

Expression

What you produce is unique

Doing you = Awesome

• Singing your song in your voice

• Creating what you want to see/use

• Getting your remix on: gather like an aficionado; repurposing like an artist

Productivity

Productivity through little bets

The d.school process:

• observe

• suggest

• tinker

• review

• apply feedback

• reiterate

Flow? Found.

The stage is set for Flow

• Cleared space – work area, time, head

• Concept in mind: know what you want to achieve and what it looks like

• Necessary materials on hand

• Distractions eliminated

• Practice in place

• Willingness in place

Creative Confidence

Was ist das?

“…the confidence that, when given a difficult problem, we have a methodology that enables us to come up with a solution that nobody has before.”

David Kelley, Ideo

It does work

Last outcome

The end…?

Resources

delicious.com/denisejacobs/creativityhabit

Further reading

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/reigniting-your-creative-spark/

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/banishing-your-inner-critic/

The CSS Detective Guide

CSSDetectiveGuide.comtwitter.com/cssdetective

Get 35% off at PeachPit.com with the discount code“NETMAG”

Shameless Self-Promotion #1

InterAct With Web Standards:A Holistic Approach to Web Design

InterActWithWebStandards.comtwitter.com/waspinteract

Shameless Self-Promotion #2

How to find me

DeniseJacobs.com

denise@denisejacobs.com

twitter.com/denisejacobs

slideshare.net/denisejacobs

Thank you!