Bootcamp for creatives

It's true. I need a swift kick in the butt every so often to do the things I need to do professionally. Don't get me wrong. I work hard every day. I try, with more or less success, to practice "inbox zero," and have certainly improved in management of my scary to-do list. I get assignments done on time, make it to meetings, and spend time on developing my team. But when it comes to writing - blogging, reading the research, developing an article or presentation - I need a periodic "kick" to clear my head and get me focused on what's really important. So every once in a while Amazon tells me I need yet another book on creativity/productivity/psychology, and I obligingly "one click," purchasing what is usually a cheap, short e-book that is clearly a compilation of blog posts, often by someone with a certain too-cool-for-school writing style. And yet, despite being cheap, short, and casual, I often find these kicks to be just what I need to shut my door, minimize Outlook, and focus on important stuff.

My burst of professional productivity the last couple days is likely connected to my most recent purchase, Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon. According to my Kindle app I'm 64% of the way through the book (probably the equivalent to about 30 pages if you account for font size, blank space, and large images). At this point, the most powerful message for me has been to "share something small every day." Of course this is old advice - but nevertheless a good reminder to find a way to have some productivity each day - and not let "perfect" get in the way of "good," something I've perhaps done better at preaching than practicing.

In this same section Kleon talks about finding time. There are 24 hours in every day, and you can "find time the same place you find spare change: in the nooks and crannies." This comment reminds me of another book for the creative's bootcamp, Laura Vanderkam's 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.



Here are a few more books to fire up your creative productivity:
The 99U compilation, Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series)










The book with the cheery title Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day, by Todd Henry.


And, for a truly bootcamp approach, Steven Pressfield's Do the Work

PaperShip - finally, a great iPad app for Zotero

Last week I discovered PaperShip. I've been a big fan of Zotero for years, but have been frustrated by the limited and complex options for reading and annotating my attached files on my iPad. I have Zotero set up to sync attachments with my university-provided box.com account. PaperShip syncs with both my Zotero.org citations and my Box attachments. I can open my attachments, annotate (limited free tools, or get more tools with a $4.99 in-app purchase), and attach a note. PaperShip puts the annotated version back into Box. When I sync Zotero on my computer, all of the annotations are there. Another nice feature is the ability to search and add citations from within PaperShip. If you want to follow up on a work cited in the article you are reading, simply copy the title, click the "+" symbol, and choose your search interface (arXiv, Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, JSTOR, PubMed, or ScienceDirect). Find the item, click "Import" and the item appears in your PaperShip Inbox. From there you can move it into the appropriate folder(s). It will also capture the full article, when it can. The program also allows for sharing via Twitter, text, or email, and for opening in alternate reader applications. You can even attach audio notes to your documents.

There do seem to be a few minor bugs. The program occassionally crashes or requires reestablishing a Zotero connection, and the free and paid annotation tools do not work together quite as seamlessly as one might wish, but overall I am very pleased to have this tool available.

PaperShip also has an iPhone version, though it, too, seems a little buggy. The "open in" option for attachments would be useful for reading in the text-only mode in GoodReader (as pdfs tend to be too small to be legible on a 4S, and still too small to read comfortably on a 5S) . I can open an attached html file in GoodReader, but can't get PaperShip to open a pdf  in GoodReader. Also, the iPhone version seems to have trouble when there are multiple attachments. One citation with two files, an html and a pdf, opened the pdf first. I then used the arrow down to open the html. Later, I went back to the same citation, and it seems to switch between attachments, but only shows the html file. Finally, I've noticed that sometimes the annotation bar doesn't seem to be available for pdfs.

I am hopeful that the developer will work out the bugs soon, as this app is a great concept, and I use the iPad version just about every day.

Home Improvement as Professional Development

Last weekend Kathy and I started in on a home improvement project. We'd hated the ugly wallpaper in the dining room and kitchen when we bought the house a dozen years ago. In a conversation over pizza at Rosati's we finally decided to tackle the project. And, a few hours later, I found myself asking the same, early-in-the-project question I usually ask, "Why did I decide to do this?"


Sometimes "ignorance" is the answer -- I don't fully understand or appreciate the complexity of what I am starting. Steven Pressfield (Do the Work) lists stupidity as the first of several "allies" in overcoming the resistance faced by artists and entrepreneurs:

Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur's indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be -- and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.

I think this was definitely the case when I put up a fence, hand-digging 2 ft-. and 3 ft.-deep post holes in our lovely, Central Texas soil. On this kitchen wallpaper project, however, I had a pretty good idea of what was coming. I'd previously removed the wallpaper in the entry way of our home, only to discover the various shortcuts the builders used, most notably failing to tape and float the corners, and neglecting to put a coat of primer on the drywall before hanging the paper. So if it wasn't ignorance...

Over the weekend, when I wasn't scoring, spraying, peeling, spraying, or scraping wallpaper/paste/oops -- drywall, I spent some time reading Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series). A series of brief essays from a variety of creativity/productivity gurus, the book was a quick and enjoyable read. Within its pages I found not just a few tips for improved productivity and creativity, but also some possible explanation for my propensity to take on new DIY projects.

• In an essay on "Unnecessary Creation," Todd Henry (author of a book I started this week, The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice), advocates finding a means of "engaging in the creative act on our own terms." One benefit of "unnecessary creation," according to Henry, is that it allows you to develop skills that you can use later in your paid creative work. I can't say I've ever dug post holes or replaced carpet with a hardwood floor (my last big home improvement project) at the library. But part of the joy of UC is that the connection may not be obvious, or there may, in fact, never be a connection. I do, however, think I can point to a number of professional benefits from my DIY projects, such as improved respect from a facilities project manager who knows I've handled a jamb saw, refined ability to plan a project in an unfamiliar context, and positive reinforcement for the benefits of persevering in the face of a job that initially seemed overwhelming.
• Finding Solitude - Unlike the current wallpaper remediation project with my wife, most of my DIY jobs are solo ventures. As an introvert, I appreciate the time to focus and recharge my batteries while working along on a project. Leo Babauta's essay, "Making Room for Solitude," recommends meditation. I think Susan Cain's (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking) notion of a "restorative niche" is an even better description of what I get out of my solo projects.
• Tuning In - Another benefit of working alone, especially on something completely different from my intense, always-on work life, is what Scott Belsky calls for in his chapter "Tuning in to You." He calls for disengaging from the constantly connected, over-stimulated lives most of us lead. While Belsky's essay is primarily advocating unstructured, unfocused time, I find that a DIY project -- especially once I get to a stage where there is some mastery of the task and rhythm to the work -- also takes me away from my devices, and gives my mind time to wonder (except when running power tools, of course).
• One final insight from the the book "Doing busywork is easy; doing your best work is hard." It is easy to plop down in front of the TV (meanwhile making regular checks of email and news feeds on your smartphone); it is hard (or at least, more challenging) to texture and paint a wall. Which can you point to with pride a year later?