We're very excited about our recent interview with Seth Godin about his book Linchpin [amazon link]. There are few people who consistently bring the kind of energy and insight that Seth routinely delivers as a matter of course. I think that this book is destined to be considered one of his best, and it was a privilege to hear his perspective on it on the podcast. 

It's become popular these days to stir up visions of uniqueness, expression and individualism in all of its forms, but my encouragement to all of us is that the greatest (and most mature) expression of creativity will happen not as the result of eliminating boundaries, but when we are comfortable within them. We each need a container to fill, and as we grow comfortable within these limitations we can begin to stretch beyond them and expand our platform for expression. But first, we must grow comfortable with our skills and develop the right mindset. We must establish our practices (Time, Energy, Stimulus, Focus, Relationships.) And most of all, we must learn to bring ourselves fully to what's in front of us. If we can't be content creating in our current role, a change of scenery will not bring us freedom, it will only magnify our dissatisfaction. 

Do something unique this week. Don't be a cover band. Become a linchpin. And do it from wherever you are. Bring yourself to what you're doing and make a difference. 

We are wired to avoid pain of any kind. We dislike the discomfort of the unknown, and we don't like pressing up against our limits. As a result, when we are required to create something new or solve a problem in which we're experiencing a degree of confusion about the desired outcome, it can be difficult to even get started. It's much easier to ignore the problem or rely on our instincts and natural abilities to pull us through at the last minute. But this is not the path to brilliant work, it's simply the path of least resistance. In order to do our best work, we need to act on the things that are most important each and every day rather than allowing our fear of failure (or success) to define our work. 

As we stare down the barrel of the new year and many of us are starting to work on all the things we'd like to accomplish in 2010, I'd like to challenge you to commit to starting well. If you can develop the discipline of starting each project well you will find your productivity (and the quality of your work) skyrocketing. (This is a subject in Seth Godin's new book Linchpin. I did an interview with Seth and will be releasing it in the next few days. Grab the AC podcast feed if you're not already subscribed: RSS / iTunes )

Many of us do the opposite, however, and find ourselves in a constant game of "catch-up." To start well we need to quickly define the problem, develop actionable ideas and get moving on them soon after conception rather than lingering and waiting for the best idea to "appear." The single most effective practice you can instill in this regard is regular, planned ideation around your most important priorities. I recommend an hour a week to do nothing but generate ideas for projects. If you can relieve yourself of the conceptual weight of still-needed ideas, you will find more energy and focus for getting things done.

There is no "magic bullet" for doing your best work. It will always be the result of the proper management of time, energy, stimulus, focus and relationships. Committing to engage early by starting each project well will help you find the conceptual margin to really pour yourself into your work and is also likely to be the genesis of many "creative accidents."

As many of you know, we recently launched PIP, a tool to help creative people generate ideas when they need them most. So far we've been getting great feedback from early users, but we also thought we'd start a series on the blog to give some tips about how to get the most out of PIP. These tips also apply to any idea session you are holding.

The most important aspect to any idea session is defining what it is you're trying to do. The more specific and concrete you are about your objective, the more likely you are to "hit" it. As a result, we have implemented something in the PIP called the "Challenge Statement." This is at the center of the PIP worksheet and defines what you're really trying to do.

When establishing a Challenge Statement, whether on the PIP or elsewhere, there are a few principles that can help you gain creative traction fast:

1. Be as specific as possible. "Own the market for hair curlers" is not an effective challenge statement, however "How can we increase market share in Canada?" is. Whenever you want to generate ideas you need to start with a very specific objective. Otherwise, you will spin your wheels.

2. Be real. You can't fool yourself, so it is a waste of time to start with ridiculously aspirational Challenge Statements that will result in impractical ideas. (ex. "Be a billion dollar business by Jan 2011" when you are currently at $2 million revenue.)

3. Divide and conquer. You will be substantially better off in any idea session to break your challenges into focus areas as small as possible. Can you make the challenge more focused? Can you break it into smaller chunks? Doing so will make it more effective. This applies to any type of idea session, whether or not you are using the PIP.

The more effective you are at establishing focus in your idea sessions the more effectively you will gain quick traction and get potentially useful ideas on the table.

So, how have you been using the PIP? Do you have any additional tips that might help others? Any additional ideation tips?

OK, it's almost the weekend, it's been a very busy week, and I'm just needing to get this out on the table. Sorry for the "personal" nature of this post.

I'm not sure how to process my feelings right now. It's a strange place to be. I feel a little like I'm betraying my religious heritage (or something), but I don't think I want an iPad.

Why not? Not sure, exactly.

Granted, I may not be the market for this device as I already have a lot of tools in place to do what this device will do.

I've heard several people I respect talking about how revolutionary this device is and how it will completely change everything. Is that just hype? Don't know yet. Haven't handled one.

But it's an interesting place to be. It's the first time I haven't instinctively opened my wallet and asked Steve Jobs to be merciful and leave a little money for food and shelter and the education of my children.

Creativity, at its heart, is about solving problems. The more novel, effective and appropriate the solution, the more creative it is. This is the first time I've noticed that Apple isn't solving my problems. That makes me wonder about more than one thing.

Will I eventually cave? In all probability. But for now, I'm well outside of the Apple "RDF" (Reality Distortion Field.)

Am I wrong about all of this? Am I not seeing this correctly? (And does it matter?)

One of the most significant complaints that I hear from creatives is that they feel “stuck.” They feel like much of their work is derivative and that they can’t seem to get new ideas moving. Over the past few years we’ve been working with various methods to help people and teams generate ideas more effectively and what we’ve realized is that the right ideas are almost always already there. They just need to be brought to the surface.

That’s why we’re very excited about the release of our first tool for creative pros - PIP. It’s a tool designed to help you think about a problem from multiple perspectives, generate lots of ideas and hone in on the best ones. It’s designed to be used by individuals in idea generation time, but can also be used by teams to structure their thought and explore new ways of approaching the problem.

We’re very excited about this. We think it’s going to free up a ton of brilliance. That’s our currency. [smile] Want to see how PIP works? Check it out. Or get a PIP (or two) here.

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It's the new year and many of us are thinking about how we're going to engage our life and work, as well as where we're headed in 2010. A while back I posted an exercise that challenged us to think about how we'd introduce ourselves in only seven words. We called it the "7 Word Bio".

I think this is a good exercise on a few fronts:

1. It helps us all gain clarity to what we're REALLY trying to do rather than just giving the factual scoop.
2. It helps us communicate to others what we're passionate about (process) rather than just fixating on the end result (product).

I've recently changed my 7 Word Bio and thought some of our you might want to as well. Or if you've never posted one, now is your shot!

So, here's the 7 Word Bio that I've landed on: [updated]
"The arms dealer for the creative revolution."

What is yours? (Rough drafts are fine...)

It only takes one brilliant idea per day to change your life.

Seriously. Think about it. If you had only ONE brilliant idea every day this year how would that affect your work? How would it affect your personal creating? How would it affect your relationships? How would it affect your career trajectory? How would it affect your confidence and your opportunities?

But even though ideas are that critical to us, most of us spend very (VERY!) little time intentionally developing them. In fact, most people I talk with who have to create-on-demand everyday are fairly haphazard about idea generation. Maybe it's because ideas just come naturally to them with little effort, but often it's because of this:

Ideas represent burdens.

Every idea we have requires something of us. It requires some kind of action. It requires us to do something that will bring the idea to life. And often the burden of what will happen if and when we have a brilliant idea prevents us from trying to have them at all.

But that's not good. That's something less than what we're capable of. We're leaving great creative on the table.

I'm taking up the challenge to try to have one great idea every day this year. Even if some of them turn out to be really, really bad, I'm pretty confident that at least one out of three hundred and sixty-five HAS to be significant and life-changing in some way. That should make the effort worth it.

Does one brilliant idea per day seem within your reach? Do you think that's a reasonable goal?

How do you define "greatness"?

This is something that's been on my mind a lot lately and it's something that I've been internally debating over the past few years. I spend a lot of time interacting with brilliant people and studying great minds, and the more I do the more I've become convicted that how you define greatness defines your life.

If you define greatness as the pursuit of a bigger title and office, that will define your life.

If you define greatness as accumulating a lot of knowledge about something, that will define your life.

If you define greatness as being the best at performing some task, that will define your life.

If you define greatness as loving your family well, that will define your life.

If you define greatness as choosing to engage every single act and interaction in your life with purpose, that will define your life.

How we define greatness defines us. In the end, it's probably what we're chasing after.

How do you define "greatness"?

It feels a little like waking up from an extended sleep, but we’re back from the holiday break and back in the saddle again. [Cue the cowboy music] There’s a lot happening in AC world over the next few weeks, and we’ll be sharing more info as we can. The most exciting thing for us is the upcoming launch of our first product to help creative people structure thought and generate more (and better!) ideas. It’s based on the natural rhythms of the creative process and is designed to provide focused, effective personal (or team) ideation time. More to come in a few days.

Shortly before break I tweeted a few times about an interview that AC Collective member riCardo Crespo did with Jeni Herberger. It was a very thought-provoking session. The most interesting thing to me personally was riCardo’s advice that the role of a Creative Director is to get the right people in the right place working on the right thing, then get out of the way. That’s a difficult thing to do in today’s “hey! look at me!” climate, but I thought the advice was stellar. In some ways, it often seems that the role of a good creative leader is to work their way out of a job. Again, it’s a little difficult to think about a leadership role in this way, but taken to its logical end it seems to be the most effective way of operating. Set rails, re-direct as necessary, but do not obstruct.

This week’s AC Engage podcasts (formerly AC Premium) discuss the importance of pause in our life and establishing practices around breaks, ebb and flow. If we want to align ourselves with the natural rhythms of the creative process we must take into account the back and forth of intensity and rest, engagement and absence. I’d challenge you to think about how you are structuring rhythm into your life in 2010. (That's what I'm working on in new ways.) What would it look like for you to build periods of intense work and alternating rest into your daily/weekly/monthly life? How would you do it?

More than anything, I’m excited about what 2010 holds for the AC community and for all of the people and teams we serve. Thanks for hanging around. It’s great to be creating with you!

What do you do when you feel like your creating is growing stale and you can't seem to reach beyond yourself? Well, if you're designer Stefan Sagmeister you take a year off. Yes, really. He has established the practice of taking a year off every seven years in the effort to distribute his "retirement" throughout his life. While on this sabbatical he works on interesting projects and develops new ways of creating. (Unnecessary creating, anyone?)

While taking a year off every seven is beyond most people's reach, there is something fascinating about Stefan's approach. It is an extreme example of the power of building rhythm into your life rather than allowing the demands of your work to define and drive your life.