The need for consistency

I realise that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here. I could conveniently excuse this by saying that I’ve been concentrating my energy on my photoblog – but the reality is that I haven’t felt like writing anything. I simply lost the motivation.

Now, I feel that I want to write again. However, I want to do it in a consistent, sustainable way. The new approach was inspired by Krista Stryker (aka 12minuteathlete) who recently posted a quotation from Jeff Olsen:

Showing up is essential.

Showing up consistently is powerful.

Showing up consistently with a positive outlook is even more powerful.

In many ways, this is true in all walks of life.

I’m going to adopt this philosophy for this blog and see where that leads. The plan is to write one entry each week. These will be posted on Mondays. IF I can achieve consistency in this, then I’ll consider increasing my activity.

(By the way, my photoblog will continue on a daily basis – for those who are even remotely interested.)

 

LAMSTAIH

No, I haven’t disabled the spell checker!

LAMSTAIH is an acronym created by Andy Stefanovich. It stands for ‘Look at more stuff; think about it harder’. He’s written about it in his book called Look at More, which has the bold subtitle A Proven Approach to Innovation, Growth and Change. I haven’t read the book, although I’ve heard Stefanovich talk about the concept.

Anyway, the point if this entry is that LAMSTAIH is one of the reasons that I write every day.

In our information age, it’s easy to complain about the overwhelm of data, articles, podcasts etc. But it’s really a blessing to have such access. I try to keep my input wide and varied; to stay alert; to scan the horizon; and to stretch beyond my comfort zone.

LAMS isn’t about looking at more of the same. It’s about looking at a range of topics to stimulate your brain, to make connections, to challenge your status quo.

This side of the equation comes relatively easily to me. Although I make a point of updating my input sources form time to time to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

The TAIH aspect is a different problem. Maybe it’s just me, but hard thinking doesn’t come easily. But it’s only when we add this to our input that we add value. It’s a necessary part of continuous learning and development. So, my solution/incentive to do the thinking is to commit to writing.

For me, the best way to think something through is to try to communicate it to some else. And my medium of choice is this blog.

Why do I write every day?

I’ve been thinking about this question as I’ve been posting more regularly. I scratched the surface with an entry a couple of weeks ago. Now, I’m scratching again.

The funny thing is – I have absolutely no aspirations as a blogger. I don’t make any money from it, nor do I want to. Most entries are read by a handful of people, and I’m happy with that.

So why do I write every day?

Firstly, it’s a way to process some thoughts. To string together a few sentences trying to convey something out of my head and on to your screen. This entry was triggered by the brilliant Hugh MacLeod (who produced the cartoon that I’ve used today).

It’s also a way for me to practice the habit of writing in a simple manner. I aim to write for a reading age of 12. (If you’re interested, this entry has a reading age of 10.3)

And writing is a way for me to practice some self-discipline. Even when I get home from work and feel a bit tired or jaded, I sit at my keyboard and crank out something.

There’s one other motivation. But I’ll write about that tomorrow.

“90% of success is just showing up”

Woody Allen

The killer app: pen and paper

Even though I am making strenuous efforts to use less paper, I have to acknowledge that I still love using pen and paper (although I haven’t quite reverted to a quill… yet). I find that jotting my thoughts on paper helps to clarify my thinking.

Typically, I’ll start with an idea or a quotation. Then I’ll doodle a bit; let ideas flow; allow connections to emerge.

Most blog entries start in my ideabook (many end there too!).

I think that the slower pace of handwriting allows my brain to function differently. As a visual person, I like to see things spread out across the page (or on a whiteboard).

And, best of all, by carrying a pen and my ideabook I have limitless connectivity.

Here’s how I developed this entry:

1000 words a day

Srinivas Rao advocates writing 1000 words a day, every day. He claims that adopting this habit was life changing

I don’t quite live up to this standard, but between this blog and my journal I’m probably getting close.

And something happens when I write every day – see the doodle. The thing is, I begin to enjoy it. I doodle more, I connect more, and I definitely read more. (Which comes first the reading or the writing? The chicken or the egg?)

But the main benefit, and the biggest surprise, is that I become more tolerant of my mistakes. Some blog entries seem to strike a chord with you (the readers), others draw a blank… and I’m OK with that.

As Srinivas says:

Most of what I wrote was garbage. It mainly still is.

And if I get stuck?

The simplest way to overcome this is to put your fingers on the keyboard and move them…

Or in my case, doodle in my idea book and the garbage starts to flow! More nonsense to follow soon.

Why I keep blogging … (part 2)

This entry is a minor variation on yesterday’s, and was inspired by this sketchnote by Tamnay Vora (@tnvora):

As I roam the interweb and social media I find snippets that I like to share. However, it occurs to me that sharing is not the sole purpose of my online stravaigin’. As well as connecting with people and ideas, my intention extends to the notion of contributing, of offering something additional (value is for others to assess). This is a form of creativity. In Tamnay’s doodle it’s described as bringing ideas to life, taking ideas further, enabling sense-making etc.

And I get pleasure and stimulation from blogging (and tweeting) about these things, which in turn encourages me to do more of it. So the cycle continues (at least in my mind.)

 

Why I keep blogging… (part 1)

The trigger for this entry was an article by Allison Versfeldt. Given the infrequent and inconsistent posts over many months, it seems like a pertinent question for me to reflect on.

This blog doesn’t really have an underpinning purpose; there’s no target audience; no rationale for what gets posted. It’s simply a way of sharing ideas and stuff that I come across, trying to join some dots, and (occasionally) starting a conversation.For me, blogging is an exploration of ideas found and of my own thinking… and I’m perfectly happy with that. So I will keep writing – hopefully more consistently – and maybe, make some points of connection along the way.

Quick blogging

While I’ve been reflecting on my evening routine, I came across an article by Austin Kleon. In it he says:

I recommend that everybody come up with a daily dispatch…What I mean by that is one little bit of media that you push out every day, some little piece of your process that you share with people…

This triggered two thoughts:

Firstly, it doesn’t take long to produce something. Regular readers will know that my blogging efforts have been somewhat sparse in recent months. Well, while I haven’t been blogging, but I’ve been gathering loads of ideas, thoughts, articles etc. So it’s time to start producing regularly, consistently and Austin Kleon has helped me to realise that it really doesn’t take much effort.

Secondly (and indirectly), Kleon says that it only takes 15 to 30 minutes to produce something. I’ve decided to turn that into a constraint – I will blog for no more than 15 minutes every evening (maybe longer at weekends). I aim to produce something every week day, with more random stuff at the weekends – but I will spend less time agonising over producing something beyond criticism. Better to produce something with a few flaws than to sit silently. (If things get too sloppy I will re-think this approach.)

I thought I’d share Austin’s  blacked out poem that features in the article – to read it you’ll need to click on the image to enlarge it.

Inspiration is for amateurs

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

― Chuck Close

I know that’s a long quotation to start with. So well done if you’re still reading this. I included all of it mainly because I like it.

It highlights my own personal dilemma with blogging and other forms of writing. Too often I feel uninspired, or I have too many ideas in my head (or idea book) and I don’t know where to start. Well, according to Chuck Close – and many others – the whole point is to get started. Having started, some words will flow. They may not be great literature, or even coherent sentences; but if you don’t start, you definitely won’t write great literature or coherent sentences.

So, it seems that the answer lies in commitment, not in inspiration. It’s about developing the daily discipline of showing up and writing.

As Nicholas Bate puts it:

If there is one thing you do today… It is to remember that writing is more about same pen, same time, same desk and less about no plot, no time, no publisher.

Writing about writing

Writing can be a very creative and invigorating way to make our lives available to ourselves and others.

Henri Nouwen

As we write, draw, doodle, we slow down, draw deeper, clarify and reveal what is important to us. As we form letters, create sentences and paragraphs, we discover that which is transformative within us and for us. Meaning emerges as we commit our thoughts to paper or screen.

And I’ve come to realise that waiting until the note, letter, article, blog post is perfectly crafted, honed and polished is folly. Polishing comes later – if at all. Go ahead and post, submit, publish. Our lives are unfinished, why should our writing be otherwise? Of course, I want to improve my writing, but the main point is to tell my story, to explore my thinking, to make connections – which is the intended purpose of this oft-neglected blog.

Henri Nouwen also said:

We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told. We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them.