Book Reports — Third Thought — Page 2 Third Thought

The Power of Full Engagement

15th of October ~

Dang.  Time flies when one is a sole practitioner.  The past two months I have been away from my office as much as I have been home.  Autumn is traditionally a busy time in the consulting business and I’ve been doing a lot of delivery which I LOVE.  Still, I haven’t done all the things I’d hoped to accomplish.  Bygones.

This week I am enjoying a TRUE vacation in a sunny place.  ‘A little slice’ [of heaven] as my sister used to say.  I am allowing myself the full luxury of reading the entire newspaper, working multiple puzzles, reading and wandering all over the internet.  I may not produce a single useful thing.  So there.

What I am doing is deep oscillation.

Jim Loehr, author of  The Power of Full Engagement, advocates that we manage energy rather than just time.  He works with some of the busiest executives in the world and helps them re-align to their priorities.  He also stresses the importance of ‘oscillation’.  It is possible to drive hard, with full engagement, as long as we give ourselves recovery time.  As corporate athletes, it is important to give our working muscles a chance to recover.

Booyah!  A legitimate reason to chill out, disengage and stay in your pajamas until noon.  The trick is to engage in alternate activities that truly refresh you.  TV generally saps energy.   He does encourage taking some time for nature.  Listening to your body.  Connecting to people you care about.  Best of all engaging in ‘Flow’ activities.  More about ‘Flow’ later.

I recommend this book more than any other to my coaching clients.  It’s not easy to get over the guilt of letting yourself pull back from work.  But the payoff is even more energy to engage more fully.

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Creativity for Life

17th of June ~

Media Report on Creativity for Life. Practical Advice on the Artist’s Personality and Career from America’s Foremost Creativity Coach, by Eric Maisel, PhD.

Introduction

Maisel, a recognized authority in the field of creativity, is the author of more than twenty creativity books. This book is a holistic look at ‘lifelong creativity’. It is organized in four parts:
I. The Challenges of the Artistic Personality
II. The Challenges of the Work
III. The Challenges of Relationship
IV. Strategies and Tactics

Strengths

Maisel’s definition of creativity is one of the most useful I’ve seen: ‘People are artistically creative when they love what they are doing, know what they are doing, and actively engage in art-making.  The three elements of creativity are thus loving, knowing, and doing; or heart, mind, and hands…’. Part Four is filled with thought-provoking lists for how to commit to your creativity practice. He uses many stories to illustrate his ideas and principles.

What Bugged Me

Mr. Maisel has a PhD but he plays it fast and loose with the research (there is none). Statements like, “But all creative people appear to be on the introverted side and as a rule prefer solitude to social interaction’ are made without any evidence. He goes on to link the introversion with poor social skills and the inability to form community: “we are struck by the fact that each artist will bring to the group his or her inability to relate.’ HUH?! I’m sure these things are true about some artists but Maisel seems to be stuck in the old paradigm of ‘creative people are tortured and weird’ and frequently cites Van Gogh as an example.

Bottom Line

This book is a deep dive on the creative process for artists. The earlier chapters focus on issues of Blockage and Resistance in useful ways. Maisel offers many options for understanding yourself if you feel bogged down in your creative work. The latter chapter on Transitions and Choices provides a thoughtful nine-step process to honor our creative selves and move toward a more creative life. He also includes an Artist’s Ten Commandments which may inspire you to write your set of Commandments.

The fundamental model is so simple and provides a great framework for understanding the nature of creativity. Do you love your creative work? Do you know how to do it? Are you actually creating?

Well, are you?

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