Tag: inspiration

Creativity through simplification 

Some recent steps I have taken to improve my focus and save time for what matters:

  • No more Facebook. Account deleted completely 
  • No more gaming – selling console
  • Re-finding my Kindle – purpose built for reading, this is the gadget that keeps giving. You can’t be a good writer without being a good reader
  • Whittling down my internet accounts. As well as Facebook, I had Twitter, Instagram, three different email addresses, other blogs, and the list goes on. I realized that the reason I wasn’t creating as much as I wanted was not a lack of accounts, connections with friends or lack of tools…rather it is a lack of focus. Fewer accounts and gadgets – focus on those you actually need.
  • Fixing up my house and my office – I’m not good at this but when I try to fix stuff, it helps my sense of satisfaction and consequent focus no end.

The next step is to partake more in communities of like minded people in the flesh. I’m thinking writers groups, and arty types who I don’t seem to have in my life at the moment. 

Life is a journey not a destination, right?

Family and the self

If you do something over and over not only do you get good at it, you start to expect it to happen and so do those around you.

Family is a beautiful thing, but starting one inevitably sucks your time and energy away from individual pursuits. I have to be careful here because I love my child and my wife and I love spending time with them…. but if I am not mindful of my time, I devote every second of the day to them and that is not healthy for things like creativity, relaxation, pursuing dreams.

So I have to start new habits and feed them into my family dominated routine drip by drip. I am now reading a book of my choice, just a little each night. I take time each night for myself and holy moly what a difference. I read better and then I sleep better. Not only that, but I can feel myself getting better at reading. The words fly off the pages and I reach that “zone” where I don’t notice the outside world much quicker than I used to.

All of this is probably for nothing as we are expecting another child soon – but til then I am enjoying regaining some of my lost time and reading some more good stuff.

Be more Scandinavian

I recently went on a three week holiday to Scandinavia – Norway and Sweden to be precise. It was pretty incredible. Coming from South Africa – a place struggling with its economy, identity and environment – Norway and Sweden felt like a glimpse into the future.

The nature was pristine. I saw mountains, fjords, forests and moose. I went salmon and trout fishing in rivers that were so clean I could bend down and drink, straight from the flow of water at my feet if I got thirsty in between a cast of the line. The cities were incredibly well organised with museums, public transport and cycling lanes. There was also construction all around and there were Teslas everywhere with charging stations lining the streets. Recycling of rubbish is a given.

Patriotism and a sense of community was evident all around. People fly flags and live with no fences or security worries. The state is clearly rich and so are its people. Everybody (and I mean EVERYbody) spoke perfect English.

It was an inspiring trip. Now that I have recovered from the flight back with my pregnant wife and my 2 year old, I am on a mission to be more Scandinavian – to me this means more focus and simplicity, more organisation, more environmentally aware, more disciplined and secure in everything I am doing. That’s the idea anyways. So far it has translated into one blog post at 630am with a cup of tea for company.

But it’s a start, and anyways neither Stockholm, nor Oslo were built in a day.

Be more Scandinavian.

Kendrick Lamar interview

I’m a big Kendrick Lamar fan. Although some of his cultural references are hard to keep up with all the way over here in South Africa, I really appreciate his musicality and his creativity.

When I first heard him, the man seemed to be on a mission. There was more to his songs than a hit record. The depth of his music impressed me.

This interview is fantastic and confirms my suspicions. In particular I love how Kendrick describes his work as a sort of document for people in the future to look back on. It’s a really good interview. Kendrick Lamar’s focus and dedication to his art, with mindfulness of the broader community and heritage is something to aspire to, in my opinion:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/post/idsa.193137a0-2629-11e7-bb2e-fa528de050a0?mt=1&app=music

 

Accounting and Expectations

It must be satisfying to have a completed project proudly on display. I am picturing a private art collection worth millions. The various pieces hanging perfectly on walls throughout the house for visitors to “ooh” and “aah” at. Each piece has a fabled story, and a price tag to match.

Seems to me that when we think up a project, it is in our human nature to be attracted to the end result rather than the steps along the way. When I think of how long it takes to actually create an art gallery of any substance, I am put off by the idea immediately and that is why I pay to look at someone else’s.

Accounting is a loaded word. It brings to mind tough exams, nerdy calculators, stiff people in white collared shirts and boring number crunching. However the concept of accounting for what I have now and what may come through the life cycle of a project is essential to any art. It forces us to be realistic. It manages our expectations.

With some accounting for what is in store, you could conceivably take a very long term view on creating your gallery of priceless art from scratch, and you would be more likely to succeed. With no accounting and managing of expectations, you’re likely to get frustrated and not even try.

Painting versus writing

Yesterday I painted a wall from green to white. Not the most exciting thing I’ve ever done, but I learned something nonetheless.

For good results, there is a definite, clear, systematic way to best paint a wall in one single colour. (FYI, first comes covering up the parts you don’t want to paint, then comes painting the delicate edges, then comes moving systematically from one side of the wall to the other, filling in the gaps. Once dry, repeat). Not much room for improvisation, dawdling, doodling or spitballing. Not much creativity once the system is in place.

I love writing because it is completely different. The blank page doesn’t have to be filled with one particular type of word, it can involve as many or as few words as I like. The end result is variable. I can do what I want within the parameters of the page. I can take you to the moon or throw you into a hole. I can create a new world out of thin air, and I can drown it in a flood if I so choose. (I generally wouldn’t so choose – but you get the point) – this writing process is creative versus the industrial, repeatable painting job.

I’m glad I am not a wall painter. But at least I got another blog post out of the time spent yesterday :).

A reboot reblog

I have fallen off the bandwagon in a big way in terms of regular blog posts, so to get back on the bandwagon (what is a “bandwagon” anyways?) I am going to reblog a Godin post about intention. Do everything with intention and you are in control of your live.

Something done unintentionally, is essentially done by someone or something else. And that amounts to slavery. Check out the post related to intentional media consumption.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/03/whats-on-tonight.html

Media – an African perspective

Seth’s latest is about the most succinct and important post I have read this year. Give it a read:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/02/nextstep.html

What interests me is the perspective that Seth has on the issues he raises – namely he is American and is at the heart of the most developed, sophisticated economy in the world – and the media he is exposed to is a reflection of that. On the other hand, I live in Africa.

In many ways, we Africans are leapfrogging Americans and Europeans in terms of consuming media – we are keen to use technology. We get the latest TV shows, movies and sports from all over the world. Premier league soccer games are passionately followed even in the poorest slums in Nairobi. We have access to Twitter, Facebook and the internet. Mobile telephones have been taken up far quicker here than they were in the developed world – so there is a case to be made that the surplus of the internet and the ‘race to the bottom’ trends Seth speaks of are likely accelerating quicker here than in the USA.

There is also huge scarcity in Africa – however rather than an artificial scarcity controlled by the FCC or its local equivalent, African scarcity is driven largely by poverty. Unfortunately poverty combines very neatly with any media agenda that is pushing us to think short term – to care about now and not later. I think Africa’s environmental degradation and lack of investment in culture or education is in part a reflection of this. Scarcity is in conflict with the ubiquitous internet. I am still getting my head around how this plays out locally in terms of media consumption. The pace of change and media consumption is slower because of scarcity. Access is restricted. Africans cannot contribute as much to their own media and culture because of poverty. We are influenced by other continents far more than we should be. Just ask a local if he’d watch South African or English soccer. My bet is England any day of the week because of the exposure it has gotten through the TV networks.

Despite these differences between geographies, Seth’s ending point is still completely true the world over: “We’ve been willing participants in this daily race for our attention and our emotions. But we don’t have to be.”

Every now and then we must get out and do something other than consume.