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Book Recommendation: How To Write A Lot

Posted on by by Posted in Achieving Goals, Book Recommendations, Coaching Practice, Creative Thinking, Procrastination, Productivity, Time Management

Paul J. Silvia (2007). How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing.

Paul Silvia makes a strong case for scheduling in his book “How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing“.
It has been one of the most influential books for my own writing practice, and I often find myself mentioning gems of practical wisdom from this book in my own workshops and coaching sessions.

The book focuses on academic writing, but a lot of its advice applies to anybody who has a hard time working towards goals that are important in the long run, but not urgent on any particular day. Writing is just a really good example of such a goal.

by Ursina Teuscher at Teuscher Counseling, LLC


Featured Video: Low-Cost Creative Problem-Solving

Posted on by by Posted in Creative Thinking

If you want to see what innovation can look like on a very tight budget, watch this TED talk by Navi Radjou:

Navi Radjou borrows the Hindi word “jugaad” to talk about frugal innovation: that is, creative problem-solving with extremely limited resources.

Importantly, the idea is not just to “make do” with what you have, but to do more and better with less. The talk covers many examples of how people got spectacular value from limited resources.

He suggests three principles to get to frugal innovation into your own organization:

  1. Keep it simple – don’t try to impress
  2. Build on existing and widely available resources
  3. Think and act horizontally

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR


tDCS: Brain-Zapping for Creativity and Focus

Posted on by by Posted in Achieving Goals, Creative Thinking, Procrastination, Productivity, Time Management

Fun Stuff Brought To Us By Mad Scientists

A recent study found that participants were performing better than usual in a creative task when they received electric stimulation of the brain.
The method is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and this particular treatment was set up to increase activity in the right hemisphere, while diminishing activity
in a part of the left hemisphere involved with sensory input, memory, and language.

If you’re intrigued – or alarmed – by the idea of sending electric current through your brain, I recommend this Radiolab episode:

It does a great job explaining how tDCS works, including interviews with participants, researchers, and other neuroscientists who might have a more skeptical view of this method.

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR


Featured Video: Does Brainstorming Work?

Posted on by by Posted in Creative Thinking

In this very short (2:21) animated video, Jonah Lehrer makes a case that criticism is an important driver of creativity:

If we want to come up with new and better ideas, we need to interrupt our most comfortable and efficient (but lazy) way of thinking. So, in order to be innovative, we should actively seek out disagreement and criticism by others.

I would add to this: if we manage to adapt this attitude genuinely, and if we keep practicing it, I believe that we can become masters not only in creative thinking, but in social gracefulness and in building respectful, enriching and diverse relationships.

by Ursina Teuscher at Teuscher Counseling, LLC


Summer Reading Recommendation: Children’s Fantasy for Grownups

Posted on by by Posted in Book Recommendations, Creative Thinking

Michael Ende. The Neverending Story.

Many of my German-speaking friends will have read this one, and would quite likely list it as one of their favorite childhood books. In the English speaking world, the book seems to be less well-known. Some people I asked seemed to have a vague idea of “wasn’t there a movie in the 80’s? With a white dragon…? Yes?” No! I’m NOT recommending the movie (among others, the author himself hated it quite fiercely).

The book, however, is one of the most beautiful fantasy novels I’ve come across, starting with the print itself: the hardcover edition is printed entirely in colored ink, purple and green, for the different story threads.

Without giving away too much of the plot: a shy and bookish boy, Bastian, needs to find his journey through a fantastic world and back into his own by following the (too?) simple instructions: “Do What You Want“. A quest that is much harder than it may sound.

Like many books that are loved by children, this one was not written solely with children in mind, and it is worth picking it up as a grown-up again. Some of the big themes of the book are the exploration of free and true will, of the responsibility to decide, and of creativity as a force.

 


Featured Video: Can You Make Yourself Smarter?

Posted on by by Posted in ADHD, Creative Thinking, Intuition, Performance, Academic Achievement

This RSA talk by Dan Hurly is a bit slow (I recommend listening to it while doing something else, rather than watching), but I found the content excellent, well-researched and important.

(The actual talk starts at 1:30 and ends at 27min, the rest is Q&A.)

Here’s why I believe it’s so important:

1. Smartness matters. 
Intelligence is often underrated as a geeky and nerdy quality, irrelevant for practical purposes, or even worse, as being a hindrance for emotional and intuitive skills. That’s very wrong: general intelligence is highly related to emotional and social skills, and even to health and longevity.

2. Yes, we can become smarter.
Therefore I think we should make that effort – not just for ourselves, but for the coming generation. Let’s remember that the children who are now in school are the ones that will make decisions for us when we’re old. Let’s give them the best possible chances of becoming smart!

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR


Creativity Tip – How to Make Other People Think for You

Posted on by by Posted in Career Development, Creative Thinking

We’ve all experienced it: we’re talking to somebody, and suddenly they are trying to solve our problems for us or give us unasked advice. Our first impulse? Shutting them down. Saying, “yes, but …”, and making clear that their idea is neither new nor helpful. But here’s the thing: if we do that, we’re missing out on some great creative potential.

If you want to get into the habit of thinking more creatively, here’s a tip.

Whenever you feel like saying “yes, but…”

for example:

  • “yes, but I don’t have enough money for that”, or
  • “yes, but that will take too much time”,

instead say “Oh, yes!”, and then something to make your friends think even harder for you (since they seem to love doing that). For example:

  • “Oh yes, what a great idea! I wonder how I could make this happen within the tight budget I’m on.”
  • “Oh yes, that’s a fantastic idea. Do you think there might actually be any way to make this feasible in such a short time frame?”

In other words, take the suggestion seriously, treat it as a brand new idea, and throw the ball back. I keep being surprised how often this results in new, better and actually useful ideas.

brains500

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR


Book Recommendation: “Decisive” by Chip and Dan Heath (2013)

Posted on by by Posted in Achieving Goals, Book Recommendations, Career Development, Creative Thinking, Financial Decisions, Health Decisions, Strategic Planning, Business Decisions, Organizational Development

Chip and Dan Heath (2013). Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work. New York: Crown Business.

Book Cover: "Decisive" by Dan and Chip Heath

I was impressed with this new book by the Heath brothers, a very helpful guide to decision making. It does not offer any formal tools to evaluate options, but a process with powerful ideas that are easy to apply to any personal or business decision.

They call their approach the WRAP process, an acronym standing for (1) Widen your options, (2) Reality test your assumptions, (3) Attain some distance, and (4) Prepare to be wrong.

Here’s a sample of some ideas that I’m finding very effective with clients as well as for my own decisions:

For widening your options, they propose the “Vanishing Options Test”: what would you do if the current alternatives disappeared? This question forces us to think creatively, oftentimes bringing better solutions to mind than the ones that seemed most obvious at first.

Also, consider opportunity costs: if I didn’t do this, what else could I do with the same resources?

Always think AND, not OR. Can you follow multiple paths at once?

For attaining some distance, they suggest the simple but powerful question: “What would I tell my best friend to do in this situation?”

For preparing to be wrong, they introduce the idea of a “tripwire”: set a date or trigger for revisiting the decision. This will not only prevent you from getting stuck on a bad track, but it will give you a certain period where you will have the permission and peace of mind to fully commit to your current action plan, without tormenting yourself about whether this was a good decision or not.

Chip and Dan Heath also offer a great resources page on their website, with free cheat sheets and worksheets summarizing their process.

by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR

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Featured Video: Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

Posted on by by Posted in Creative Thinking, Procrastination, Productivity, Time Management

In this RSA animation, Steven Johnson talks about his research into what kinds of situations and environments are most conducive to great ideas and creativity:

It turns out that good ideas take a lot of time. There’s not usually an “Eureka” moment, but a slow development, often requiring exchange of ideas, creative conversation, and collaboration.

That’s why coffee shops are so important! :)

But also, the increase in connectivity that came along with new technologies can be seen as a major engine of creativity and innovation.

 


Seth Godin: Do You Ship?

Posted on by by Posted in Achieving Goals, Creative Thinking, Procrastination, Productivity, Time Management

Seth Godin makes the case that having great ideas is not difficult. “Shipping” them – actually getting them done and out – is the hard part, and the important part.

Shipping is not just hard because it takes a lot of work, but also because it’s scary. It’s our shipped stuff that will be judged, and – as opposed to our brilliant ideas – the finished product will never be perfect.

I can relate to that very well, because almost everything that I ever accomplished in my life required me to get out of my comfort zone – not only the big projects, but even the daily little shippings, like sending emails, or posting stuff to this very blog.

So how can we do it?

  1. Commit to delivering on time. For bigger projects, set your own deadlines earlier than the date you really want to be finished, and set deadlines for steps along the way.
  2. Get into a routine. Protect regular time in your schedule to work on the important stuff. I find early mornings best for not getting interrupted or distracted.
  3. Once the shipping date gets closer: embrace the fear. Being aware that shipping is scary is the first step in overcoming our excuses. Also, notice that fear and excitement can feel very similar to our bodies. Oftentimes, when we experience fear, we would have just as much reason for excitement. (“I have this opportunity to give a talk in front of 200 people! How exciting!!” “I’m ready to ship now! Wohooo!!”)

What do you want to ship? When is your deadline, and what will be your best scheduling routine? And what’s your fear, and your excitement?

 


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