Tag: creativity

Finding continuity in a fragmented world is challenging. Deep work can help when you can focus undistracted on a single task, and you concentrate your attention on doing the right things in the right way. But it’s a luxury. Distractions and commitments are waiting behind every corner.

What if we could find continuity in fragmentation? Imagine saving your thinking session like you would suspend your computer. All applications remain open, all files are saved, and you can resume your working session just by waking up your PC by pressing a key.

What’s the analogy with a thinking session? If we grow a habit of using the last minute of a thinking session to summarize the critical thoughts and the open questions, it would be easier to resume thinking where we left it.

It’s a matter of discipline and habits, once again, in my journey. It’s too easy to rush closing work and to jump to the next task. We need to force us to reserve some time to close our thinking applications and saving the open thoughts. That’s the first area where we could improve in our Mental OS (TM).

A valuable thing to try in my next working and thinking session will be to apply this session-saving approach. This article, for instance, it’s a snapshot of a recurring idea I keep on thinking about, and I’ve never had the chance to set in writing. Will it be an effective saved thinking session to resume my train of thought. Let’s discover it in one of the following articles.

I am Massimo Curatella, and this is my DAY 23 Article in the CREAZEE Daily Writing Challenge and my 160th daily article in a row. 

Why am I looking for methods and tools to solve problems and to be creative?

I do it because I’d like to make my life easier and more fun. I tend to get bored and to be distracted. So curiosity is a form of escape for me. And I find amusing those games, tricks, and methods that help you to discover the world.

So when I do my work as a designer or as a teacher, or as a coach, it’s because I want it for myself. It’s a way to commit to delivering and sharing my ideas, tricks, discoveries, and explorations with others. It works as a motivation for me to be creative.

Somebody said that the best way to learn is to teach. That’s why I want to teach because I want to learn.

We can also say that the best way to learn is to design, to make that’s why I want to design. I like finding solutions to things, especially when they lead to novel and useful solutions. That is the definition of creativity.

I don’t like to be alone too much. It’s also a way to attract the interest of creative people, or people who want to play with me and want to create worlds, create stories, and create businesses, projects, and something that makes me feel alive.

I understood that only by exposing myself, for instance, on the internet, would I expand my reach and my chance to know other people. And so far, the journey has been fantastic. I’ve met hundreds of people. Some of them became friends. Some of them became clients, some of them became providers, colleagues, business partners. And in some of the communities I created, some people who met there became a family.

So being creative and sharing your creativity means not only thinking and trying to be fun and original, but it also means making. You have to make something to share.

Suppose you create environments, fostering and promoting collaboration. In that case, you develop communities where you can multiply the effect of being creative while having fun and dealing with the world’s wicked problems. And if you do it well, it can also become your profession. You can earn a living by doing that.

This is why I write, I facilitate, I design, and I build things: to feel more alive.

I am Massimo Curatella, and this is my DAY 22 Article in the CREAZEE Daily Writing Challenge and my 159th daily article in a row.

Pursuing long-term goals is something we can do only by setting coherent short-term goals.

We can grow an ambition to achieve a big goal in our life. If we look at that North Star shining in the foggy sky of our dream, we risk keeping it where it is, a dream. That future context, when we will be successful at what we want to achieve, needs to be discounted to the present. And capitalized. It’s only by investing a small sum, a little effort, every day, in a consistent way, that we can see that North Star approaching our reality.

Walking 1’000 Km in a year

In 2017 I had any possible pain: neck, shoulders, back, legs, feet. If we went for a short walk, I would cry. Tears would slide down my cheeks, and I would not be for the joy of meeting you.

By crying, I started to put my body together. I would walk every day. Why? Because I couldn’t go on like that.

Long story short. Every year I’ve waked 1’000 km. My life changed. I have no pains. I sleep better. I feel better.

Writing 500’000 words in a year

Starting to walk when that action procures tears to you means you need long walks to get accustomed to it. Those were the moments when I began to listen to audiobooks and podcasts and record my thoughts. Thanks to audio transcribing tools, I started to collect a lot of journal entries. I got the habit of walking, talking and transcribing, daily. This opened my interminable flow of thoughts, ideas, desires.

When I put together 356 days of writing, I got half a million words on paper. I was amazed. How was it possible to write so much. After all of those years without collecting a word.

Then I started a blog. Then a challenge to write and publish an article per day.

This is my 149th daily article published in a row.

Creating an online community of Creative People

How could I reuse all of those words? I’ve learned so much on my skin about creativity, habit-forming, tools and techniques to ideate, connecting concepts, publishing.

That is why I created CREAZEE. In April 2021, 15 Challengers are making a habit of creating every day. We’re only at Day 13, and we have already produced thousands of words.

And that is not my job. I did all of the previous as a side-hustle while carrying one extended family through a Pandemic.

Do it small but do it every day

We need a system to follow daily, to create small contributions bringing us to more complex successes. We can achieve significant objectives only by creating a habit. That is the system that we need because we can win big only if we win small, every day. 

Start now by doing a little thing, and keep on doing it, every day. You’ll reach the stars without even realizing it.

I am Massimo Curatella, and this is my DAY 13 Article in the CREAZEE Daily Writing Challenge and my 150th daily article in a row.

Planning is an activity bringing the future to the present. When you define your intentions and make them manifest, you act in two ways. You do something now because it is appropriate. And you decide you will have to do something in the future to follow up. Unless you want to drive by sight, you need to plan your future actions.

You plan when external forces require you to commit to a future action: going to the doctor, delivering a project, meeting a person, celebrating a birthday, paying bills.

You should plan also, and foremost, to make your dreams come true. To satisfy your needs and wants, to lead your life.

Think about creativity. You can free-flow writing every day and always have something to say. But is there enough continuity?

If you want to write a book, a longer article, a course, a report, the script for a show or a movie, you need, at the very minimum, to plan some critical steps to go through.

How to plan

What should you schedule today that you will do tomorrow? And why?

For forced events, the answer is easy. Either you comply with requests and obligations, or you don’t. But what about your desires? How do you plan creativity?

Sometimes you just can’t. You can plan to be in a context in which you will be creative. You can refine your ritual of preparing to create and schedule the right time in the right place to perform it. That would already be an outstanding achievement.

What to plan

OK, you’re in the mood. You closed all browser tabs. Your smartphone is off. What shall you do? In this case, you need to have an inspiration bucket. Think about the 100 ideas, for instance. In your ritual, in addition to preparing for creativity, you add the step “Pick an idea.”

How much to plan

Start to set any reasonable amount of time you can reserve for your creativity. A Pomodoro Session, which is 25 minutes, is always a good start. Not enough? Discover it when you do it. Adjust accordingly in Pomodoro increments: you might need two or three Pomodoros for a long creative session.

Where to plan

You should have one calendar only. Time is linear. You are not multi-dimensional yet. So either you reserve some time for that crucial meeting or get the dog out or cultivate your creativity. Yes, is that important. You should have time slots booked on your calendar with the label “Important Meeting With Client” (to cover up for spying eyes). That Client is you.