I create art because I love exploring materials, techniques, and ideas. I create to help make sense of my thoughts and emotions. I create as a way to communicate ideas. These drives are not unique to me. In fact, they reflect fundamental human needs. Being sensitive to these needs can have a profound effect on well-being – whether in our organizations or ourselves.
Read MoreIn a world designed to capture our attention through ever more sophisticated means, perhaps the most revolutionary thing we can do is to decide for ourselves, with intention and care, what to pay attention to and what to ignore. A rational inattention approach can help us do just that.
Read MoreWhen you can’t think yourself out of a problem, it’s time to act. But taking action doesn’t mean that the action has to be big or even that you have to be particularly sure about it. In fact, often the best actions are small experimental ones. This small experiment approach is what I’ve been using to try and break through my creative block.
Read MoreMy brain is so overloaded these days that it’s affecting my creative work. It’s time for a mental spring cleaning! Over the past week, I’ve been using the KonMari method to tidy up my mind and close out the open cognitive loops of mental clutter.
Read MoreLike Jello and cement, once our minds are set they are hard to change. This has certainly been true of my “paint scarcity” mindset in the studio. One alternative to trying to think ourselves into a new mindset is to look to the environment for help. This is just what I did when I set out to shift my paint scarcity mindset by creating a micro-environment of abundance.
Read MoreEnvironment matters. It’s easier to get daily exercise in a city that is designed for walking than one that is designed for driving. It’s easier to eat a healthy diet if that is what’s on the menu. And it’s easier to learn a language in a city that immerses you. Unfortunately, that is not Barcelona. In my ongoing effort to tip to Spanish fluency, I find myself wondering if I can tweak my environment in order to offload some of the learning burden from my own waning willpower.
Read MoreArtists communicate not just through art but also about art. We talk about our work. We teach. We care about helping people understand. And yet in our excitement to share everything we know, it is all too easy to share too much. To think about content but not form. And so, like so many well-intentioned communicators, we end up overwhelming or boring our audience. We can do better.
Read MoreWhen it comes to planning, why do we tend to overestimate our abilities and underestimate time and costs? This year, I’m coupling my annual art practice planning with a “premortem” technique. Read on to learn more about cognitive biases, premortems, and my own Christmas Carol inspired process.
Read MoreI’m feeling grateful and pleased that my painting, Head On Again, recently won first place at the 2024 Cold Wax International Juried Exhibition. Grateful, pleased and … lucky. What does luck have to do with it?
Read MoreI fell into a period of creative hibernation after my brother Jim passed away suddenly in November. I was not expecting grief to take such a toll on my creative drive and ability. One thing that has helped is studio time that is free from intention and instead focused on simply enjoying the suspended moment of the present.
Read MoreSocial media platforms are masters at tapping into our cognitive biases and inclinations in order to keep us hooked — often at the expense of our mental energy, ability to focus, and self-esteem. Understanding what they’re up to is a first step in figuring out how to use social media in a more sustainable way.
Read MoreIs it really fear we feel when we worry about what other people think about us or our work? Reframing “fear” in this context as “vulnerability” helps identify a range of useful strategies for thriving in an uncertain social environment.
Read MoreIs it really fear we feel when we are in situations where we don’t know what we’re doing? Reframing “fear” in this context as “confusion” can help us identify a broad range of strategies for what to do when we feel out of our depth.
Read MoreIs it fear that artists and writers feel when facing the blank canvas or page? Reframing fear in this context as uncertainty about how to make a start or keep going can help us identify concrete ways to become unstuck.
Read MoreSometimes what we label as fear is really uncertainty, confusion, or vulnerability. Read on to learn how reframing fear can lead to problem-solving solutions that are more useful than the vague encouragement to “be brave.”
Read MoreYour brain’s tendency to keep reminding you of unfinished tasks can leave you feeling overwhelmed. But you can use the mental pull of the unfinished to your advantage in jumpstarting your day or starting something new.
Read MoreAre unsolved problems rattling around in your brain and keeping you up and night? You can work to quiet this ongoing mental activity or you can harness it by calling on your subconscious for a problem-solving assist.
Read MoreA quirk of human cognition is that we are much better at remembering the things we haven’t finished than we are at remembering the things we have. This can leave us stressed out and feeling unproductive. What to do?
Read MoreIn this short post, I reflect on the recent drivers of change in my artwork.
Read MorePractice strategies you can use to turbo-charge the knowledge construction that underlies expertise.
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