A chance remark by a painter I admire sent me down a rabbit hole from which I am only just emerging. And now that I think about it, that is exactly what this post is about. What is the difference between meaningful exploration and creative procrastination? How can we resolve the tension between chasing the new and buckling down to work? Is there a magic allocation of time or is there perhaps something better?
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Supportive Environments for a New Year, Part 3
When we think of environment, “time” is not usually something that comes to mind. And yet our temporal environment – the way we structure, manage, and collectively define time – has a huge impact on what we do and how effective we are doing it. How can we think about shaping our temporal environment to better support ourselves?
Supportive Environments for a New Year, Part 2
As part of my ongoing exploration of how to reshape my environments to support my 2026 resolutions and intentions, I consider the formidable power of the information environment. What does my world of information look like? How might I reshape it to better support my needs and intentions?
Supportive Environments for a New Year, Part 1
Resolutions and intentions are easy to make but hard to convert into action and change. So, I’m starting the year off by going back to basics which, as an environmental psychologist and artist, means taking a hard look at my studio environment and pondering how I can get it to better support me in doing the things I want to do.
I have just finished a year of small writing experiments and you, dear reader, were part of my laboratory. What are small experiments and what can they teach us? My own experiments have been instrumental in helping me incrementally find my way in the world of blog writing.
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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.
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In 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.
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When 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.
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My 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.
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Artists 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.
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When 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.
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Is 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.
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Is 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.
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Is 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.
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Sometimes 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.”
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Your 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.
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Are 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.
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A 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?
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Always trying to do your best can keep you from getting things done.
Read MoreSmall experiments – whether in the design of spaces, programs, or just our own lives – can have big impacts. They can also keep us from making big mistakes. Although the quick, flexible, and impermanent nature of small experiments can make them feel haphazard, they are anything but.
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