Productivity Prompt: Choose Pretty, Quality Tools

This is the sixth and last of this series of weekly Productivity Prompts - quick, simple tips or practices gleaned from productivity-related books or blogs that have helped me better manage my work, my time, or move things forward.

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Choose tools that make you happy when you work. The more they make you happy, the more you'll want to work with them.

Are your paintbrushes constantly shedding?

Would you prefer extra fine coloured pens to the blue BIC ball points you've been working with since kindergarten? (Not dissin' BIC here, blue ball points have a purpose I'm sure.)

How about your daily planner? Are you using the plain black one they give you for free at the office or would you prefer to have something that reflects your creative style amidst your fellow cube-mates?

Supplies are available for me at the office, but in some cases I choose to splurge on my own to have pens, notebooks and paper clips that bring me pleasure. Though it's subtle, they DO make a difference.

"The aesthetics of the tools you use to make ideas happen matter."

~ Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen

Try it. With just one small thing. You'll see.

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Credits, references & inspiration:

• Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen, Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision & Reality.
• Cirque du Soleil - In 2007 I attended a presentation by the Corporate Sales Manager at Cirque du Soleil and one of the things that stuck with me is their commitment to giving performers quality materials to work with. I remember him saying that we may not know that a jacket is made from good quality leather, but the performer who's wearing it does, and that will be reflected in his or her performance. This summer I saw their show Totem in Montreal and the main character's costume contained over 4,000 pieces of Swarovski crystal and mirrors. Now that's aesthetics!

Productivity Prompt: Setting a Temporary Focus

This is the fifth in a series of weekly Productivity Prompts - quick, simple tips or practices gleaned from productivity-related books or blogs that have helped me better manage my work, my time, or move things forward.

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Last week I talked about setting a daily focus by identifying three Most Important Tasks (MITs) that would make you a happy camper if completed.

This week is kind of the same, but different.

Instead of identifying tasks for a day or a week, I suggest identifying areas of focus for a longer period of time. For example:

"For the next three months I will focus my energy on hearth & home, finances, and photography."

Or, you may want to make it a little more specific:

"For the next three months I will focus on setting up the family room, reining in the food budget, and revitalizing my Flickr account."

The time frame may vary; I tend to work well with one or three-month periods. I did this while on a work sabbatical and it helped give structure and guidance to my time while leaving things pleasantly flexible.

For someone who wants to do everything (ahem) setting a temporary focus area can help harness energy so something actually gets done. It also helps us I-want-to-do-everything-now people practice patience by delaying tasks to the next chosen time frame and letting that be OK.

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Credits, references & inspiration:

• Word for the Year - A close cousin, choosing a word or theme for the year is excellent for guidance, but not quite as effective to get specific things done.

Scenes from the East Coast - Part I (Blueberries!)

I am tired today, full from last week's road trip to my beloved east coast. This week's Productivity Prompt will be posted within the next few days, pinky swear.

In the meantime I leave you with a few snapshots from a favourite outing: a morning blueberry picking expedition with Mom & Dad that quickly became a highlight of my trip...

Off a pickin' we go!

The flowers were pretty...

... and so were the fields.

But oh the berries. Mom said she'd never seen so many - and she's been picking wild blueberries for as long as I can remember!

They were big too, big clusters of gorgeous blue berries.

Our final haul after about an hour and fifteen minutes at work.

That big container on the bottom left alone held four litres.

I'm still gushing at the abundance and grateful that Dad's buddy allowed us to descend on his field by the river. I'm not sure he knows exactly how much of a treat he gave this urbanite visitor from Ontario.

Sometimes the simplest things bring the greatest pleasure.

Creative Inspiration

"The demons are innumerable, arrive at the most inappropriate times, and create panic and terror... but I have learned that if I can master the negative forces and harness them to my chariot, then they can work to my advantage.... Lilies often grow out of carcasses' arseholes."

~ Ingmar Bergman

Ideas are swirling, cogs are turning and possibility is permeating my heart and soul, the whole slowly morphing into faith and trust.

Here are a few things, people or spaces that have been inspiring me these past few weeks...

1. Marked by the Muse - Because Stephey Baker's artwork has captured me. Her Dream Song Series is magical.

2. Sophia Leadership - Because Heather Plett is bold, she speaks of leadership infused with creativity and intuition, and she is very convincing.

3. Bergman's Island - Because it's fun to learn about other creatives and what makes them tick. This is a beautiful and informative documentary about Ingmar Bergman, his life and his creative process.

4. Goddess Leonie - Because Leonie Allan Dawson is not afraid to dream - and act - BIG.

5. Dirty Footprints Studio - Because Connie Hozvicka is not afraid to paint and paint BIG. And while watching her video below I felt an unmistakable and undeniable YES rise through my chest.

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What inspires you these days?

A Year Ago This Month

sunset at Westboro Beach, Ottawa (August 2010)

I thought it would be fun to comb the archives and pull out a few favourite posts from this time last year. Funnily, most of these are still relevant today.

I hope they are for you too...

Permission to Simplify - It seems I was keeping things simple and OK with it, wondering what YOU could give yourself permission to simplify that day. The question remains: What could you give yourself permission to simplify today?

What's in a Name (or A Near-Manifesto) - In case you're curious, the story behind the name of my blog, Creative Living Experiment. This is one of my favourite posts.

Simplicity for Complexity's Sake - "I'm exploring and entertaining thoughts about stuff like trust, fear, roots, silence, gratitude, right work, nature, spirituality, practice, patience, compassion, surrender, money, control, values, worthiness and self-esteem." Whoa. I guess giving myself permission to simplify also gave permission to a lot of stuff to come up!

The Life You Crave - A quick quote from Tama Kieves via Barbara Winter on creating the life you crave. It still rings true today.