Creativity Tips: Change is Good

Oh, come on. I can hear you groaning and we're not even in the same city.

Creativity thrives on change. Today, learn something new and put it to use. Take the road less travelled, and be inspired by the scenery. Listen to your kids, your colleagues, your significant others -- before you answer them. (For most of us, that would definitely be a change.)

And, yes, I did mean to make "significant others" plural. Why? Because we can change the way we think about the phrase.

We can change the way we think. Now, there's power.

Change is good. Or, as Frank Zappa once said, "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."

Today, deviate. And don't wait. Go first.

Creativity Tips: Listen to Lincoln

In honor of Presidents' Day, today's creativity tip comes from Abraham Lincoln:

Often an idea would occur to me which seemed to have force ... I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in that drawer. In that way I saved my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out.

Lincoln is talking about drive time. Shower time. Dream time. Whatever time it is when your brilliant ideas occur. Don't let them escape! Keep paper and pen with you, and file those scraps!

Scrappy ideas are often the best ideas ...


P.S. Lincoln, who wrote at the desk pictured here, is the only U.S. president to hold a patent. Talk about a creative mind ...

Friday Fun: Go Fly a Helicopter

I almost posted a "That's some valentine" valentine from one of my friends ... but, just in case any sensitive souls are reading this blog, I've decided to take the safe route.

Safe, unless you're in my helicopter. In which case, you're a goner. Enjoy the game, and I hope you're a better pilot than I am!

P.S. Thanks to Patty for pointing out the helicopter game.
P.P.S. And, to Vanessa, my funny valentine.

Creativity Tips: That's Some Valentine

A kid is lucky to have one great mother. I was doubly blessed. I have the world's best mom, Lillian Sokoloff. And, when Lynn Dougherty and I became best friends for life in fourth grade, Lynn's mom took me under her wing.

Her presence was a gift. Joyce Dougherty was one of the most creative women I ever knew. Whether she was painting, stitching or cooking, she was an artist.

She was also a cigarette-smoking, no-fools-tolerating spitfire, with rock-solid Southern manners. If that sounds like a contradiction, I'm guessing you've never been to North Carolina.

Today, I'm going to share one of Mrs. Dougherty's most creative lines -- one that you can use in any number of awkward instances:

That's some baby

What do you say when a proud new mama shows you the world's ugliest newborn? "That's some baby!" What do you say when a friend decorates a less-than-Martha-Stewart cake? "That's some cake!" And what do you say when your lover gives you a completely inappropriate Valentine? You got it.

Happy Valentine's Day. From me. And Mrs. Dougherty.

Creativity Exercise: A You By Any Other Name ...

As we continue our Valentine's theme this week, consider this classic from Shakespeare:

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet

Olympic gold-medalist Picabo Street knows "what's in a name." Street's parents let her choose a name when she was three. (No, I am not making this up. I heard her speak recently, and this tidbit was in the official bio.) Picabo chose an Indian name ... it only sounds like peek-a-boo.

If you could do that -- name yourself -- what would you choose today? And what do you think you would have chosen when you were three? If you'd like to share, I'd love to know.

P.S. My sister and I played this re-name game when we were kids. She chose Rose.

Creativity Tips: Love Is All You Need

I was flipping through a quote book the other day, and saw this line from Emily Dickinson:

That Love is all there is,

Is all we know of Love.

The line played in my head, transforming from poetry into lyrics, from Dickinson into the Beatles.

Love is all there is love is all you need love is all there is love is all you need

All you need is love. Along with 3 minutes and 41 seconds to appreciate that just because it's all been said before, doesn't mean you can't find a wonderful way to say it again.

Creativity Tips: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

No matter where you are in your love life, St. Valentine is in your corner. According to Catholic Online, St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, and young people.

I have been married long enough to know I shouldn't joke about the logical, albeit alphabetical, progression from happy marriages to the plague.

And I've been writing long enough to know there's a poem hiding in that list.

This week, let St. Valentine watch over you. Get out of your comfort zone and be a traveller. Visit a tattoo parlor or a toy museum, a friend's church or a dueling piano bar. Go somewhere new.

You might find something you love.