Sometimes you just need to think. People do all kinds of things to avoid thinking. They procrastinate, rationalize, take a break, sleep, argue, whatever.
You can Judge, Label, Belittle All so you don’t have to think. Too much of it going on these days.
The result is negative energy, slowing yourself down, when you need to Move Faster to accomplish your goals and move on other things.
Maybe you never so this, but most of us do once in a while. Try to catch yourself, retrain yourself.
The above was the result of a CEO training where we used stream of consciousness to try to quickly tackle a problem identified by the group. It evolved into a discussion about using defensiveness as a weakness when trying to manage difficult employees. Criticising people who work for you can be extremely damaging, and something they never forget.
“In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the poet or artist would go into ecstasy, or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. …” — Wikipedia
Why Inspiration?
Inspiration is the catalyst of almost all great things, and it often comes from trying to be just a bit different. I indented the paragraphs in this book to be a bit different.
In the startup world, all great products and business ideas come from inspiration — “Hey, what if the world had ____ ?” That surge of feeling, happiness, the light going on, endorphins, and sometimes even anger, creates a momentary heightened intelligence and vision.
The dictionary defines inspiration as “ a sudden burst of creativity.” Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia about the history of inspiration:
Ancient models of inspiration.
“ In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the poet or artist would go into ecstasy or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. He or she would be transported beyond his own mind and given the gods’ or goddesses’ own thoughts to embody. ”
When you’re going about your process of trying to innovate something new in the commercial world, defining your processes, putting your time in, trying to be as clever as you can, you can easily feel like you’re diluting or leaving behind your original inspiration. This happens to me sometimes, and I try to protect myself from it.
“You’ll often wonder why you’re not coming up with the amazing idea, the killer app, the silver bullet. But, with the right ingredients, that’s exactly how inspiration comes along. If you combine all of the above with optimism, sincerity and enthusiasm, that’s where the amazing discoveries happen. You can’t predict or control exactly what or where they will be, you have to, as Nike says, “JUST DO IT.” Challenge yourself, be a little bit scared.
“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”
-Michelangelo
Dear startup CEO… do something crazy!
Being a CEO is an expression of the person, of self, of self image, of an individuals unique thought processes, ego. taste and style. CEOs also evolve over the years as they learn, have successes and grow more confident.
That’s why at times some CEOs look a bit ridiculous – they unknowingly show the world their bad taste or biased opinions or unreasonable thoughts. But that’s O.K., it makes the CEO more human, and they’re trying to channel their creativity. It is also the necessary process, and the vulnerability you need to venture into in order to find the good stuff – the truly creative breakthroughs. They’re on the way to good things.
When thinking like an artist, a CEO can experiment, let go of some of the many arbitrary rules we create for ourselves in the business world. The best ideas come from the willingness to experiment and throw away the bad ideas. Many artists find amazing breakthroughs when they make mistakes, put things out of order or look at something upside down.
First time CEOs often don’t even try to experiment; they’re busy enough handling the basics. They assume they should wait until after they have had some success, but they should try some crazy ideas as early as possible. When people try to “make art” unpredictable things can happen.
I relate this to my own artistic outlets – painting, digital design, photography, where I often create by discovering a mistake that produces something I had no idea I could do.
Then I try to incorporate those thought processes back into my business world, i.e “What if we tried…” “Let’s forget the rules for a minute, look at this differently.” By having the confidence to try crazy things my confidence increases. Often the crazy idea is not usable, but once in a while I’m rewarded with a pleasant surprise. All innovative CEOs do this.
painting
Software developers are very familiar with creative experimentation but the rest of us don’t see it, we just enjoy the results. Abstraction, encapsulation, namespaces – these are all ways of experimenting with code, tweaking it util something cool or unexpected happens. Imagine all the experimentation that happens when software like Photoshop or iOS is improved.
Another thing artists learn to do is to change their point of view – step back, turn it sideways, set something aside, wait a day or so and look at their project with a little more perspective. By doing this they see new things, and time can often make everything a little more understandable, less stressful.
In my paintings I constantly see things I could change. My mind wanders. I make mistakes that are great discoveries. Once they’re complete and up on a wall I’m still experimenting in my mind.
There are times a CEO has to make very difficult decisions regarding money or employees or products. These are serious, non-artistic moments. Try approaching these events and decision with creative thought, using different perspectives, like an artist would. Open your mind bit more. It will take some practice but the results will make you smile.
Books I’m Reading …Or, have read recently, with links to Amazon to purchase.
I’m on a binge of reading –– non-fiction and fiction books so far in 2020. The genres are all over the map but somehow seem to fit my mood(s). Here are some of my recent and current reads.
1. Memoirs, Autobiographies (Non-Fiction)
There seems to be a surge of personal memoirs right now by the famous and semi-famous. I’ve always like memoirs because they’re written by the subject and are condensed into a specific period of one’s life.
I find them to be very honest and eventually uplifting.
Adrienne Bodeur is an accomplished writer in a long line of accomplished writers, including her mother. This book is Adrienne’s personal story growing up, with some almost unbelievable twists and turns.
She is forthcoming about her mothers and her own misdeeds while tangled in a decades-long secret love affair between her mother and her father’s best friend.
Wow, what a crazy story. Peres was running one of the hottest magazines in the world, DETAILS, while taking up to 60 oxycontin pills a day. He bares his truth with strong writing and brutal honesty about himself and everyone around him, but is a bit pompous in his accounting.
Often autobiographies by celebrities talk about their drug use, but this one is only about his drug use.
Nevertheless, an amazing read. You’ll enjoy this ride.
What ever happened to her, the 1990s pop icon? Well it’s all in here. A very revealing and humble account of her life. She is Honest, original and absolutely remarkable in her confessional writing style.
2. Business (Non-Fiction)
Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs, Silicon Valley
This is a topic I’m very interested in right now as I build a new brand for my work and writings called startupCEO Media. I’m realising that the definition of the startup CEO is changing, and in many cases small is better.
Galloway, a professor at NYU and very successful entrepreneur, has been a predictor of the downfalls of evil-doers in tech for years. He’s usually right.
In this book he tears apart 4 giant U.S. tech companies. – – – Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google. He gives awesome statistics and lays out why these companies need to be stopped, broken up, before they destroy our economy. As a major customer of 3 of these, it was hard for me to accept that they are such ruthless businesses, but very enlightening.
The most epic novel I’ve read in a decade is WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens. I don’t usually read this type of book, I’m more into thrillers and stories about big cities. But man, this was an incredible story, and as a writer, I was fascinated with the extremely well crafted structure of this book. And it’s her first novel. Very inspiring.
It’s a story that takes place in rural South Carolina swamplands.
I love reading real books made out of paper, but about half of the time I use a Kindle or iPad to read.
The Kindle is a pretty cool invention, and the cost is so low, starts at about $49 with internet access. I use the Kindle Oasis. It’s the top of the line $249 model.
The 2nd edition has a few additions, new photos, corrections etc. But more important –– it was reformatted specifically for Amazon Kindle platform. This edition is only available on Kindle for now, and price was reduced from $8.99 to $2.99.
![Furor Poeticus [Poetic Madness]](https://tomnora.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/furor-poeticus.jpg)
