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If You Want to Be Creative, Don't Be Data Driven

If you are a designer, engineer, or in any role that creates things, you probably hear a lot about "big data" and being "data driven." The assumption is that data equals insight and direction. But does it? Data, any data, in any amount brings with it problems that make it very dangerous to rely on alone.

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The 5 Steps to Strategic Thinking That Really Matter

I've been having an ongoing conversation with two or three executives lately that struck me as somewhat surprising. As an executive coach, I am also tasked with helping executives be more strategic. But finally this week someone asked me straight up: "What is strategic thinking?"

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Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays

Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer

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10 signs that you're a creative genius in the making

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Gamifying My Life

Have you ever wanted to hit the master reset button on the console of life, blow the dust off your cartridge, delete your saved game slots, and see if you can create something new and more awesome? Well, in the summer of 2012, I decided to play a new game-and you can too.

2 ideas 1.4K reads

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The "No Zero" Day - One Simple Way To Never Have An Unproductive Day

We like games. Video games, board games, cell phone games, and unfortunately relationship games. There's a really popular mental game we play with ourselves, too. It goes something like this: let's see how much we can put off in the shortest amount of time.

2 ideas 58 reads

📰 Article

The "No Zero" Day - One Simple Way To Never Have An Unproductive Day

We like games. Video games, board games, cell phone games, and unfortunately relationship games. There's a really popular mental game we play with ourselves, too. It goes something like this: let's see how much we can put off in the shortest amount of time.

2 ideas 52 reads

Hyperfocus

Our attention has never been as overwhelmed or in demand as it is today; we've never been so busy while accomplishing so little, and we've grown uncomfortable with boredom and a lack of stimulation and distraction.In Hyperfocus, Chris Bailey - described by TED.com as 'the most productive man you could ever hope to meet' - provides profound insights into how we can best manage our attention. He reveals how the brain switches between two mental modes - hyperfocus, our deep concentration mode, and scatterfocus, our creative, reflective mode - and how the surest path to being our most creative and efficient selves at work is to combine them both.The often counter-intuitive wisdom at play includes:- How working fewer hours increases our productivity- How drinking caffeine strategically instead of habitually gives us more energy- How we get more done by making our work harder, not easier- How we do our best creative work when we're the most tired

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The 3 Pillars of Creativity

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Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation

Why can some organizations innovate time and again, while most cannot? You might think the key to innovation is attracting exceptional creative talent. Or making the right investments. Or breaking down organizational silos. All of these things may help—but there’s only one way to ensure sustained innovation: you need to lead it—and with a special kind of leadership. Collective Genius shows you how. Preeminent leadership scholar Linda Hill, along with former Pixar tech wizard Greg Brandeau, MIT researcher Emily Truelove, and Being the Boss coauthor Kent Lineback, found among leaders a widely shared, and mistaken, assumption: that a “good” leader in all other respects would also be an effective leader of innovation. The truth is, leading innovation takes a distinctive kind of leadership, one that unleashes and harnesses the “collective genius” of the people in the organization. Using vivid stories of individual leaders at companies like Volkswagen, Google, eBay, and Pfizer, as well as nonprofits and international government agencies, the authors show how successful leaders of innovation don’t create a vision and try to make innovation happen themselves. Rather, they create and sustain a culture where innovation is allowed to happen again and again—an environment where people are both willing and able to do the hard work that innovative problem solving requires. Collective Genius will not only inspire you; it will give you the concrete, practical guidance you need to build innovation into the fabric of your business.

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4 Creativity Strategies To Recharge Our Brains As We Age

When we think about "creativity," images appear of artists, sculptors, writers, or composers laboring away at creating something unique and awe-inspiring. But what about the person who changes a few ingredients in a recipe? The thought process required for substituting basil for oregano in a sauce may be as beneficial as "brain games."

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How to Read a Painting

Art is a great status symbol in modern society and because of that it can be quite intimidating to the casual viewer. For many the first impulse is to

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Ikigai

Los Angeles Times bestseller • More than 1.5 million copies sold “If hygge is the art of doing nothing, ikigai is the art of doing something—and doing it with supreme focus and joy.” —New York Post Bring meaning and joy to all your days with this internationally bestselling guide to the Japanese concept of ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy)—the happiness of always being busy—as revealed by the daily habits of the world’s longest-living people. *And from the same authors, don’t miss The Book of Ichigo Ichie—about making the most of every moment in your life.* * * * What’s your ikigai? “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day? A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE

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The Ten Faces of Innovation

The author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation reveals the strategies IDEO, the world-famous design firm, uses to foster innovative thinking throughout an organization and overcome the naysayers who stifle creativity. The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation. Over the years, IDEO has developed ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the Anthropologist—the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the Cross-pollinator who mixes and matches ideas, people, and technology to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation. Filled with engaging stories of how Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Safeway and the Mayo Clinic have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, The Ten Faces of Innovation is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.

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The Day I Realised I was Running Out of Time

There's this semi-weird thing I do where each year, I calculate the odds of me living my life all over again. It works like this: I am 35 years old now, so I ask myself, could I live my age over on...

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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Every day we make decisions: about the things that we buy or the meals we eat; about the investments we make or our children's health and education; even the causes that we champion or the planet itself. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. We are all susceptible to biases that can lead us to make bad decisions that make us poorer, less healthy and less happy. And, as Thaler and Sunstein show, no choice is ever presented to us in a neutral way. By knowing how people think, we can make it easier for them to choose what is best for them, their families and society. Using dozens of eye-opening examples the authors demonstrate how to nudge us in the right directions, without restricting our freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new way of looking at the world for individuals and governments alike.This is one of the most engaging, provocative and important books you will ever read.

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Stop Trying to Be Productive

The internet wants you to believe you aren't doing enough with all that "extra time" you have now. But staying inside and attending to basic needs is plenty. When Dave Kyu, 34, an arts administrator in Philadelphia, realized that he would be working from home for the foreseeable future, he began to fantasize about the projects he could now complete around the house.

5 ideas 370 reads

Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame

a philosophy of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected

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The Purpose Of Life Is Not Happiness: It's Usefulness - Darius Foroux

For the longest time, I believed that there's only one purpose of life: And that is to be happy. Right? Why else go through all the pain and hardship? It's to achieve happiness in some way. And I'm not the only person who believed that.

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Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Constantly Changing World

The less rigid we are in our thinking, the more open minded, creative and innovative we become. Here's how to develop the power of an elastic mind. *** Society is changing fast. Do we need to change how we think in order to survive?

5 ideas 1.9K reads