Work In Colour - Work. Think. Live. In Colour
Tuesday 1st March 2011 | 7 comments
I recently wrote a post about my search for that quality called equanimity. Judging from the number of comments posted online (and the private emails I received) it struck a chord. Clearly I'm not the only person trying to stay sane in an often insane world.
But today I want to throw a fox into the equanimity chicken coop.
While composure and a sense of perspective are vital, if you actually want to create something new, rather than just responding to life, you also need another quality. The rather wonderful Eric Maisel in his rather wonderful book Brainstorm calls this quality 'productive obsession'.
He reckons that if you want to actually get a new project out of your head and into the world, you need to obsess about it...productively.
He distinguishes between unproductive obsessions (worrying about aging, or endlessly replaying a conflict at work, or our unactioned desire to write a book) and productive obsessions (how to improve the library cataloguing system, or sort out the plot of our novel, or actually starting our own business). The productive ones are connected to a sense of meaning and a real desire and determination to make something happen or change in the world.
While they start as ideas in our heads, they become productive when they develop a life in the world. Big juicy meaningful projects demand that you really immerse yourself in them - another subject on which I've written.
Maisel suggests you run a one-month experiment, and see how much time, energy and focus you can divert into your project. His book is packed with plenty more tips and ideas, which I may delve into sometime in a future post.
Maisel advises: ' Choose an obsession that is grand - or one that at least isn't too small. Choose an obsession that will gratify you - that genuinely connects to your interests, passions and existential need. Choose an obsession with some guts - one that has some weight, some meat on its bones, some heft. Choose an obsession with the potential to galvanise you - you want to be awakened, to experience your adrenaline flowing, to feel revved up and driven. Choose an obsession that amounts to a gamble - if you're too sure of the outcome, you're very likely to bore yourself.'
My current productive obsession is getting my new Escape Hatch careers website and book launched in the world - what's yours?
Tag: creativity
Love this post, especially the gutsy language used by Maisel.
My productive obsession is to change the model of NZ Libraries so that they survive and thrive. I am furiously working on a number of fronts to achieve this - and loving it!
Thanks Sally. Isn't he a great writer? And I love your obsession, working with libraries would certainly be challenging and exciting in these digital times...good luck with it!
Wow Joanna, your current obsessions sound exciting. My productive obsession is creating a national recognition day for a quite large group of to-date invisible and unrecognised women I identified quite while ago. I've stuggled with how to best go about it, but hopefully it's coming together now. I love the references to Eric Maisel btw. I remember his coaching materials for working with highly creative and narcissistic people (around about 10 years ago) was brilliant. Gaye
Like. Always an informative read and inspiring
Thank you
Gaye, Veronica, thank you! It's great to hear about other people's obsessions, good luck with yours!
Greetings Joanna
I am up early this morning to work on my productive obsession so thanks for helping me to see it that way! My productive obsession is to create a collective shift in consciousness from 'I" to "we' through the evolution of school communities. This will involve cultural transformation, values alignment of the school community, personal transformation of school leaders and embedding explicit values education into all social and learning aspects of schools. I see schools as pillars of our communities - forging the way for a new way of being - one where we see a shift from its about "me' to its about 'we'; from being the best on the planet to being the best for the planet. Schools as models of vibrant, living breathing communities with shared values that bind the group together. My productive obsession is grand alright coming from deep within my core. I'm definitely not sure of the outcome or the complete road to get there, but I feel alive and inspired by the possibilities of this journey.
nb. If my little voice had its way I wouldn't be putting it out into the world at all. Luckily , in this moment my higher self is leading the way so watch out world!
Each time I share my productive obsession, the flame within be burns brighter and stronger. Thanks for listening.
Nicola
Thanks Nicola, really interesting to hear about your productive obsession - sounds very exciting! Good luck with it...