productivity/work

Sublimely Analog Chalkboard Drawings of Mathematicians, Rudolf Steiner, Twombly Inspire Our Own

“This is what thought looks like” begins Dennis Overbye’s article about Jessica Wynne’s remarkable photographs of mathematician’s blackboards, that reminded us of Steiner and Cy Twombly…

Richard Feynman’s Simple Technique for Learning Just about Anything

Richard Feynman, the brilliant Nobel physicist and “great explainer”, devised a simple 3-step technique for learning things. We’ve found it mightily effective and for preparing for a talk or workshop.

Stephen Nachmanovitch’s ‘The Art of IS’ Decodes Improvising As a Way of Life

YoYo Ma described The Art of IS as “a philosophical meditation on living, living fully, living in the present.” We find it full of surprising ideas that are also incredibly helpful.

A Modern Mantra That Helps Frame Difficulty and Change

Lately, we’ve found ourselves saying an unusual mantra when we hit difficult situations. It affords an instant, very interesting shift of view, as do the lovely flower mandalas we stumbled upon about the same time.

Gold High Heels and Other Uniquely Personal Ways to Focus Your Mind (Mira Keras)

Former Improvised Life assistant editor-come-star-tattoo-artist Mira Keras wrote this spot-on description of a writer procrastinating. She discovered something essential in the process that unleashed her productivity.

How to Look After Yourself

We found this great, simple list on DoLectures’ twitter and find it a helpful reminder for small ways to navigate the day in balance:

Private Office Rituals That Make Work Better, Deeper, Richer

Accepted for artists, rituals are taboo in the business world even though they can enhance productivity and well-being. Peter Bregman tells how to use them in any setting (once you understand what they really are and do.)

Benediction for Living a Creative Life, from John O’ Donohue

A reader wrote that she has poet John O’ Donohue’s benediction tacked on her fridge to remind her to “let my work feed and refresh me”. Which is what it does for us, mightily.

What We Do When We’ve Done Everything We Can and Feel We Should Do More (Chris Eldredge, Pat Steir)

When we’ve worked hard taking care of something and feel there is still more we should do, leaving us restless and worried, we employ this 10-word reality check, learned from a psychotherapist friend.

By viewing time as something incredibly delicious, would we feel like we have more of it?

A random sign got us wondering if shifting our view about time would, in fact, make us feel like we have more of it.

How To Change a Negative Habit

Over the years, I’ve learned that change doesn’t happen over night, but it WILL happen if I practice these five steps…

How to Do Nothing (Jenny Odell)

One of the very best things we’ve read recently is Jenny Odell’s ‘how to do nothing’, a thoughtful deep-dive into the fraught and very taboo idea of “doing nothing”.

Why Napping Is Essential to Well-Being and How To Do It (with Haiku)

Sleep researcher Damien Leger is determined to dispell modern-day guilt about fatigue and napping, because, he says, it is an essential practice, not a luxury of the lazy or entitled…

Jocelyn Glie’s Newsletter: Ideas for Finding Creativity and Meaning Delivered to Your Inbox

Among the email newsletters I subscribe to, From the Curious Mind of Jocelyn K. Glei is one where I always find something that challenges my thinking and/or makes my life better.

Brian Eno’s Early Handwritten Oblique Strategies Cards Inspire Our Own

Brian Eno’s original set of handwritten oblique strategies cards designed to break creative impasses made us wonder about making our own…

Slow Walk to Happiness and Gratitude (Leo Widrich)

Buffer founder Leo Widrich discovered that practicing deliberate slowness in times of high stress yields feelings of happiness and gratitude. His practice is amazingly simple…

Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy: Don’t Wait for Inspiration. Do this instead…

This video of artist and musician Brian Eno is full of interesting ideas about the creative process. The best, to us, is right up front in the first 1:44 minutes…

‘Don’t try’ and other Practical Wisdom from Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski said many wise things in his life. We especially like is antodote for depression and burnout, and his views on “trying”…

Sardinian Women Show How to Wash Dishes with Passion and Joy

Our friend Peggy Markel took this remarkable little video of women in a church rectory’s kitchen in Sardinia washing dishes as one sang loudly in dialect, refusing to be shushed…The BEST way we’ve seen to transform an ordinary household task.

Viewing the Day as a Blank Canvas

Every morning when we open our office for work, we take a minute to look at this image of artist Lucio Fontana. We love its enduring message.

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