As the stock market jitters wildly and the media speculates dire straits, we take comfort in this piece from Jeremy Siegel’s seminal book, Stocks for the Long Run, an essential reference for anyone wanting to understand investing. It’s the memo that brokerage firm Dean Witter issued to its clients on May 6, 1932 after stocks plummeted 85 percent from their 1929 high.
Read MoreThe Big Fat, Very Essential Question in Neil Gaiman’s Wise Words
As ever, Neil Gaiman nails it. But there’s a big fat, very essential question buried in his wonderful words…
Read MoreJocelyn 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.
Read More‘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”…
Read MoreAlisa Barry’s Encouragement Cards + Care Packages
A couple of weeks ago, a big cardboard box arrived in the mail with an unusual sticker on it: BE BRAVE. What we found inside blew us away.
Read MoreHow to Fight a Mall-Like Internet!
When long-time blogger Tina Bray described the looming probability of a mall-like internet, it hit home HARD. There’s a simple, inexpensive way to stem the tide….
Read MoreMira Keras’ Rule of ReInvention
Improvised Life Editorial Assistant Mira Keras also happens to be a tattoo artist recently featured in Buzzfeed. She developed a survivalist’s approach to right-livlelihood that works for both Millenials and Boomers navigating rough economic seas.
Read MoreMorph Your Ancient Laptop (even Macs) into a ChromeBook
After Improvised Life’s part-time editorial assistant Mira Keras had a health challenge that lasted months, causing extended leave from her two steady gigs, her laptop broke. It happened just as she was feeling well enough to return to virtual work at Improvised Life AND when her emergency-slammed finances were at an all-time low. She told me about…
Read MoreA Few Tools for Getting Unstuck + Amy Friend
Getting STUCK, whether in a relationship, decision-making process, or career path, is very much part of being human. In our productivity-obsessed society, it is an especially big concern. Here are some approaches we’ve found that work.
Read MoreGutenTag’s Graphical Day Planner Inspired Our Own
We’ve tried numerous day/task planners in our quest for one that really works. We recently came across a graphical way to plan time that claims to liberate us from linear agendas and apps. The GutenTag Method features a clock face that you stamp into a notebook so you can graph you day around it. We found downsides and wonderful benefits once we started hacking the idea.
Read MoreWhen It’s Important to JUST SAY NO (Lady Gaga)
(Video link here) At Improvised life, we often preach saying YES….but here’s the catch: Sometimes saying yes to what’s right for us also means saying no to things we feel obligated to do…things we may do because of some old-fashioned guilt, or because others are making us feel like we “have to”. In a recent talk…
Read MoreInspiring Messy Workspaces of Famous Creatives
(Video link here.) They Might Be Giant’s just released their new song I Made a Mess, which is a sort of homage to something we strongly believe (#12 in our Manifesto): Making a mess is an essential part of improvising. Here, then, is our visual ode to wondrous in-flux workspaces of some spectacular creatives to view while you…
Read MoreJim Henson on Making Art Make Money (Money as Energy)
Puppet artist Jim Hensen’s illuminating view of money was partial fuel for Improvised Life’s new Friends with Benefits program, through which we hope to continue to make “concrete things happen out of worthy ideas”, with our heart and principles intact.
Read More“Do What You Love” Every Day in Small Doses…
Recently, Sally showed me Gordon Marino’s NY Times article, “A Life Beyond ‘Do What You Love”. The gist: the oft-repeated 21st century American mantra of following your true passions — instead of dull but reliable career paths — is misguided. There’s a hint of naïve entitlement to making “Do What You Love” the be-all-end-all answer to the workday blues, just…
Read MoreImprovised Life WITH Ads (NOT)
Lately, we’ve been mulling ways to support Improvised Life. One thing we’re sure of: we hate ads on websites. Even though we understand the economic realities that make ads a part of life, we’re going to see if we can find another way to keep Improvised Life afloat AND a clear space, full of unique ideas.
Read MoreThe Human Library: Check Out People Instead of Books
With libraries quickly reformulating their mission statements to survive, this innovative library believes stories are much better shared when they come from the source. At the Human Library, you actually borrow a person who has stories to tell gathered from a unique life experience. “For half an hour, you can sit down with a prostitute,…
Read MoreUnusual Paths: Why Give Up Celebrity to Become a Buddhist Nun?
In this quiet, yet curiously fast-moving 7-minute video portrait, Chudrun explains what led her away from a life of celebrity, drugs and materialism at the host of BBC’s Top Gear to one of reflection, compassion and ritual as a Buddhist nun. Her leap onto what might seem an opposite path and the willingness to change is at the very heart of improvising.
Read MoreWhat To Do When Lost, Creatively or Professionally
Often as we curate content for Improvised Life, we’ll find that posts from different blogs and sites resonate with one another, as if finishing each other’s thoughts. Recently, an article in 99U about a driven entrepeneur feeling that his work was HIM seemed to echo what many people we know have struggled with: That their…
Read Moremessy or neat workspace: which is best for you?
Remodelista recently published the winner of the Best Reader-Submitted Office Space in their Considered Design Awards. We find the image of the office downright eerie: not a paper in sight, no evidence of…a person, the opposite of photographer Ralph Morse’s perfect capture of Einstein’s desk, where you could practically hear his thoughts. It made us…
Read Moreartful improvised receipt storage (via maria robledo)
We found this wonderful image on Maria Robledo’s Instagram. Ohhh, what a great method of storing receipts (emptying pockets or bag then-and-there.) Thrown into a space between books —some amazing ones at that— they take on a curious beauty. We have a box in an easily-accessible file cabinet that we throw them into to collate…
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