Creative Mondays #026 – Creative Goals
If you’re anything like me, always busy, you can gain a lot by setting creative goals. I’m not speaking of big lofty goals like: get a book published or have a gallery opening or have my play produced on the stage. These are big creative goals. I’m not saying those aren’t good goals to have, those are great goals to have. I’m talking about smaller creative goals that will lead you to those bigger creative goals.
I am a big proponent of working day by day, bit by bit on achieving those big creative goals. Those big goals don’t just happen overnight. In order to get a play produced, you have to write it. In order to have a gallery opening, you need to paint enough pieces to put into a gallery. So you need to look at those goals and see what goals you can set right now to achieve those bigger goals you have in mind.
Recently, I’ve started planning things out for the week every Sunday evening. I look at the week ahead and I jot down a list of things I want to accomplish by this time the following Sunday night. I break down all the current projects I’m working on and then come up with some things I can, conceivably, get done during the week to get closer to accomplishing those goals.
For example, I’m currently working on a podcast called The Tales of Deputy Guppy. Over the past few weeks I have the voice over artists come in and record their lines for the fourteen episodes of the season. So right now, I have fourteen episodes worth of audio that ready to be edited and produced into final shows. Now, I would love to be able to make one of my goals:
Edit the fourteen episodes of Deputy Guppy.
That, however, is a pretty big task and I have a ton of other things going on during the week, so it’s not going to get done no matter how much I want it to get done. So, I break down the goal into something more manageable:
Edit one episode of Deputy Guppy.
That is doable. In fact, I know I can do a little bit more so my goals then become:
Edit one episode of Deputy Guppy.
Choose the ‘selects’ for the next episode. (Selects are the takes by each voice actor that I really like and want to use in the final show.)
By doing this I have taken a near impossible task and broken it down into two little tasks that get me a step closer to achieving that big task.
Doing this also helps your brain wrap itself around completing that big task. Telling myself I have to edit fourteen episodes in one week basically makes my brain shut down because it knows that that is a LONG boring week of being glued to a chair editing. However, by breaking it down, my brain goes, “Oh I can do that and do that pretty quickly.”
And I’m not afraid of breaking down things even further. If it’s going to be a super busy week, I’ll make fewer goals. I will, however, do SOMETHING that gets me just a little bit closer to completing that big goal.
So why not try it this week? Take one of your creative goals and break it down into smaller pieces. Pieces big enough to be accomplished in a week’s time with the time you have available to put towards that goal. Then focus on getting those small things done this week. Then, at the end of the week, take the next little piece of that big goal and plan on getting that done the following week. If you can do this, put your mind to it and really do it, you’ll see that your big goal gets completed in no time.
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What goal are you working towards right now. How are you going to break it down into pieces you can tackle this week. Let us know in the comments below!
6 Numbers You Didn’t Know Were Total Jerks
6 Numbers You Didn’t Know Were Total Jerks
By Grant Baciocco
Numbers. They are all around us. We use them everyday. We count things with them. We add them, we subtract them, sometimes we even multiply or divide them. But did you know that for all the good they do us, there’s six of these numbers that are total jerks?
And it’s not the numbers you think would be total jerks either. For example, 666 is a really nice number who got a lot of bad press for a contract it signed to appear in the Bible. A move the number thought would be a good business move, but it had missed the part in the clause where it said the writers of the bible could portray him in any light they chose. But even through years of negative word of mouth, 666 is not a jerk. In fact, the number donates over half of the royalties he makes from the bible to a local animal shelter.
The six numbers on this list, however, are in no way as magnanimous. Read on and prepare to be shocked.
6. Number ∞
Ugh. ∞ or Infinity is a major jerk. Part of the reason is that he is made up of all of the numbers. Forever. And he will never let you forget that fact either. His memoir: I’M ALL THE NUMBERS. FOREVER tanked in bookstores because it was just page after page of nothing but those same two sentences repeated. ∞ uses the fact that he is all numbers, forever, to buy stores out of popular products like iPads or to buy out entire theaters on opening day of big movies. No one is quite sure where ∞ gets all the money to do this, but he does. And here’s the most infuriating thing about ∞, HE’S NOT EVEN A REAL NUMBER! HE’S AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT! But that doesn’t’ make him any less of a jerk and that’s why he’s on our list.
5. Number 197
Everyone knows that the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started the ball rolling towards World War I. Gavrilo Princip was the man who carried out the assassination. Number 197 was the who sold Gavrilo the pocket sized FN model 1910 pistol he used. 197 knew exactly what Gavrilo was going to do with the gun and he still sold it to him anyway. Why? Because 197 was out at the market and wanted to buy some chocolate bars and forgotten his billfold at home. Gavrilo saw 197 searching for his wallet and spied the gun and made the offer. 197 agreed and the gun was sold. 197 never faced any sort of conspiracy charges and, unlike everyone else, was pretty unaffected by World War I. Hope that chocolate was all you wanted. Jerk.
4. Number 1
Number one is a huge jerk and it is all because he is Number 1. Being at the front of a long line of numbers can go to your head and it has in this case. Number 1 is always taking credit for launching rocketships, counting off songs, being first in all the calendars and for having more broadway songs with his name in it than any other number. It doesn’t help his ego that every league leading sports team fans chant his name over and over. Even when confronted with the concrete mathematical facts of number zero and all the negative integers, number 1 scoffs and says, “It all starts with me.” When asked for a comment about being on this list, Number 1 replied, “It doesn’t matter if I’m the biggest jerk or the least biggest jerk. When you get to the top of your list, you’re gonna need me to finish it all off. I’m #1 baby.” Total Jerk.
3. Number 13
You almost want to feel bad for Number 13. Early on he, like 666, got some negative press. Instead of being something cool, in his eyes, like the mark of the beast, Number 13 is just unlucky. He’s often ignored or skipped over. People freak out if he goes on date with his girlfriend Friday and buildings will leave his name off of their elevators even though they do have a 13th floor. All of this mistreatment over the years has made Number 13 surly and unpleasant to be around. Almost as if a self-fulfilling prophecy. People don’t not want to be around him because he’s unlucky. But because he’s a jerk.
2. Number 616
At the beginning of this article we spoke about Number 666 and how he was trying desperately to live down the bad contract he signed years ago to appear in the bible. Well, not many people know that Number 616 signed a similar contract and, unlike Number 666, has been doing all he can to live up to the reputation. Also known as the Number of the Beast (the devil), Number 616 has done all he can to promote Satanism around the world. He even went as far as self-producing an animated series to try and lure children into the thrall of Beelzebub. He owns a cult like compound in South Dakota and lures young runaways there to be his ‘brides.’ When parents come there looking for their daughters, he has them arrested for trespassing. Thought, legally, he has done nothing wrong, his attitude and actions get him a big ranking place on our list of numbers that are jerks.
1. Number 7
Probably not a shock to those who know him. Number 7 tops our list of numbers that are the biggest jerks. If you thought Number 1 had an over inflated ego, you haven’t met Number 7. Number 7 has let all the ‘lucky number’ stuff go directly to his head. And the problem is, he actually IS lucky so it just feeds his ego even more. The amount of money he’s made of slot machines that feature his likeness alone, could solve the country’s debt problem. His deal with the market chain, 7-11, nets him billions a year. (Side Note: The deal also nets Number 11 a very pretty penny, but you don’t hear Number 11 bragging about it.) Number 7 owns large houses around the world and is notorious for leaving all the lights on in all of them 24 hours a day simply because he can afford it. He refuses to donate to charity or even do any charitable work saying, “I worked hard to get where I am. They can do the same.” Although rumors of his cannibalistic tendencies towards the number 9 have never been proven, he won’t flat out deny them. Last year he was at the center of a controversy when a picture surfaced showing him next to an elephant he had apparently shot in a hunting expedition. The news quietly disappeared from the newspapers around the same time it was revealed that Number 7 had bought the countries largest papers. Number 7 is a big jerk.
And there you have our list of the 6 numbers who are the biggest jerks. And remember, these are only the biggest jerks. There’s lots of other numbers who just narrowly missed out list. Number 1,345 who was arrested for hoarding cats. Number 598 who is a notorious womanizer. And do we even have to mention the shenanigans that Number 36 pulled? Numbers are everywhere and a lot of them are jerks.
Creative Mondays #025 – The negative brain.
I was talking to author, Mur Lafferty the other day. Though we talk occasionally via text or Tweet, we hand’t spoken at any great length for some time so there was a bit of catching up to do. Even though Mur and I are sort of on different paths, she’s an published author, I’m a…well, whatever I am, we are both creative folks and we always find we feel the same way about certain situations that happen in our career. One of the things we have in common is the random flare up of the negative brain. That part of the brain that, even when something really good is happening, you focus on some negative aspect of it. And a lot of times, for me, this tiny negative thing will completely outweigh all the good. Mur and I spoke at length about this and I figured it’d be good to bring up here as some of you may have the same issue.
My therapist, yes, I go to a therapist, says the negative brain is a hold over from our evolutionary past. At the time when we, as early humans, had to constantly be thinking about the negative things in order to survive from day to day. We had to think about the worst because the worst was always right around the corner. What if we don’t find food? What if that wild animal attacks us? What if this lake dries up? We constantly had to worry about it. Luckily, most people, have things easier these days, but the negative brain is still lingering with us.
I’m going to give you an example now of a recent flare up of my negative brain. Unfortunately, I’m not going to get specific with the details. I hope that, even by being general, you’ll get my point. A year or so ago, I was offered a huge creative opportunity. This was one of those things where it was so big I, of course, had to say yes. And I did. I was over the moon with excitement about this. Huge smile on my face for days after I found out. Then, as I began hearing details about this project and I realized that my involvement in the project, while still a huge opportunity, was not as big as initially thought it was going to be. The project was still happening, I was still involved, it was just that tasks I thought would be assigned to me were going to be done by others.
Now this opportunity was something that people would PAY to do. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I was going to be one of a very small handful of people to get to do. But my negative brain wouldn’t let me see that. My negative brain was constantly reminding me that I wasn’t going to get to do every aspect of this amazing job that I wanted to do. And, in the end, it slightly tinged this incredible experience because my negative brain wouldn’t let me enjoy it.
This negative brain is something that I’ve had for a long time, as long as I can remember. I guess the good thing now is that I’m recognizing it and can now focus on trying to fight it. But the question is…how?
I’m sure that folks who are affected by this would just say, ignore your brain when it does that. That’s a good piece of advice. Easier said then done sometimes, though. In thinking about what my therapist said about the negative brain being a holdover from our primitive self I thin the best solution is to EVOLVE. Evolve my thinking to focus on the positives of the situation and not the negatives.
So if you have ‘negative brain’ know that you aren’t alone. And you absolutely must not let it get in the way of your creativity. Even if your brain is focusing on the negatives of a situation, you must keep pushing through with your creativity because not creating is worse!
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Do you suffer from ‘negative brain?’ If so, let us know how you fight it in the comments below.
What Other Are Creating #006
Howdy friends!
Time for another edition of What Others Are Creating. There wasn’t one last week just because I didn’t seen any new projects to mention. As I always say, if you have a project you’d like me to check out, please let me know in the comments and I will do so. Always on the look out for new and interesting projects to feature. With that out of the way, let’s get on with this week’s projects.
Brodrick “Jigsaw” Jones – http://jigsawfanclub.com – Jigsaw Season 5
I was a fan of Jonesy’s work before I met him. While surfing around the internet one night I came across the fun that is the Jigsaw video thing. They are short, funny, relatively family friendly, puppet videos that have an amazing look to them. They tell the story of Milton the Robot and Dr. Cranium and the wacky characters around them and they are all puppeteered (mostly) by just one guy. Jonesy. Jonesy is one of those people who is just really creative. So creative it makes me mad. But I still love him. Season 5 of the Jigsaw Video Thing just started and you can check out the first episode of season 5 by CLICKING HERE. Or you can go back to the start and watch them all by CLICKING HERE. Either way, click, enjoy.
Carrie Seim – http://www.carrieseim.com – NY Post Article
I met Carrie through my Improv troupe Improvatorium. She’s a hilarious person on and off stage and we’ve had a ton of fun working together. She will be the female lead in a new audio drama I have coming out in the next month or so and I couldn’t think of a better person to work with on it. When she’s not improvising, you can find Carrie traveling the world and writing articles for such publications as the New York Post. She has a new article out, just this week, about men who apologize for bad behavior. Give it a read by CLICKING HERE and then check out Carrie’s website at www.carrieseim.com
Frank Conniff – Podhouse 90 – http://frankconniff.com
It’s no mystery I’m a fan of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. When I moved back down to Los Angeles after college, one of the first weeks I was here, I went to see a stand up show called Frank’s Chop House run by TV’s Frank, Frank Conniff. I’m glad to say that since that night in 1998, I’ve become a friend of Frank’s and he was so supportive of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd, becoming the guest star that returned the most times. Well, Frank now has his own podcast and you should really give it a listen. Funny, politically based stuffed and a huge, talented cast. (The cast includes some other Mystery Science Theatre Alumni as well, so it’s a must for fans.) Check it out by visiting Frank’s website http://frankconniff.com
Joel Hogson – Gizmonic Information Club – http://joelhodgson.com
Again, no secret, I’m a fan of Joel Hodgson. Well, he’s got a new email list set up and if you are a fan of Mystery Science Theatre, I suggest you subscribe. I’ve been following Joel on Twitter and he’s been dropping some hints about some cool things that may be coming in the, not too distant, future. I can’t wait to see what it might be! You can sign up over at http://joelhodgson.com.
Well, that’ll about do it for this week. Again, if you have a project you reckon I should check out, either your own or someone else’s, please leave it in the comments below. I’d really love to see what else is out there other than the random things I stumble upon.
Have a great week!