Todd Henry is a superstar successful author who, next month releases his 4th game changing book- Herding Tigers. His first book, The Accidental Creative, How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice is this month’s (December 2017) Modern Leadership Book club deep dive and the reason I invited Todd to join us.
Todd is host of the Accidental Creative podcast and a self-proclaimed arms dealer for the creative revolution. He writes and speaks on creativity, productivity, and passion for work. So, basically, being brilliant.
Episode Summary: How to be Prolific and Brilliant with The Accidental Creative Todd Henry
- Be prolific in life and work
- Started with a podcast (the Accidental Creative Podcast is almost 12 years old)
- Creativity is problem solving. If you solve problems, you are a creative
- Not just artists, but business owners, employees and entrepreneurs. You are ALL creatives
- Be mindful of how you structure life so you can be creative when it matters
- Even lawyers
- We take our creativity for granted
- Because it is mysterious. It takes time to trace the genesis of an idea
- We cannot force creativity
- Creativity is making connections- connecting dots
- And they solve problems
- The problem is we are less than intentional about our problems, relationships, work etc.
- Stimulate creativity through rituals
- Snow-mageddon
- Little energy over time over maximum effort all at once- energy management
- Energy management can be more important than efficiency- they are different
- How you layer commitments
- Prune the vineyard- don’t let new fruit drain resources
- A lot of mediocre or a little very good fruit
- Mediocrity is the result of energy drain
- Psychic vampires- suck energy out of the room
- Are there people, projects, personal commitments that you need to prune from your life
- Buckets of life- separate parts of our life
- You sit at the intersection of every decision in your life
- Be mindful of how every aspect of your life affects the other aspects
- People don’t remember the project, they remember the process
- When you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else
- We are in an age of increasing awareness and decreasing understanding
- Empathy takes time and sustained effort
- Are we losing our sense of empathy?
- Unplug and disconnect- take time to be unreachable- off the grid
- We cannot process all the information we receive unless we step back and process- look for patterns
Listen to the Audio
Subscribe to the podcast – Never Miss an Episode
Learning From Leaders:
Current Book: Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
Best Movie Ever: Gladiator
Leadership Superpower: Intuition, connecting dots and seeing patterns
Motivational Mantra:
[shareable cite=”Todd Henry”]Remember, you are steering the ship. Don’t allow your life to be dictated by others‘ expectations[/shareable]
Best Book Ever: (most impactful) Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins
Additional Items Mentioned
Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins