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It's the Weekly What? for Friday, January 11th
Inspiration vs. perspirationWasn't it Edison that said something about something being ninety percent perspiration and ten percent inspiration? (Yes, we know Google but we can't be bothered.) Hoo-boy are we ever finding it hard to get inspired to tackle the mother of all in-boxes. This happens every year and yet we're always surprised by the amount of inertia we have to overcome. We'll just read a few more posts on Facebook and then we'll get right to work and clear out in-boxes of the email and paper variety and won't that be the most productive day ever? All that stuff will still be there so it'll be no big deal if you take a moment to visit our Facebook page and answer this week's question! "Are you a morning person or a night person?" 
Creativity isn't just for "creative" types!Creativity is really all about solving a problem. (And no, selecting an art print that will match your couch is not "problem solving.") So, to greater or lesser degrees we're all creative thinkers. The daily grind and routine can stifle your innate creativity and make it difficult to generate new ideas (or be open to new inspiration). Here's a neat infographic with 29 suggestions for staying creative and mentally flexible! Need a break from that spreadsheet? Leave Facebook alone and go for a walk! >> When life (and weather conditions) give you ice......Make ice slides! Every winter, the city of Harbin (in Heilongjiang, China) is transformed by gigantic sculptures and buildings constructed out of huge blocks of ice. When the sun sets, things get really cool! (Oh, the pun! It burns!) The various structures are illuminated with a bazillion LED lights in a multitude of colors creating a stunning effect. (If you weren't aware of the scale you might think you were looking at photos of toys!) I wish we here in the soggy PNW could figure out some sort of winter "Rain" festival. We'll remind you of last week's ice cube recipe so you can get a start on creating your own miniature "ice city" should you find yourself so inspired. Make your own ice blocks!! >> A gallery of amazing books of art.You've probably seen the old books that have been carved up to create little bas relief sculptures. Well, Isaac Salazar has kicked things up a notch by creating 3D elements in books by folding the pages and tucking them back into the book. Make sure that you click through to see the full gallery on Flickr! And we thought origami was difficult! >> How are we doing? Got a hot news tip? Something to share? Click here to drop us a line! If a tree falls in the woods...So there was a tree. One day it falls over (we don't know if it made a sound or not, we weren't there) and after a while decomposes, creating an interesting shape. Oh wait... we forgot to mention the tree that was next to it that got cut down and turned into pencils. Anyway... the decomposed tree trunk that had rotted so interestingly provides inspiration for artist Jessica Drenk who then buys a bazillion pencils (which were made from the decomposed tree's neighbor) and turns them into a sculpture mimicking the rotten tree trunk. And the dance of life continues... >> It's full of stars!We always thought we had a pretty good grasp of the general hugeness of the solar system and a somewhat more vague notion of the gulf beyond Pluto (planet or whatever it is). But after playing with this interactive model of the galaxy we've realized that we really don't know what "huge" is. Or, conversely, the meaning of "infinitesimally small." Still, existential angst aside, it's great fun to zoom through the "unfashionable end" of the western spiral arm of the galaxy we call home. "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is." >> What do you expect from social media?And no, cute kitten photos don't count. We mean as a marketing/communication tool. What sort of ROI do you expect? One thing we've harped on in the past is that social media is for making friends first; building relationships. Not for selling. Once you realize that, you can then set up more realistic expectations for your investment in social media. Here's a great read on setting expectations for your ROI for your social media efforts. But if you want your ROI metric to be "number of cute kitten photos/videos" then hey! That's cool too! >> Take a break before you head back to work...We know that wading through these email newsletters can be a real chore, so before you put your nose back to the figurative grindstone, go fill up your coffee mug and discover the meaning of life. It'll only take a few minutes. >> The Weekly What? is more fun when you share! It's easy, just click the "Forward email" link below... keep going... a little farther down... there it is! Send this newsletter to a friend! Don't worry, we won't hit them up for money. |
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