In the November issue of O – The Oprah Magazine, Life Coach Martha Beck talks about creativity and her theory of deep practice. I heard her speak about deep practice – and it sounds very compelling. For the whole article, see http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200911-omag-beck-right-brain. The excerpts I found most interesting are below.
I’d like to know if you’ve ever seen the Kitchen Sink or Deep Practice methods work.
Kitchen Sink Method to Spark Creativity: In order to tap into right-brain thinking, she has a strategy she calls “Kitchen Sink.” She advises when you’re hit with a tough challenge or need to be creative, “read a few paragraphs in several totally unrelated books. Then relax. Play with your cat, wash the dishes, watch the neighbors through binoculars. Think of the problem periodically, then drop it again. Every writer I’ve ever met uses some version of it, as do Web designers, cartoonists, TV producers—all “content creators” who regularly face the terrifying thought, “Well, I’ve gotta come up with something.”
We’re all Content Creators: She writes, “If you’re not a content creator, wait a while. The 21st century is to content creators what the Industrial Revolution was to factory workers: In a world where information is superabundant, unique and creative ideas are hot-ticket advantages both personally and professionally. More and more people are finding more and more ways to parent, make money, find friends, and generally live well by relying on creativity. I’ve seen this shift among my life-coaching clients. … The demand for creative thinking is both a challenge and an opportunity. It requires us to use more than the logical left-brain skills we learned in school. These days, we all need to get back into our right minds.”
Posted by Kathy Sandler on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 12:01 AM