I’ve been reading Linchpin, Seth Godin’s new book, (pubs. January 26th) and you can see by my liberal use of little plastic flags, I’m finding a lot to mull over.
I even woke up this morning with one of the little plastic buggers in my hair.
What I’m loving about Seth’s book he has taken the ideas that I’ve been passionate about for lots o’ years and brought them together – linked them in a very linchpin way – to create a manifesto for how to thrive in this flat world and make the world a much better place.
It’s a kick-in-the-butt for becoming an artist who gives freely to her / his world, and thus, becomes indispensable.
Reading his book is like getting a letter from someone very, very smart that says,
“Dear Jen,
What you care about – what you get out of bed to do everyday – really does matter and really does make a difference.
Carry on.”
I know, I’m 47 and not supposed to need outside validation but c’mon, we who live on the fringes of the mainstream world like to know where not always so weird.
My favorite part of the book so far – the part that made it hard to sleep last night - is on page 135 where Seth reveals why he has been able to create so much since 1999 – 12 books, a successful Internet company, top 25 blog, a ton of brilliant speeches, another Internet company.
“I ship. I don’t get in the way of muse, I fight the resistance, and I ship. I do this by not doing an enormous number of tasks that are perfect stalling devices, ideal ways of introducing the resistance into our lives.
“A workaholic brings fear into the equation. She works all the time to be sure everything is all right, and she experiences resistance all the time. She satisfies the raging fear of her lizard brain by being at the job site all the time, just to be sure.”
I’d add, you don’t just distract yourself by staying at the job site. You distract yourself, sometimes for years and years, from what you really care about (just read some of the comments on the Win a Retreat post) in a multitude of very creative ways. I call these distractions shadow comforts or time monsters, but whatever you label them, the end result is the same:
Another year passes and the genius inside you shrinks and you settle for being less alive, less engaged
Seth goes on to say he does nothing to distract himself from the work – absolutely no busy work between bouts with the work.
“I can’t avoid the work because I’m not distracting myself with anything but the work. This is the hallmark of the productive artist.”
“It takes crazy discipline to do nothing between projects. That means you have to face a blank wall and you can’t look busy. It means you are alone with your thoughts, and it means that a new project, perhaps a great project, will appear pretty soon, because your restless energy can’t permit you to only sit and do nothing.”
Crazy discipline that you too can create.
Meditation helps.
Speaking to yourself kindly helps.
Talking to your fears helps.
Setting conditions of safisfication help.
Having a like minded community to witness you helps.
Taking periodic retreats to refuel helps.
And if you are saying to yourself,
“Yeah right, Seth’s rich and famous, he doesn’t have to ferry kids or make meals or get known by commenting on people’s blogs, he doesn’t have to meet with clients or invoice or network and I haven’t even started on my taxes.”
Seth would say that’s the lizard brain talking.
Granted, Seth has resources many of us don’t. But you know? Buy that story and you’re colluding with your lizard brain.
How long are we going to hide behind busy work and other people’s needs and not “ship” (as in get out the door) our own creative genius?”
What if today you took the time and energy you spend defending why you can’t do your creative work, add to that the time you spend doing stuff for others that they can do for themselves, and see what you have on hand. I’ll bet it’s enough to get your mo-jo started.
A final word from Seth:
“Letting silence into your day gives the daemon [muse] a chance to be heard from.”
Yes, indeed!
How about joining me for some staring-at-the-blank-wall time today – and every day? I’ll report in the comment section how it’s going for me – I hope you will, too. I’m going to challenge the Comfort Cafe to do this with me. Let’s see what we come up with.
Related posts:
20 responses so far ↓
1 Seth Godin Jan 20, 2010
This is powerful stuff, incredibly useful to me. Thanks for sharing it.
PS I cook dinner and shop daily, and have since I started out on my own 20 years ago! Sometimes that means getting up a little early in the morning to squeeze it all in though.
2 Hiro Boga Jan 20, 2010
Jen, thank you for this! Just reading it made me sigh with pleasure, opened my heart into its natural spaciousness, and helped my shoulders settle back down where they belong.
The creative spirit is a shy creature who’ll emerge, like a deer in the forest, when there’s open space and silence to surround her.
Thanks so much for this lovely reminder.
3 Tweets that mention The Silence of Becoming A Linchpin » Comfort Queen -- Topsy.com Jan 20, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jennifer Louden and HiroBoga, Crys Williams. Crys Williams said: RT @HiroBoga: How to nourish your creative spirit. Lovely new post from @JenLouden: The Silence of Becoming A #Linchpin http://bit.ly/6WKmKK [...]
4 Melanie Jan 20, 2010
Hi Jen, saw a reference to your work here on twitter. Thanks for this. it’s great writing and sharing and you know what? we all need outside validation no matter our age. We need someone clapping at us, telling us we are brave, courageous, on the right path. I applaud you
5 Square-Peg Karen Jan 20, 2010
Thanks for this, Jen.
I love your call to silence – to being aware of “shadow comforts” – and I’m grinning over your use of plastic bookmark flags. This is so timely for me.
I’m in for the staring-at-the-blank-wall time!
Seth Godin’s work always resonates (and encourages and inspires) me – I look forward to the new one (and will likely plaster it up with flags as you did.)
6 Wulfie Jan 20, 2010
Good review and makes me want to get the book. Very helpful ideas that might even help me figure out what the heck my nebulous, non-thing is! Or even just bring me to the place where not having a ‘thing’ is fine.
Thanks.
7 Jennifer Jan 20, 2010
Thanks Seth for commenting. I’m now madly curious how you actually structure your days and deal with “life stuff” but I’m proud to say, rather than commenting here, I spent an hour being with what might want to come next. Lots of ideas and thoughts and moments of lizard brain for sure. Thank everybody else for joining in. Stay tuned!
8 Diedra Jan 20, 2010
“What you care about – what you get out of bed to do everyday – really does matter and really does make a difference.
Carry on.”
Jen this is so profound that it strikes me to my core. As someone who is always trying to de-value what I do, “I’m just a wife and mom who dabbles in writing and art”, it’s a sound smack to wake me up so I know that I am creating, even in my small way, something very important.
9 Susan Christerson Brown Jan 20, 2010
When we aren’t looking busy, we can’t justify what we’re doing to others. That’s scary enough. But having to sit quietly and face that blank wall, or page, or screen is another level of scary, even though it’s where good things come from. Thanks for naming the fear, it makes it easier to contend with.
10 Lisa Jan 20, 2010
I love this, Jennifer! For a while, I was practicing some “intentional boredom,” simply just sitting in my favorite leopard chair and staring into space, letting the thoughts flow and watching different emotions move in and out. You wouldn’t believe the insights that have visited and the ideas that have emerged from that place!
I would love to revisit this practice, and join you in some stare-at-the-wall, blank time…
And oh, Seth, I can’t wait to get my hands on this book!
11 Donna Jan 20, 2010
I’ve always joked that a good portion of my writing time involves “staring out the window”. I don’t try to justify it to anyone anymore, because I know it works for me, and now, after this post, I know WHY it does.
I hate the thought of my creative genius shrinking inside, all in the name of stalling, and being afraid, and choosing things that end up not mattering as much to me.
Another wonderful thought-provoking post — thanks for sharing.
12 Ishita Gupta Jan 20, 2010
This is really inspirational, thank you for your insight.
Sometimes it takes a post like this to make you see where you need to focus – on the work!
thanks so much for sharing.
13 Catherine Caine Jan 20, 2010
Oh, this post hits me right in the slack! I’ve been wondering, now that my biz is starting to do well, how I’ll cope with rockin’ it out AND keeping it up at the day job.
But I have so much Stuff I fill that time with. If I cut out all the useless, repetitive oh-did-I-get-an-email? timewasting, I can do lots more than I’m doing now.
Thanks so much for this,
Catherine
14 chris zydel Jan 21, 2010
Dear Jen,
Thanks so much for this post. I love the reminder to calmly and quietly get to work doing what I’m meant to do.
And yes, yes, yes to how critically important the spaciousness and silence and staring out the window time is in maintaining a healthy relationship with our muse.
I know that’s what works for me but I still succumb to the guilt of not being more productive when I give myself that time and space.
So thank you for doing what YOU do so well which is to provide the permission to give ourselves the nurturing that we need in order to live our most satisfying creative lives!!!
15 Sally Evans Jan 21, 2010
This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I’ve been working on and trying to figure out. I am now very curious too how Seth Godin accomplishes this.
I aspire to get out of my way and to give away the myriad of tasks that distract me.
Thanks!
16 Andrew Lightheart @alightheart Jan 22, 2010
Wow wow wow.
I’ve been watching this trap of the mind for a long time – that any time the mind wants to go faster, it’s running away from actually moving.
Same with: I won’t be successful if I don’t do all this stuff, and it’s likely that a lot of that stuff *directly* gets in the way of me being successful in the way I want to be successful.
Staring at the wall time?
In.
17 lynn @ human, being Jan 24, 2010
A boss once “wrote me up” for daydreaming on the job. I was a the company newsletter/donor magazine writer, and what I was really doing was writing the stories she was paying me to do write … but in my head. I’d stare at the wall, or out the window, or pace in my office, or take a walk, in order to piece together the four interviews I’d done, to write my column.
Because I was young and REALLY hung up on what others thought of me, I started filling my creative thinking time with “looking busy” so I wouldn’t get in trouble. And that caused me to become less efficient, less creative, and to feel like my work, and especially my process, was “wrong”.
Reading this post made me realize that this habit, started 12 years ago, sticks with me today. And on Monday, I’m nipping it in the bud.
18 The Soul Doesn’t Need a Platform | Comfort Queen Apr 28, 2010
[...] have a platform and an auidence. You can rape your soul just as easily, maybe more easily. Yes, shipping is important but it’s far more important is explore and express and learn for the love of [...]
19 The Platform – is it fun or soul-sucking? | Be yourself for fun and profit. Apr 29, 2010
[...] have a platform and an audience. You can rape your soul just as easily, maybe more easily. Yes, shipping is important but it’s far more important to explore and express and learn for the love of [...]
20 The Soul Doesn’t Need a Platform Apr 29, 2010
[...] have a platform and an auidence. You can rape your soul just as easily, maybe more easily. Yes,shipping is important but it’s far more important is explore and express and learn for the love of [...]