Clutter and Creativity

by Ali on September 1, 2010

Yesterday, I got a lot of the clutter out of my study, and dealt with some mental clutter too, knocking off a few quick-win tasks.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by the results. Maybe I should’ve actually listened to all the people who’ve told me that clutter (physical and mental) gets right in the way of creativity.

Because yesterday, I felt suddenly inspired to write fiction, for the first time in … quite a while. After several hectic weeks finishing a chunk of my novel to MA-dissertation standard, I was feeling pretty darn low on inspiration and pretty darn high on frustration.

Yet, I got the best part of a scene written. It wasn’t on my plan. I didn’t make myself sit down and do it. I don’t have any deadline whatsoever for this. I just felt like writing.

Somehow, the process of tidying broke down a growing block in my head. And this got me thinking about the relationship between clutter and creativity.

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Journey or Destination? (How About Both?)

by Ali on August 20, 2010

What matters more – your journey or your destination?

It’s a stupid question, really. It all depends on where you’re going, and how much you enjoy the process.

In a couple of months, I’m off to Blog World in Las Vegas. I’ve booked my flights. Rather than flying direct from London to Vegas, I’m changing planes to make the trip cheaper. Yes, the journey won’t be so fun – but te reason I’m going isn’t because I get a kick out of sitting in a metal tube for ten hours. I’m going for the destination: Blog World.

The journey/destination metaphor appears a lot in personal development advice: you’ve probably come across it before. Some folks think the key thing is to enjoy the journey – after all, you have to live through it (for months, years, even decades):

The purpose of goal setting isn’t to control the future. That would be senseless because the future only exists in your imagination. The point of goal setting is to improve the quality of your present-moment reality.

(Steve Pavlina, Personal Development for Smart People (book) – Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk, p53)

Others focus on the destination – if you get to where you want to be, life’s gonna be a whole lot more fun:

Put reminders of this goal all over the place – your bedside table, your computer monitor, your rearview mirror. Whenever you take an action of any type, ask yourself if that action is helping you reach your goal. Is buying this unnecessary thing really helping me reach my goal? Is sitting on the coach vegetating really helping me reach my goal?

(Trent Hamm, The Simple Dollar (book) – Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk, p47)

So who’s right? Who’s wrong?

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Getting Back on Top of Life

by Ali on August 13, 2010

This post is a sequel of sorts for “When Overwhelm Hits Hard“.

You’re struggling with a burden that you’ve been carrying too long. It felt fine, even easy, when you picked it up, but as you walked, it seemed to grow heavier and heavier. You’re getting tired, too. You’re not strolling along easily any more. You’re not enjoying the journey. Every step feels like a big effort – and you can’t understand why.

Sounds familiar? I reckon it’s not just me who feels like that from time to time.

Life can get hard. This isn’t always to do with external events (in fact, you can probably think of times when you were happy and thriving despite everything the world threw at you).

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When Overwhelm Hits Hard

by Ali on August 6, 2010

Can’t you help me be uncrazy?

(Metallica, The Unnamed Feeling)

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt overwhelmed. Not consistently, but when it comes, it’s been a strong and scary feeling. And I want to share a bit about this, not because I have all the answers (I don’t really have any answers), but because I want to reassure you that you are not the only person who goes through this stuff.

Here’s how it’s been for me. Last week, I was struggling to write. I’ve got an assignment due in 4 weeks, which makes up 60% of my assessed work for my MA.

Our wedding plans have been going smoothly, but a few days ago it felt like there was still lots to organise – and it all seemed like too much.

On top of that, it’s that time of the month, where I’m always prone to bursting into tears at the sight of a cute baby, or getting mad at Paul for something totally arbitrary. (Sorry, love.)

I know there are plenty of ways to deal with stress. I know what’s likely to calm me down – making a list and checking things off slowly, journaling, going for a walk, taking a shower, doing some exercise. The problem is, when I’m pacing the room and yelling at Paul, or lying on my bed sobbing, it seems next to impossible to do anything to drag myself out of that mood.

It’s a horrid and destructive way to feel. It stops me getting on with work (which makes me even more stressed). And so I’ve been really focusing for the last couple of days on ways to be calmer.

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The Other Places Where I Blog

August 3, 2010

If you’ve been reading Aliventures for a while, or if you hang out with me on Twitter, you’ll know that I write for quite a few different blogs.
This means that, while posts on Aliventures are usually once or twice a week, you can find an awful lot more from me elsewhere, if you know where [...]

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Turning Inspiration Into Action

July 23, 2010

I’m back from nine unforgettable days in India, with my family (my parents, my brother and sister, and my fiancé Paul).
Our trip wasn’t just an exciting holiday. We were in Bengaluru (Bangalore) to see first-hand the work of Divya Shanthi – a small charity which has very strong links to our church. In particular, we [...]

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Do You Care About Being Normal?

July 7, 2010

One of the most significant shifts in my life in the past few years has been away from the norm.
To be honest, I’ve never been “normal”. As a teenager, I was bright, geeky, and preferred the company of other adults to other teenagers (who felt like a different species from me). But I followed a [...]

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On Houses, Loving Families, and Paying Forwards

June 30, 2010

A couple of years ago, when Paul and I were discussing the future, we’d expected to be renting accommodation from 2010-2011 – probably a small flat. We were planning to save up slowly towards a deposit, and keep careful records of my earnings so that we could get a mortgage.
Last Thursday we moved into our [...]

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Who Says You Have To?

June 19, 2010

Something I’ve become very aware of since knowing Tim Brownson is how often I say or think “I have to” or “I need to” when, actually, I don’t.
You probably do this too. Almost everyone does. I’m thinking of things like:

I have to clean the kitchen this weekend.
I need to phone my mother
I have to try [...]

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Regain Your Balance ebook now available

June 11, 2010

If you’re on the Aliventures email newsletter list, you’ll know about this already.
For the rest of you, I’m delighted to unveil a new ebook, Regain Your Balance, the first product I’ve made specifically for Aliventures readers. The series on Balance has clearly struck a chord, so I hope this is just what you’re [...]

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