Deep Artful Work

Deep Artful Work – Insights Of the Week

“Motivation often comes after starting, not before.

Action produces momentum.” — James Clear

“The walking experience dictates the ideas, which is what makes creative walks such a unique working adventure. The visuality of the mountain, the scene it sets, the associations it forms in your mind all help to kick start the process of harvesting memories and combining them with facts, strategies and ideas.” — Marcus John Henry Brown

“I have reflected about that  story quite a few times since then – emotions, as you know, create sustainable memories … and it has anchored in my mind a conviction in the power of “social learning” : it is by sharing with others that light comes !  Whatever knowledge, information or insights we receive, it is by discussing, confronting and mirroring with others that they eventually make sense, and therefore are profoundly learned.” — Thierry Bonetto

“Instead, I’m going to use my own curation, research, note taking and real life networking skills to directly approach people and explore their ideas without having to have conversations about it openly. That is, I’d like to slow things down and really take in, reflect, write about what I’m finding – that is, more seeking and sense making than sharing.

I figured that my many years online has put me in contact with so many people, given me access to so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise thought possible and put me front and centre with some wonderful, radical, innovative ideas and people.

It’s been brilliant frankly.” — Helen Blunden

“By forcing myself to write a summary or an observation, I have to reflect on my own learning. Also, by making my thoughts public I know that they will be scrutinized – now and in the future. There’s nothing like public visibility to make you check your logic. I also view my blog as my main communication medium, letting me converse with potential clients or provide them with a venue to get to know me without any feelings of obligation. Basically, it’s all out there for the world to see.” — Harold Jarche

“But to make the thing you are capable of making, you have to keep trying, make some bad work, move past that, keep trying, make some OK work, learn from that, keep trying, make some bad work again, reflect some more, keep trying, and then make that capable (even great?) piece. Then move on from that. Keep trying. Make some more bad work. Keep trying. And so on. And so forth.” — Meredith Lewis

“Art is also found in the way we do our work. That might seem odd but if you really think about your work as a form of craft, it might just shift you from being a cog in a machine to a one-off with each call you handle, email you reply to and with each conversation you engage in.

Listening — in the above example — can be made more powerful, useful and impactful if you treat things more artfully than transactional. OK, maybe not the discussion on whether to allocate £400 or £4000 to a project or what to have for tea, but when people are confused, need some guidance, to learn something, grow in confidence or to diffuse tension. More artful listening might just make the difference in many complex and challenging situations.” — Perry Timms

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