6 Myths of Creativity

As already mentioned, the latest issue of Fast Company Magazine is all about creativity. An article entitled, "The 6 Myths of Creativity" has caught my attention. I shall share.

THE MYTHS -

1. Creativity comes from creative types.

Anyone with a brain can be creative to some degree.

2. Money is a Creativity Motivator

The people who spend most of their time wondering about their bonuses do the least amount of creative thinking. It's not all about the cash. Creativity is sparked when people love what they are doing and feel stretched.

3. Time Pressure Fuels Creativity

People's creativity drops when under pressure. "Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up."

4. Fear Forces Breakthrough

"One day's happiness often predicts the next day's creativity."

5. Competition Beats Collaboration

Collaboration is better than Competition. When people compete for recogition, the information sharing comes to a hault.

6. A Stremlined Organization Is a Creative Organization

Studies show that even the anticipation of downsizing causes people to disengage from their work.

playing with new camera phone while driving

Blogs Around the World

Join Blogger employee Biz Stone for a virtual "around the world" blog tour. Blogs from everywhere you can imagine. Worth a quick look...

Amazing how blogging has (and continues) to make it's way around the world so quickly. A fast and easy way to spread your message.

Link

National Geographic Pictures of the Year

National Geographic Pictures of the Year Wallpaper.

Some nice ones here...

Link (via)

Google Scholar

My Lord. What will these people think of next?

Google Scholar.

From their site:

Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

Macy's Balloons

Jake Dobkin @ Bluejake has some cool, behind the scene pics of the Macy's balloons being inflated in NYC for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Link 1
Link 2

Fun pics - but a little sad seeing Sponge Bob Squarepants face down on the ground...

Thanksgiving

There is so much that I'm thankful for in my life. Too much to really say in one post. Plus, I'm really just spending enough time in front of the computer today to wish all of YOU a very special Thanksgiving.

Enjoy the turkey (deep fried if you're lucky...!) and some fresh pumpkin pie. But most of all, enjoy your family and those you love.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Scott & Amanda

Brrrrrr.....

Winter is here.

Life

Hey guys -

I'm still here. Not feeling like I have much to contribute right now to my blog. (Usually when I say that, I get on a role the next few days, so we'll see what happens...)

My life is absolutely crazy busy right now. Has been since Sept. 18th. This has been my timeline this past couple of months:

Sept. 18th - moved into our home
Sept. 19th - baby born
Oct. 12th - Dad died
Oct. 12th - everything in my life changed.
Nov. 18th - Amanda's grandfather (Patrick Dong) died

All of this in 9 weeks. (Plus 2 weddings, 3 funerals and double the amount of teaching...)

I need to catch my breath. Or puke.

But for real, I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just trying to figure out how to balance my life right now and still get everything done that needs to be done.

My blog is a great creative outlet for me, but it doesn't necessarily make me a better husband or father. SO, that's probably part of why my blog isn't the most fascinating thing going on in cyberspace right now (well, there's probably more reasons then just that...).

I'm still blown away that people are still linking me on their sites. Not totally sure why, but it certainly inflates my head. :)

Grandpa Dong

What a day....

Amanda's grandfather, Mr. Patrick Dong, passed away today. What a man...

More later - I'm running out the door for a wedding rehearsal.

Thanks for your thoughts/prayers/etc...

Eating it up...

Today I received the December issue of Fast Company magazine and without even opening it up I became excited by the words, "THE CREATIVITY ISSUE" on the cover.

And so being the A.D.D. inflicted, caffeine addicted, still under 31 year old that I am, I'm sitting here asking myself what it is about the word "creativity" that revs my engine?

I guess I can think of a time in my life when I didn't believe that I was creative. I didn't like myself much and felt that I was getting into a rut. But then I realized something phenomenal - EVERY human has within them creative ability. Given, some have more than others, but I honestly believe that every human has the capacity to be creative to some degree or another.

Not to turn too "evangelistic" here, but I do believe in the Biblical truth that mankind has been created in the image of the ULTIMATE CREATOR - God. Who can match God's creativity? I think no one. And if someone claims to be able to match it, they will probably end up crawling around on the ground like a snake. (Ok, enough theology...).

Anyway - my point being - YOU and I have the ability and mind to be creative. It doesn't matter that you sit here and read this and think, "No, not me."

Yes you do!

Perhaps it has somehow gotten clogged up on the inside of you. Try drinking some draino (KIDDING).

I think it might help to just start with admitting that perhaps there is a little bit of creativity on the inside of each of us - especially if there really is a God and on top of that - the possibility that we really have been created in His image.

Create - Innovate - Dream

Good words...

New U2

Thanks to my buddy Tracy, I've gotten my hands on the new U2 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The album will be released in a couple of weeks.

The CD is great. The last song is called Yahweh and here are some lyrical snippets:

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

PS - If someone from U2's record company is reading this, I'm lying. I don't have the album.

Tom Yum Yum...

Going here for dinner tonight.

Name this movie:

"Jack talk Thai."

"Jack don't talk Thai!"

"Jack talk Thai very well...!"

How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

If you live here in Chicago you can tune into WXRT 93.1FM (TODAY ONLY) and hear U2's new album, "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" in its entirety ALL DAY until 9:00PM.

SWEET!

UPDATE: You can listen to XRT online by clicking the link below. Click on the AOL for Broadband link.

Link

McLaren Quote on Scripture

"It's no surprise...that biblical Christians have thrived when we've used the Bible with the goal of becoming good people who, because we follow Jesus, do good works in God's good world.

And we have languished and wandered when we have used the Bible as a weapon to threaten others, as a tool to indimidate others and prove them wrong, as a shortcut to being know-it-alls who believe the Bible gives us all the answers, as a defense of the status quo - none of these being the use Paul the apostle wanted Timothy, to make of the Scriptures."

Brian McLaren
A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 165

Christmas @ Starbucks

Man... It's even earlier than last year. Christmas music playing, Christmas decorations up - the whole shabang. And it's only November 10th.

At this rate, in ten years, we will be marketing Christmas the third week of July.

PHPlist Help?

If anyone out there knows how to setup a PHPlist using an SQL database, please HELP me! :)

Email me here.

Thanks!

The Brand of Christianity

"What does the brand of Christianity stand for in America and what should it stand for? I think the religious right has captured the brand, so when a person hears the word 'Christian' they think anti-homosexuality, judgmental, angry, loves big business, feels the poor are to blame for their own problems, that sort of thing.

This is such a gross parody or caricature of the image of what a Christian follower should be. So we all have some serious work to do when we think about the brand identity of Christianity in our world today."

- Brian McLaren

via

Tombstone Shopping

This weekend we went tombstone shopping. Well, I guess that's not the "official" or best term to use - so I will say "monument" shopping. (Ok, that sounds better...)

Anyway - let me get straight to the point and say that I am totally blown away by the 1) incompetence 2) insensitivity 3) lack of knowledge 4) outright rudeness 5) inconsistency and 6) laziness of most of the "sales" people we have encountered while shopping.

What the heck? How can anything BUT top notch customer service be a priority for people in this business? It's not like we're buying a pair of khakis from the GAP - although, that would be a much easier decision and task I might add.

Unless I'm a complete moron and different from everyone else in this world, the majority of people purchasing a monument are already very emotionally sensitive and in great need of someone who will take the time to patiently and sensibly communicate with them.

I'm not sure if this is just a job that nobody wants so they end up hiring people who don't really give a RIP (no pun intended...) or if these people just really don't know how to be sensitive. Either way, it's a real problem and so disappointing.

And hopefully, as our search continues, we will find someone who is simply willing to take the time to help us with our decision. And when we find him or her - they will earn our business.

Some things are just so simple...

Hair? What hair?

Typical breakfast - Chicago style pizza...

Actually, this is probably the last picture I have of Elise before she decided to give herself a haircut a couple of days ago. Do you remember Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber?

Enough said.

want.

I want an iPod.

The Enterprise of Church

"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship. Then it moved to Greece and became a philosophy, then it went to Rome and became an institution, and then it went to Europe and became a government. Finally it came to America where we made it an enterprise." Richard Halverson

Quite a quote. Sort of black and white, I know. And it doesn't mean that we should shut church down (at least not all of them...), but a challenging thought and perhaps a good basis for conversation.

Link (via)

Vote!

I voted today!

Did you? If not - GO NOW.

Have a great day!

Some Tips on Writing

Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

Link (via)

Weekend

It was a good weekend. Gave talks on Sunday about "my journey" these past few weeks w/ the passing away of my dad. It wasn't quite as difficult as I thought it might be. I think the prep work all week was the hardest part. By the time Sunday rolled around I had shed enough tears and rode the emotional roller coaster ride enough to make it through two services. Thanks for your thoughts/prayers/etc...

Some of you have asked - and if you're interested, you can download my talk by clicking here.