Today I am featured on Green Couture as a guest writer.
My post is all about light and the power of light to change the whole mood of a creative project.
Join me over there as I explore more winter textures.
To love beauty is to see light.
Victor Hugo
Speak tomorrow
Amanda
A lot of my inspiration is provoked online these days.
Only a few short years ago, when I wrote my first book Capture 30 days of inspiration there was no pinterest, there was no facebook, there was no instagram.
I think I was much more inspired back then than now.
I would sit in a cafe, not with my smart phone but a journal and a book.
I would walk through urban landscapes and really experience them rather than taking a photo and hash tagging it #now.
I would sit and discuss philosophy, theology and divine experiences with true friends rather than have fake, half discussions with people who I don’t even know where I was born.
Today I am inspired by paper.
That is the whole reason I started #inspire14, my goal was to draw and feel the paper and use a part of my brain that is not often stimulated these mummy, food covered days.
I have not been drawing much lately.
Honestly I became embarrassed because my drawings aren’t really that good.
In a few days however I start an online course and a big part of it is visual journalling, so the glue stick, scissors and sharpies are back out and I am ready to try again.
No matter where your inspiration journey takes you.
NEVER GIVE UP.
All my creative love
Amanda
Yesterday I launched a new initiative called March Inspired… You can read more at this link, I’d love you to join us. I have decided to write my next book everyday for 30 days of March. Finishing on the 31st of March where I will be speaking at the Perth SPARC event. I thought I should start to brush up a little more on my biggest weakness in writing.
My grammar!
There is a new website that has been recently released called ‘The Hemingway’ .
It is a very basic website, that analysis’s your writing and suggests changes that make your writing more efficient.
You paste your piece of writing simply on the page and watch the colours denote the area’s of error and improvement required.
A simple but brilliant tool for speeches, blogs and writing.
I love creative writing but am terrible at grammar. I am more excited about new ideas and thoughts, than the pain of going back and editing my work.
If I am going to start calling myself a writer though, I don’t have a choice but to improve this area of my work.
My friend Elaine Fraser from Beautiful Books, uses this tool with her writing from Microsoft word, it is called Readability mode.
Hope this inspires you to write often and write well.
Amanda
One of my dear friends Tim Bain, turned 30 on the first day of this month. His ever creative wife Bek, set 30 of his friends a challenge. Every day of February, we have each been allocated a day to encourage, inspire, hang out with, do something to celebrate Tim.
I met Tim over 10 years ago in Sydney (I have a feeling we may have met in Perth, in a speakers lounge at the Challenge Stadium, when I dropped a plate on the floor and he laughed at me ferociously.) But officially yes in Sydney. Fast forward the clock, he is now married, living in Perth, with two delightful children, leading a creative arts team brilliantly.
My ode to Tim for this 30th year of his life, is to encourage him to watch my top 5 TED video’s at the moment for young creative leaders. If you are a leader in the creative arts maybe you too could write a comment of your greatest tips in leading creative people to bring change down the bottom of this post to inspire and encourage other leaders and mostly tim.
Hope you are inspired by these videos Tim. Happy Birthday. My 30th year was one of my favourites ever. Own it. You are an amazing musician, leader, teacher, encourager, dad, husband, friend. Grab a coffee and a little treat and I pray you are inspired to live the next decade with the noblest of pursuits leading people.
An amazing talk that shows simply how to redefine leadership so that you empower every person in your team to lead. I completely agree, that we make leadership so unattainable for people. The reason why you are struggling to find leaders, is you have made it impossible for people to believe that they can lead. Check this out. Stay humble, stay accessible, stay authentic. The best leaders are those that are everyday ones. Leave the titles behind, lay down the priveleges and hang out with the people. You will be a better leader for it.
To lead a creative team, we need to learn how art, technology, design and leadership marry together to change the way we communicate. Tim my favourite part of this video is when John talks about the old and the new combining together to speak a new language. It is easy to look to the old, the way we used to do things and traditionalise them, making them seem like that was the good old days or some leaders take the new creatively and throw away the old in pursuit of fresh innovation. I believe the best creative communicators, take the ancient and the modern and combine them to build a bridge to lead both old and new generations to a new space of inspiration.
If you want to bring change, you need to create a tribe. If you are not leading change, I believe in the culture we live in you are not leading. Be bold and bring change. Ps- Im sorry for the balloon animal section. (Smile)
I have found in my leadership experience is there are many people who are a part of creative teams, who long to be acknowledged, who long to be encouraged. The creative innovator often brings their ideas and best in the midst of much vulnerability. So we need to be the greatest cheerleaders of our teams. Creative people need to be championed. If your people have stopped creating, then maybe you have stopped encouraging.
One of my all time favourite speakers. His teaching and books on creativity and education are profound. Even though you are not a school teacher, you are a teacher. If you are leading you are teaching. Teach in languages that your people understand. Teach creatively. Communicate with stories. Live inspired. Lead and teach the next generation in a language they understand.
Tim and Bek keep on being amazing.
All my love
Happy Birthday Tim
Amanda
One thing that often holds me back from truly expressing my unique self is trust. I can falter at really putting my heart and soul into something with a team of people out of fear that I will be misunderstood, that I will mess up the friendship.
My trust has been broken creatively, with friends who I embarked on projects with, organisations that I had thought I would forever be a part of, myself, failure, doubt and also insecurity.
In the past I have tried to control situations creatively to feel like I won’t be taken advantage of, out of fear or my own issues.
To be able to put our whole self into something though we need to let go of control. We need to fly free, we need to fly in formation with others creatively allowing whatever needs to happen to occur.
I think the most productive people are great at working in a team and put their whole heart and soul into the project, but at the right time let go of the controls.
Are you a team leader, but struggle to empower people creatively?
Do you love the thought of working creatively in a team, but then try to control the outcome?
“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you’re going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.” C Joy Bell.
What a fabulous quote.
I was walking the beach this morning and one of my favourite parts of walking the beach is watching the flocks of pelican’s fly in formation to their island home. They are huge, wild birds on their own, but when they fly in formation they are formiddable.
I cannot see them without taking a breath and being inspired.
I found a word this morning also that I was also ruminating on as I watched the flock of birds;
meraki [may-rah-kee] (adjective)
This is a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love — when you put “something of yourself” into what you’re doing, whatever it may be. Meraki is often used to describe cooking or preparing a meal, but it can also mean arranging a room, choosing decorations, or setting an elegant table.
How do we put our everything into a creative pursuit, but at the same time not forcing or controlling the outcome?
How do we passionately carry our ideas, yet let go at the point of submission and bring forth the best?
I believe the power of team is the answer.
Flying free in the slipstream of the strength that a team of people flying in formation brings.
When you collaborate, consult, submit, work with others, it can be frustrating because often you have to lay down your idea, for the development of a new one for the power of the team.
That’s where the flight of the pelican comes in.
When they fly together, they expend less energy and are able to go to new places, that they would never be able to go to by themselves.
There are creative opportunities that are available to you, that you will never achieve their heights or depths without the power of team.
Without the wings of another, you will not reach the places creatively you are called to.
So, my big thought today is;
Put your everything into your creative pursuit but let go of the controls and allow people in to work together on the project.
Lay down your pride
Open yourself to new opportunities and feedback
Fly in formation.
Amanda
PS- I have had over 125 people download the application form for the Creative Internship and am looking at creative ways to find placements for the people that apply. So please get involved, I really want to hear your dreams and passions and maybe we can collaborate on something together in the future.
