The Accidental Creative - Todd Henry [FRESH Technique]

The Accidental Creative explains how you can unearth and carefully manage your creative potential. The book explains how everyone has that "creativity potential" and the tools to unleash that dormant possibility by a technique to stay FRESH (focus, relationships, energy, stimuli and hour)

The book starts off with Three Assassins of Creativity:

1. Dissonance

2. Fear

3. Expectation Escalation

Now, let's look at each of the keys to creative insights:

Focus : A lack of focus comes from two key factors : unhealthy assumptions and ping. The former arises because our brains are preconditioned to predict what's going to happen based off of past experiences and the latter is the sudden and uncontrollable urge to divert your focus and respond to those pings of social media. In order to parry them off, we must do three things:

           - define your work

           - refine your work

           - cluster your similar tasks together

Relationship : To build strong relationships, there are three main strategies:

             - start a circle (friends and colleagues)

             - head to heads (one-on-one meetings)

             - establishing a core team (long-term student-teacher relationships)

Energy : Though the brain is only 2% of our total body weight, it uses 20% of the available total energy. Ergo, if we're tired or low on energy, we won't be able to function properly. Author Tony Schwartz says we're most productive when switching between periods of high focus and intermittent rest. Also, every month, "prune away" the least effective and the most energy draining activity in your life.

Stimuli : To help you effectively manage your challenging, relevant and diverse stimuli, there are three things you should do:

            - cultivate (while making study plans, allocate 25% to the areas relevant to your job where you lack information, 25% to your blind spots and the stuff that will benefit you in the wider sense, and remaining 50% to your passion.)

             - process (take notes on your insights, review and extrapolate a pattern there.)

             - experience (get out there, live a little)

Hours : Apart from putting in efforts to your passion everyday, the author recommends incorporating fun activities to your routine.

A High School Story [Part - I]

Autumn was oncoming. Wind had gathered a bit of pace and the sun's boisterous energy was on the wane. It was also the first day of my high school. Me and my friends from our secondary school had decided on Western Academy of Computer Science (WACS) for bearing the setting for our high school adventures. 

"I hope our class has some pretty girls."

"God, let the principle be lenient in matters of tardiness"

Our conversation entailed the usual stuff as we were making our way towards the school gate. Brown, withered leaves eddied with the wind all around us. I was particularly rapt in one of these protracted eddies of swirling leaves when after a harmless giggle someone speared into my back. I, along with the girl, fell over, somehow ending up - as it is wont to do in these type of stories - in an embrace as we collided with the asphalt. Though the leads in so many of  romantic stories don't seem to register any pain incurred through such collision, I can personally vouch that it hurt like hell when I fell that day. It was a full week before I would let anyone ever so touch me on my shoulder blades. Though perhaps the pain of the leads are quelled - if not miraculously unfelt - by having a gorgeous pair of alarmed eyes sharing the fall with them. That was not the case for me. First up, my partner in this embarrassing montage was this chubby clumsy neighbor of mine, with I went to school with as well. And secondly, did I mention chubby, alright, I did. The whole crowd of on-lookers erupted in a laugh as we got up.

Embarrassment level - 110%

That too on the first day of school. Not off to a flying start I was hoping for.

"You have eyes." I fumed. " Ever thought about using them once a while."

"Ever thought about the general etiquette of not stopping dead still on the road when people are walking behind you."

That was Omita Gurung, my quick-with-a-reposte next door neighbor.  

"You're the one to talk --"

"Zip it, shorty." Omita walked off with her friend who was asking if she was hurt.

"Damn bro. You just set the precedence for an awkward first day of high school." My fiend, Yogesh, chided through his cackle. I had a uncalled-for feeling of punching his face in.

If he was not so painfully right.