There are two schools of thoughts when it comes to those sudden flashes of brilliance we call ideas: some say write it down immediately; others say don't write it down. If the idea has merit, you won't forget it.
I have written creatively for years, although I haven't done much of it the last couple of years. I am starting again and I have had a couple of good ideas in the last few weeks. I have developed them in my head. Last night, I was woken by a very vivid dream - one that would make a great movie, or screenplay. I thought of writing it down but decided to let it stand on its own legs. Lo and behold it is still here and the idea is developing.
I have a lot going on at this time, but there is always room for a little more, I guess. Especially if creative writing is something I truly care about. How could I not make the time?
Ideas are all good to some extent or other, but rarely are they complete when first hatched. They are always in need of development. If you are willing to work on the idea, first in your head, then on paper, you can usually clear away the rough and find a diamond in there. The question, as is so often the case, is how hard are you willing to work for it? What are you willing to trade for your idea? For the accomplishment of your goal? For making your dreams come true?
Write it down or let it marinate? The answer is do what words for you. But do something.
God bless you. Make it your best day yet.
- Adolfo
http://www.cakewhimsybyabdaliz.com
http://www.adolfojimenez.com
http://www.honeybeepartyrental.com
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Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Day # 112 - The Main Street Journal
I've always, inconsistently, kept a journal or a diary. I have books full of thoughts, poetry, ideas, rants & raves. I was never as disciplined about it as I should have been. I haven't been disciplined in general. I'm working on it. As I've mentioned several times, this blog is about discipline. I started a journal on September 3 and I am being good about it. I write down the day's victories, the day's lessons, and my thoughts. I may jot down notes in it at different times of the day. I write my goals, big or small, and dreams in it.
I do this for the same reason I write: It's a positive behavior. It's a small step toward where I want to be. It's a way of exercising discipline. And discipline is what I need.
While this blog is a sort of journal, I needed something private. I needed to raise the level of my self-talk, and my journal is how I do it. While I may vent here, nothing but the very positive is allowed in the journal. It's a road map, wish list, and blueprint for the future, and it is a trail of breadcrumbs to the positive lessons of yesterday.
Write it down. Whatever it is, you'll be glad you did.
God bless you. Make it your best day yet.
- Adolfo
http://www.honeybeepartyrental.com
http://www.facebook.com/adolfojimenez1
http://ayearwithoutnews.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/adolfojimenez
I do this for the same reason I write: It's a positive behavior. It's a small step toward where I want to be. It's a way of exercising discipline. And discipline is what I need.
While this blog is a sort of journal, I needed something private. I needed to raise the level of my self-talk, and my journal is how I do it. While I may vent here, nothing but the very positive is allowed in the journal. It's a road map, wish list, and blueprint for the future, and it is a trail of breadcrumbs to the positive lessons of yesterday.
Write it down. Whatever it is, you'll be glad you did.
God bless you. Make it your best day yet.
- Adolfo
http://www.honeybeepartyrental.com
http://www.facebook.com/adolfojimenez1
http://ayearwithoutnews.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/adolfojimenez
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day # 102 - Books
A City in South Florida recently built a library. Beautiful structure. Only one thing. No one remembered to order books. Part of me thinks it's okay. Most people go to the library to go on the Internet anyway. When I was preparing to take my Series 7 exam, I would ride my bike to the library, carrying all my study materials in my backpack (green JanSport backpack - lasted me ten years and someone who shall remain nameless borrowed it, never to be seen again - I miss that bag!) I chose to go to the library because there were to many pitfalls at home (TV, refrigerator, bed, etc.) Last week, I wrote about how being in a room full of strangers motivated me to keep going during spin class. Being in public while studying kept me from slacking. No one needed to know what I was doing, but I would never allow anyone to see me slacking.
Sometimes, when I need to get away, I'll get out of my office for a while and wander through a bookstore. Sometimes I'll buy something, but often, it's just a comfort to be surrounded by so much wisdom and discipline. (I've written five novels and six screenplays - it takes massive amounts of discipline even to write a lousy book! And don't even get me started on editing!)
I have two nightstands next to my bed. There are about thirty books on them, plus another dozen inside the drawers. I also have pens, high-lighters, and notebooks. There is a bookshelf in my room that holds about two hundred books, and close to 1,000 magazines. Did I mention the stack of magazines on the floor? (I've got to do something with those, I know.) I have two bookshelves in the living room holding at least a thousand more books. And then there are a couple of dozen on my desk and a few hundred in the cabinets in the garage. My kids have at least 500 books in their room, plus more at their grandparents' house. A couple of months ago, I gave a few boxes of books (mostly novels & literature) to Goodwill.
Why? Because I find comfort in this. I like having Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson in my house. I even like having Stephen King around if you can believe that! Since I never went to college, I have had to teach myself anything I wanted to know. Tom Hopkins taught me to sell (or how not to in some cases), Herb Cohen taught me to negotiate, Napoleon Hill taught me how to Think and Grow Rich, Joel Osteen taught me how to stretch my faith, and Tom Clancy taught me how to build a submarine. You never know when the need will arise.
I can't live without books. I wouldn't want to. When was the last time you read a book? Was it good? What did you get from it? Let me know. I'm always looking for my next bedtime story.
God bless you. Make today your best day yet.
- Adolfo
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Sometimes, when I need to get away, I'll get out of my office for a while and wander through a bookstore. Sometimes I'll buy something, but often, it's just a comfort to be surrounded by so much wisdom and discipline. (I've written five novels and six screenplays - it takes massive amounts of discipline even to write a lousy book! And don't even get me started on editing!)
I have two nightstands next to my bed. There are about thirty books on them, plus another dozen inside the drawers. I also have pens, high-lighters, and notebooks. There is a bookshelf in my room that holds about two hundred books, and close to 1,000 magazines. Did I mention the stack of magazines on the floor? (I've got to do something with those, I know.) I have two bookshelves in the living room holding at least a thousand more books. And then there are a couple of dozen on my desk and a few hundred in the cabinets in the garage. My kids have at least 500 books in their room, plus more at their grandparents' house. A couple of months ago, I gave a few boxes of books (mostly novels & literature) to Goodwill.
Why? Because I find comfort in this. I like having Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson in my house. I even like having Stephen King around if you can believe that! Since I never went to college, I have had to teach myself anything I wanted to know. Tom Hopkins taught me to sell (or how not to in some cases), Herb Cohen taught me to negotiate, Napoleon Hill taught me how to Think and Grow Rich, Joel Osteen taught me how to stretch my faith, and Tom Clancy taught me how to build a submarine. You never know when the need will arise.
I can't live without books. I wouldn't want to. When was the last time you read a book? Was it good? What did you get from it? Let me know. I'm always looking for my next bedtime story.
God bless you. Make today your best day yet.
- Adolfo
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Friend me on Facebook
Follow A Year Without News
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Day # 84 - Don't jinx it
Careful what you wish for, it may come true. We've all heard the expression and we've all used it. How often have you said it to yourself? It's not always a matter of wishing for something. Sometimes we constantly wish something away, but our obsession with the object attracts it to us. Am I not making sense? I'm a little punchy so please forgive me.
84 days of writing every day has been a challenge. Especially since I still have 281 days to go. When people talk to me about the blog, too often I have mentioned that the biggest challenge is knowing what I'm going to write about next. Yesterday I said it a couple of times and here I am. It's not even two in the morning and I'm up. Why? I think I might have been worried about fulfilling my own prophecy. So I can tell you that from here on out, I will not talk about how hard it is, I will talk about how much fun it is.
Nothing is impossible. You really can achieve anything you put your mind to. I set out to write about how avoiding news would change my life. I did it not knowing what to expect. All I knew at the beginning was that I wanted to be better at the end than I was at the beginning. I think I have already accomplished that goal and I'm less than a quarter of the way done. The exciting part is when I think of how much better I will be when I have completed my year.
Today's Lessons:
- Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. - Jim Rohn
- You can't unscramble eggs. Eliminate negative talk from your vocabulary because once you put it out there, you can't get it back.
Today's Declarations:
- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better.
- I will speak blessings over myself, my family, my friends, and even my enemies.
- I am a positive person. I look forward to each new day with excitement.
- I am optimistic, knowing that every day brings new opportunities.
Don't jinx yourself. Don't jinx the people around you. Wish and speak the best for yourself and everyone you come in contact with. Be a blessing in the lives you touch. Believe in your heart that you can do anything you decide to do and declare it with your mouth.
God bless you. Make it your best day yet.
- Adolfo
Start building your Success Library!
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84 days of writing every day has been a challenge. Especially since I still have 281 days to go. When people talk to me about the blog, too often I have mentioned that the biggest challenge is knowing what I'm going to write about next. Yesterday I said it a couple of times and here I am. It's not even two in the morning and I'm up. Why? I think I might have been worried about fulfilling my own prophecy. So I can tell you that from here on out, I will not talk about how hard it is, I will talk about how much fun it is.
Nothing is impossible. You really can achieve anything you put your mind to. I set out to write about how avoiding news would change my life. I did it not knowing what to expect. All I knew at the beginning was that I wanted to be better at the end than I was at the beginning. I think I have already accomplished that goal and I'm less than a quarter of the way done. The exciting part is when I think of how much better I will be when I have completed my year.
Today's Lessons:
- Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. - Jim Rohn
- You can't unscramble eggs. Eliminate negative talk from your vocabulary because once you put it out there, you can't get it back.
Today's Declarations:
- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better.
- I will speak blessings over myself, my family, my friends, and even my enemies.
- I am a positive person. I look forward to each new day with excitement.
- I am optimistic, knowing that every day brings new opportunities.
Don't jinx yourself. Don't jinx the people around you. Wish and speak the best for yourself and everyone you come in contact with. Be a blessing in the lives you touch. Believe in your heart that you can do anything you decide to do and declare it with your mouth.
God bless you. Make it your best day yet.
- Adolfo
Start building your Success Library!
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook
Follow A Year Without News
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day # 78 - The box! What's in the box?
Don't you hate the expression, "think outside the box"? Isn't using that expression indicative of "inside the box" thinking? In my experience, creative thinking shouldn't be categorized. You should just think. Allow your mind to do it's thing. Don't talk to yourself about limits or boxes because these activities take away from what you should be thinking about. I am a curious individual and I want to learn about most things. I want to understand everything. Maybe I don't want to understand math. I just don't see the point. It's been over twenty years since high school and I was right and the teachers were wrong: I have never used algebra in the real world. Who's the smart one now?
Don't answer that.
Creative thinking isn't about painting on canvas or writing poetry. It's about finding solutions to problems. It's finding a way around or over when through is not an option. It's understanding that you don't have all the answers. Actually, it's admitting you don't have all the answers. Creative thinking leads to creative actions and it takes guts. It takes the kind of courage a lot of people don't have. The sad part is that they don't even realize that fear of the new is the millstone around their necks.
The worse that can happen when you try a new approach is that your approach fails and you have to try something else. You didn't fail. You only fail when you fail to try. Forget the box, get off your cowardly ass and make something happen. Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. Never beginning in the first place is casting your failure in bronze.
When you try a different approach, there will be "in the box" thinkers who will shoot your idea down. I think of them as in a cage rather than a box. These nay-sayers are slaves to convention, to fear, and to insecurity. They make up their mind about a project before even thinking it through. These are the people with a head full of dreams and a pocket full of lint.
Yesterday I told you about a consulting gig I am doing. I have never really been a consultant, but someone saw my ability and I decided to give it a shot. The result was like yoga for the mind: I found myself using muscles I didn't know I had.
When I started HoneyBee Party Rental, I had no idea about the party rental business. I had never rented a bounce house for my own children. Didn't know the first thing about it. But when we decide to do it, I went all in. I spent the money, did the research and learned what to do by watching my competition and what not to do from my own mistakes. Some of those mistakes were costly, but they were an investment in my development as a business owner.
Two thoughts for today:
- When a true genius arrives in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
- Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein.
Declarations:
- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better.
- I am unlimited. I am creative. God never gives me more than I can handle. I just need to believe in myself as much as He does.
Start building your Success Library!
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Don't answer that.
Creative thinking isn't about painting on canvas or writing poetry. It's about finding solutions to problems. It's finding a way around or over when through is not an option. It's understanding that you don't have all the answers. Actually, it's admitting you don't have all the answers. Creative thinking leads to creative actions and it takes guts. It takes the kind of courage a lot of people don't have. The sad part is that they don't even realize that fear of the new is the millstone around their necks.
The worse that can happen when you try a new approach is that your approach fails and you have to try something else. You didn't fail. You only fail when you fail to try. Forget the box, get off your cowardly ass and make something happen. Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. Never beginning in the first place is casting your failure in bronze.
When you try a different approach, there will be "in the box" thinkers who will shoot your idea down. I think of them as in a cage rather than a box. These nay-sayers are slaves to convention, to fear, and to insecurity. They make up their mind about a project before even thinking it through. These are the people with a head full of dreams and a pocket full of lint.
Yesterday I told you about a consulting gig I am doing. I have never really been a consultant, but someone saw my ability and I decided to give it a shot. The result was like yoga for the mind: I found myself using muscles I didn't know I had.
When I started HoneyBee Party Rental, I had no idea about the party rental business. I had never rented a bounce house for my own children. Didn't know the first thing about it. But when we decide to do it, I went all in. I spent the money, did the research and learned what to do by watching my competition and what not to do from my own mistakes. Some of those mistakes were costly, but they were an investment in my development as a business owner.
Two thoughts for today:
- When a true genius arrives in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
- Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein.
Declarations:
- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better.
- I am unlimited. I am creative. God never gives me more than I can handle. I just need to believe in myself as much as He does.
Start building your Success Library!
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook
Follow A Year Without News
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