I’ve known from years of experience that by trying something new and having fun, creativity surges. Even if you fail, by trying new things, you get out of your world and into the unfamiliar.

So today, I decided to try baking a pie from scratch. A pumpkin pie, in fact. Funny thing is, I don’t care for pumpkin pie all that much. But as I’ve said about a million times, it’s the journey.

If you’d like to follow my progress and make your own pie, I will be posting the recipe and my updates on my Twitter stream today. Feel free to heckle me along the way if you like.

My Twitter stream http:/www.twitter.com/brad_isaac

– Brad Isaac

Although I don’t get the opportunity to take many naps, I like mine to be quick and refreshing. I hate to sleep over an hour and wake up more tired than I was when I laid down. Twenty minutes is just about right for me.

Frequently, I use Pzizz generated naps to help me accomplish this. I’ve written before about Pzizz power nap software. Basically, the software generates a new relaxing soundtrack for you to listen to each time.

Before, you had to fire it up on a Mac or PC desktop and generate MP3s to download to your player. However, I found out today, they released a version for iPhone and iTouch.

At $2.99 in the app store it’s a great deal since their software is normally $20 and their stand alone device runs $60 (I think). Anyway, I bought a license today and tried it out. The settings were the same and it generated the same sounding pzizz nap as it’s big-brother.

The only difference was it played the nap in it’s own player I noticed there didn’t appear to be a fast forward or rewind (no extending naps by rewinding). But that’s a small issue compared with the strength of it generating a fresh new soundtrack every time.

If you own an iPhone or iTouch and would like to recharge your batteries more often, I recommend you give it a try. Pleasant dreams.

One interesting tool I found way back in the early 1990′s was Roger Von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack.  The Whack Pack is a deck of cards based on his popular creativity building books A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the seat of the Pants.

I happily own a copy of each of these as well. But one problem always plagued me. I never felt like I understood the Whack Pack. They are fun cards to read and all, but I was missing something because I never felt like I was getting answers. Just more questions.

A picture of me “whacking”

Then along comes the iPhone and subsequently The Whack Pack for iPhone . This awesome version has with it a ‘workshop’ mode that guides you through the process.

To do a workshop, you enter a problem you are having. Simple enough. Then you are dealt 4 cards that will predict your future and you live happily ever after (just kidding ). The 4 cards actually are designed to give you a “whack” in each of their focused areas. By their very nature, whacks are designed to stretch your imagination in new ways so you can see your problem from new and different perspectives.

It may sound a little silly – and it is at times. But we all need a little sillyness now and again to keep creativity flowing.

I presented a problem I was having last nonth to the CWP. And overall, after 20 minutes or so of working on my problem I felt much clearer, relaxed, and optimistic.

Below is a recent workshop I did – complete with typos for your convenience.

Your Issue:

Deciding what my highest priority goal should be

Card 28 – Imagine Others

http://creativethink.com/je3

Creative people I respect:

• Edison - he would say, work night and day with stuff you like doing. Your goal will appear.
• David Gilmore – practice and get drunk now and again. You’ll figure it out
• Da Vinci – take chances – explore new worlds.

Card 11 – Use Your Senses

http://creativethink.com/p1b

I look at the idea of honing in on 1 goal today as a dark, pressure filled event. Sort of like since I take on stuff SO ambitious, I can’t help but fail – at least in some respects.

Not focusing let’s me relieve some pressure since I can always move on to something else.

Maybe I can think of a goal that is both fun and low pressure that involves enjoyment of other senses. Like maybe my one and only goal for June is to make extaordinary food for lunches and dinners.

Or maybe a goal to spend 1 hour a day doing nothing. Just sitting at the park taking in the sounds of people and children playing.

Card 12 – Listen to Your Dreams

http://creativethink.com/4sz

What is dreamlike in my current situation? The images of future pressure, failure, disappointment and thoughts of letting me and others down is just an illusion. Rationally, I know it’s fear, emotionally it is confusing. Just like when you wake from a dream you know there isn’t a creature under the bed. But you are still afraid.

Card 23 – Rearrange

http://creativethink.com/0jn

How can I rearrage my issue?

1. Decide for ALL of June I will have no goal or direction

2. Every time I feel pressure to perform, I stop and review #1

3. I start focusing on the objects I want, not the actions. Do I want a boat? A Mac? What?

Have you tried whacking?

I know many of you have either read Von Oech’s books or use the Whack pack, why not post your opinions below.   Maybe you have some tips for getting more from the books or software.

If you like this post, please consider voting for it on del.icio.us or stumbleupon… you’d be helping your fellow whacker! lol

Pursuant to my last post about keeping a 100 year old journal, found a .99 cent journaling program for the iphone / ipod touch in the App store called MyDiary.

This software closely mimics the journal approach of the small pocket calendar I was talking about before. Plus it feels similar too – with exception of the pen to paper tactile sense.

I’ve been using it right at 1 month and here are my thoughts…

Again, one of the cool things about MyDiary is the fact that it resembles the day by day calendar I was describing in the prior post. Each time you hit the new post button [+] you start with a new date where you can do your journal entry. This is an advantage over paper journals because when you miss a day in a paper journal, you get a blank spot.  In MyDiary, there are no blanks, it just goes to the next entry. 

Another advantage is obviously the portability. You carry your iPhone or iPod touch with you anyway, here you have your journal in your pocket with you too. I put the application on the first screen so I see it every time I turn on my iTouch.  So I am prompted to make a journal entry every day – even when I wasn’t intending to.

Privacy

There is simple dial controlled password feature of MyDiary.  This isn’t the most secure code on the planet as someone could brute force break it in a couple hours if they really wanted in.  The code dialer resembles an old combination lock you’d use to lock your bike to a rack.  By simply going through the numbers 0001, 0002, etc.  You’d eventually hit the golden code.  Maybe they’d consider doing a 10 minute lockout if you dialed 3 passwords incorrectly.  Or they might consider making it a 5 or 6 digit code, which increases the brute force time.

Either way, the code IS a better security than a paper based journal.

Other Features

Widescreen (yay!)- Most appreciatively, they’ve included widescreen entry and editing.  This, of course, makes text entry much easier for giants like me. 

Email journal entries to yourself or others – If privacy isn’t your biggest concern, you can email your journal entries all over the world.  I can see this possibly being handy if you’ve got an email to Twitter or FaceBook account set up and wanted to keep your Twitters in your journal as well.  Simply do an entry and choose the email button.  Just be careful not to send your entry about what’s going on between you and that cute co-worker up the hall

Auto backups through iTunes – The reviews in the app store express concern about no backup feature.  I did some poking around and found the database is pulled into an iTunes backup when you dock your device.  I contacted the developer and he said that was true.  If you factory reset your iPhone you’ll get your MyDiary entries back. 

Bugs and wishes

MyDiary does have a few small bugs. First and foremost I will say that it has not crashed once on my iPod touch. That is a good thing.

But in widescreen mode, there is no way to go back to the main screen when you complete an entry.  You have to physically rotate the iPhone to go to portrait mode to get back.  So if you are editing one of your diary entries, you hit the done button, nothing happens. You must go rotate your device in order to see the back arrow button. This is a small oversight that I am sure will be easily corrected in the next version.

The other thing I would like to see is a way to a way to back up outside of using the iTunes application. As I mentioned, iTunes does backup your MyDiary database.  The database itself is not encrypted.  However, finding it on a computer is difficult and virtually impossible to find on an iPhone itself without doing major surgery.

But it would just feel a little bit better if there was a button that said backup and you could copy your database in an encrypted format to a hard drive of a computer or e-mail the encrypted database to yourself.

But overall, I consider MyDiary an excellent substitution for the paper based journal I mentioned in the prior post.  It is a convenient way to keep track of your life with some bonus features thrown in for good measure.

What are your thoughts?

Link: MyDiary in the App Store 0.99 cents

Developer website: MyDiary for iphone/iTouch

Do you keep a journal?

These days you might feel like you don’t have time or you don’t want to keep up with another “thing” like a paper journal. I hear ya…

But journaling is still important. A journal helps you reflect on what you did right. It helps you learn by reminding you what you did wrong so you can avoid the same mistakes in the future. It is also great fun to sit down and read your own history and how far you’ve come.

In my early 20s, a 70-something British friend of the family gave me my first journal. It wasn’t a big journal.  It was slightly larger than a book of matches – which surprised me.  His method of keeping a journal was brilliant in its simplicity.  Even lazy students like me could keep up with writing every day.

My friend Maurice’s journals covered his World War II experience as a foot soldier, his dating life, marrying his true love and 100 years of life details until his death two years ago at the age of 99.  He explained how those journals were such a great addition to his and his wife’s life.  How simple it was to reminisce.  How easy it was to remember when everything was written down.

Again, his method was simple.  Keep a tiny, pocket sized or smaller date book in your pocket at all times.   Each day has only about a 1 inch by 1 inch space to write.  That means you can’t write a whole book.  You can only write 2 or 3 of the most important details.  “You’ll remember the details, just write down the important topics and the details will come back to you.”

I was on my way.  I kind of liked keeping a journal this way.  Every night before bed, I’d write down the most important events of the day.  But eventually, I ran into trouble.

Maurice would sometimes ask me how my journaling was going. I’d sheepishly explain that while I did ok keeping a journal sometimes, there were sometimes months, and possibly years of gaps in my record keeping.

You see, I tampered with his method. I tried doing a ‘traditional’ 8 x 10 journal here and an ultra thin month-only journal there. Since both these types were harder to keep on hand and easier to misplace, I got slack and would skip days and weeks worth of entries.

What worked and still works for me is still the small, pocket sized datebook. I know Moleskine makes one and they are nice.  It’s their Moleskine Weekly Notebook 12 Months Hard Red Cover Pocket version.  But it is a little too bulky for my tastes – and that bright red has got to go! Why not stick with black like their other journals?  I prefer something more the size of the Mini Weekly Planner.

Turns out nothing beats having a journal in your back pocket at all times.

Keeping the years in line

Maurice shared another tip with me for keeping your years in order when the journals start piling up.  After all, when you have 50 or so of these books lying around or on a bookcase, it might be tough figuring what happened in what year.  His method?  Every New Year’s day, he and his wife (now deceased) would go through the prior year’s journal and type up a 1 page index of the most important happenings from that year.

There as an additional benefit to indexing the prior year.  It helped to reinforced the memories of the events.  At the end of the year, almost like studying, he’d review his notes and make a cheat sheet.

He would then fold up the index and tape it to the inside cover of the journal so it would be handy.

99 Year Old Man Keeps 100 Year Journal?

So how was my friend Maurice able to get 100 years of the Journal from 99 years of life? His secret was that he went to the library and pulled the microfiche of the newspapers that existed that were planted at the time of his birth. So here you had someone 99 years old and from the time of its conception there was a historical record of his life from conception on.

I think this is a pretty cool way to share your history with your family. If you’re going to create a unique life worth living, it is worth recording and sharing with future generations.

Don’t you agree?

What are your opinions? Do you keep a journal? If so tell us your insights in the comments.

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You’ve had a hard day’s work. You want to just sit back and decompress. What’s your choice for unwinding?

Do you pick up your hobby tools and get crafty? Or do you reach for the booze?

I’ve talked about my woodworking for several years here on the blog. I find it incredibly relaxing.

I am a non drinker – more on this later.
But since it’s your choice on how you spend your time, it’s up to you. But I’d recommend woodworking over the bottle. And here are ten reasons why:

1. Woodworking is exercising without exercising
2. Woodworking improves dexterity drinking improves clumseyness
3. Woodworking produces wonderful gifts drinking produces horrible gifts – vomit anyone?
4. You can drive after woodworking
5. Woodworking can’t result in jail time
6. You can learn a new skill while woodworking
7. Woodworking frees the mind and optimizes creative solutions
8. Woodworking doesn’t cause liver damage
9. You can make money with the products of your woodwork
10. Although equally addictive, quitting carving doesn’t involve rehab, meetings, or withdrawl

In my post make a pile of chips I talked about Abraham Maslow’s wife and her mentor’s advice to make a pile of chips. The moral of the story is even though you may not know what you are doing, start something. By making a pile of chips, you allow underdeveloped ideas to take shape.

This year has been my best for woodcarving. Starting with a few blocks of basswood, saws and some new professional carving tools from my family, I set out to make some Christmas elf ornaments I found in a magazine.

I quickly learned I had underestimated the skill level required for these ornaments. Two weeks had passed and you couldn’t even tell what the first ornament was supposed to be!

I wanted to to give up and simply carve some beginner Santas. In fact I bought a book Carving Santas from Around the World.  But I decided to stick with it a bit longer. After all, carving is fun, even if I am only making a pile of chips.

The challenge

My greatest mistake was not predicting how darn difficult the eyes would be. My first elf’s eyes may appear quite sunken due to me carving, re-carving and carving again. But finally, with the aid of an eye carving model and practice stick, I think I got the hang of it.

When it was finally time to part with the ornaments, I didn’t want to. My piles of chips had taken on personalities of their own. First came the elf I named Knibblesby, whom I gave to my sister.

During the carving of this whimsical elf, my kids and I would make up stories about his adventures sneaking into parties just so he could nibble appetizers.

The second elf I named Beardsly for obvious reasons.

He wasn’t as fun for the kids for he had an old stoic demeanor and quickly became known around the house as a grumbler about a great many things.  But I love him and I’m quite happy with the end result:

Epilogue

Woodcarving really drives home the point “it’s the journey, not the destination.”  The reason is since I’ve finished the ornaments, there is a void.  Yes, I feel a little let down that I don’t have a project in progress.

Sure, I can start another one, but which one?  heh…maybe I’ll start a gargoyle for my next journey. What do you think?

Hunter Nuttall has published an e-Book for all who aspire to blog.

If you are new to blogging, this is a great book to give you some insight on how to start the right way. When you’re just staring, you’ll have questions about topics (niche), number of posts, guest posting, monetization, social media and whatnot. This book will get you off on the right foot.

It’s a story about a writer who aspires to be a great blogger so he climbs a mountain to talk to an old wise blogging master. Is that you David Carradine?

Even if you’ve blogged for a long time, it can reinforce good habits. As I read it, I remembered when I first started, I had asked every question the student asks in the book. And I feel the master’s answer is spot on.

From page 2:

If you’re into Zen and you’re into blogging, read and share this ebook.
If you’re into Zen but you’re not into blogging, share this ebook.
If you’re not into Zen but you’re into blogging, read this ebook.
If you’re not into Zen and you’re not into blogging, read it twice.

It’s a quick read so it won’t be too distracting for the day – and the twist at the end is good!

Your thoughts?

Download it here. Hat tip Problogger

“So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.” –Sidney Poitier

Sometimes you just can’t insist on the order you get your ideas. Sometimes they come in crystal clear, sometimes they arrive in random format.

This is one of those posts.

Although it may seem strange to post them randomly in this way, there is a benefit. Sometimes, the most inspirational ideas come out of left field.

Read with an open mind and an eye for what you are going to do.

So here are 10 Random, yet powerful ways to reach your goals in 2008:

1. Measure your results — Part of knowing where you are going is knowing where you came from. Someone who wants to lose 50 pounds needs to know their starting weight and track the weight loss as they progress.

I recommend using goal steps make these measurements. For example, in the case of losing 50 pounds, you can set a step to lose 5lbs in the next 2 weeks. At the end of those two weeks, measure. If you are 5lbs lighter, it’s reward time baby! If not, measure again, the following week. Get your check mark and reward.

Once you’ve gotten the first step out of the way, start the next one. And then the next…

2. Resist your dependence on tomorrow – Nobody is guaranteed a tomorrow. Death is certain for us all. What would it mean if you died tomorrow knowing you hadn’t done your part today? Would you be content in the idea you did your best? No? I thought not. Don’t count on tomorrow. One day, it won’t come.

3. Schedule work on your goal – To make every day progress in the most efficient way, I recommend you schedule task sessions. Pick a time every day that you can dedicate for goal tasks. Some people work better early in the morning, others better at night. Whichever you do best, schedule the time. Set an alarm reminder for that time in your electronic calendar if you use one. If you don’t, set an alarm clock. Get in the habit of working at the same time every day and they’ll go easier on you. Trust me.

4. Read for 30 minutes each day about your goal — Did you know the more you study a subject the more interesting it becomes? Think about some of your most recent large purchases. Didn’t you spend a lot of time thinking about it, reading reviews, and getting the opinions of others? It’s the same with your goal. You can motivate yourself simply by dedicating 30 minutes or so per day to studying it.

If you are overweight and aren’t interested in exercise, buy a book on exercise and see what happens.

If you would make a good business owner but don’t feel like starting a business, read a book on entrepreneurship and you’ll be inspired to start.

Stressed out all the time but aren’t interested in meditation? Buy a book on relaxation techniques and you’ll learn other ways – if not take up the habit of daily meditation.

5. Journal your progress — working on a goal is a marvelous thing. It is also your life in action. That’s why it is important to Journal or record your progress as you go. Wouldn’t it be nice to hand down to future generations your struggles and victories you experienced while working through the steps on your goal list? It’s a part of your family history — especially if you choose a goal that is big.

Another good reason for journaling is you can go back in history to what you were thinking and what you were doing when you first started. It is great fun and very enlightening to go back into the Journal to see what I was thinking when I first started a particular goal. Sometimes I think “how naïve I was by approaching it this way…”

However, and this might be embarrassing, other times I have found that I actually started out the right way and slowly drifted into the wrong way. This happens to most people who set personal goals eventually. You start down the path and things are going great and so you tweak them and they stop going so great… what do you do? Well if you have a journal you can go back and compare what you are doing now to what you were doing before and then readopt what you were doing back in history. If you don’t have a journal it’s likely to your former success will be lost forever.

6. Gain the support of your family — this tip is especially important for married people. It is important to get the agreement of your spouse or significant other will for you journey off towards a large goal.

Big goals take time. Families take time. If you have a big goal, make sure that it does not conflict with your family. If it does, it may need to be re-targeted so that there is no interference. If your spouse loses support for you during the pursuit of your goal your ability to do it becomes 10 times more difficult.

However, having the support of a spouse will pay off royally in your ability to get it done. Who better knows you and what buttons to push to get you off your butt then your spouse? Who knows what guilt trip is most effective to get you to stop procrastinating?

7. Hire some help — this tip is especially true for entrepreneurs. But it can also work wonders for people who want to free up more time for their family or who want more time for health pursuits. There are plenty of people out there who want to do work do you need done. Be it mow your lawn, or clean your gutters, doing those types of chores pull you away from more important tasks. You always have the option of hiring someone else to do the time consuming no pay jobs do you have to do or are responsible for.

Now you might say “I don’t have enough money to hire anyone, I am barely scraping by.” Well maybe you should consider doing a side business where you are providing that type of service to other people so you can build your income. It’s just an idea…

8. Test new ideas — everyone is unique. Therefore what is good for one person may or may not be good for you.

That’s where testing comes into play. All inventors and innovators are good testers. They like to test to see what will happen. They like to combine formerly incompatible substances and make something new. As you move toward your top goals, you too can test the waters.

Perhaps you’ve read a book on how to achieve the position of CEO. However you are stuck in middle management. You might stumble on an idea such as an anonymous note to the office blabbermouth telling him you are in line for a promotion to CEO.

This is, of course, not an often used idea. But you are sure to draw attention to yourself by doing it. And who knows, it just might work.

9. Hire a mentor — Nobody knows it all. That’s why getting a helping hand from someone who has done what you want to do is so important. Picture a goal you estimate will take you three years to achieve. Maybe you want to finish graduate school. What if you knew someone who finish graduate school in one year. Wouldn’t you be interested to talk to that person? I know I would. I’d like to get it done in get out the door as soon as possible.

But that’s what mentors do. They save you time, they save you energy, and they save you money. What’s cool is in almost all realms of goal setting, you will find someone somewhere who has achieved what you set out to do. It may cost money to speak to them and to get their advice. But they could be knocking years off the time it will take you to succeed.

10. Build your self discipline — Many people first starting out goalsetting feel that they do not have enough self-discipline to get through a major goal. But what you will happily find out he is building self-discipline is easier than you think.

Building self-discipline is similar to how lifting weights will build your muscles. by forcing yourself to do the things you know you should do, you will build your self discipline. Now like lifting weights, building discipline is the same approach. Start with something small like disciplining yourself to wash and put away your dinner dishes every night.

It may seem small, but by forcing yourself to do something small on a repetitive basis, you begin to build that muscle of self-discipline much like doing curls will build the muscles of your biceps. So pick a task and do it every day. Self-discipline will soon follow.

This post covers tips 57-67 of 101 Goal Setting Breakthroughs: A 31 Day Blog Series That Will Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever! Subscribe to my free RSS feed to get the rest of the series and never miss a tip!

P.S. If you like this post, please give me a thumbs up on StumbleUpon or vote for it on Digg. Many thanks!

You might want to make sure you are sitting down before you read this…

I am deeply saddened to report Ricky Spears, fellow North Carolinian and co-Lexington Barbeque fan has challenged me to a dual. Yes, I was reading his blog late one night and admiring his homemade whiteboard when the curiosity got the best of me. I asked a simple question about how he made his whiteboard when I was blind-sided.

His response was so fast and harsh, you’d think I had called him a Yankee!

I had only asked if he had used a blowtorch to melt the plastic in order to create the whiteboard on his desk.

It was at this moment he posted a blog DARE to me! Read for yourself, there’s no other way for me to take it except as a challenge to a productivity-hack showdown. The gloves really came off when he dared me to post pictures of my homemade notebook cooler in order to prove I made one.

So here it is. It’s the whiteboards vs. the notebook coolers in this most unique, no-holds-barred productivity hack showdown.

His weapon: Cat-like astuteness for turning everyday objects into money saving miracles. The things he does with chewing gum, dental floss and $1 Wal-Mart picture frames would strike fear into any productivity dualist (me included). I thought long and hard about accepting his challenge.

My weapons: A blowtorch, 1 piece of Plexiglas and an old computer case fan. Although inexpensive, my hacks rely on persistence and tools. I usually make many mistakes and have to rebuild. But I know to beat Ricky, I will have to wear him out with sheer determination.

Who will win? (Personally, I’ve got my money on the guy with the blowtorch.)

But you, dear reader, can decide who is the last geek standing.

Read on to see the pictures!

This is a picture of the notebook cooler with the USB powered fan (notice the duct tape – I had to cut off the screws to prevent them from digging in and scratching my laptop.

Here is my laptop sitting on the cooler. You can see that the plexiglass cut underneath is not straight. That is because I used the blowtorch and a heat blade to cut it. I didn’t have a straight edge and had to eyeball it. Also, I’ve got the USB fan plugged into the side of the laptop.

Here is a side view of the setup showing the angle. The space underneath lets the fan circulate the air outward and away from the notebook.

Pros and cons to making your own notebook cooler…

Pros:

• With other notebook coolers starting at $30 and providing low cooling, you can make your own with spare parts and an $8 piece of Plexiglas.
• You can add more fans if you need them
• USB fan doesn’t require additional batteries or power source – look Ma no batteries!
• Keeps your laptop noticeably cooler and protects the surface underneath from getting hot too! No more hot pants for you!
• Fun project

Cons:

• Took me several times to learn how to melt the angles into plexiglass – No joke, I even melted a mini torch in the process.
• potentially dangerous – compressed flammable gas (wear eye protection)
• Using a blowtorch in the heat of summer is miserable
• Melting Plexiglas smells horrible (wear a mask)
• Plexiglas is too flimsy for some laptops. I’ve got a multimedia laptop that has some width and weight to it. As such, the cooler bows and buckles at times.

Overall, it was fun and I learned a few things. But I did it in the heat of the summer and the torch’s heat made the job excruciating during the long plexi-bends. But it really works!

Warning: Please don’t take my rivalry with Ricky Spears seriously. He’s a good friend and great idea man. I recommend you stop by and subscribe to his blog for his unique productivity tips like his $1 Wal-Mart whiteboard project.