Download or read book Your Idea Starts Here written by Carolyn Eckert and published by Storey Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2016-05-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2016 Silver Nautilus Award Winner for Creative Process With change happening faster and faster in our tech-ruled world, being able to think creatively, flexibly, and quickly is more important than ever. In Your Idea Starts Here, graphic designer Carolyn Eckert offers 77 specific questions, techniques, and exercises — cleverly combined with fascinating infographics and other visuals — to jump-start creative thinking. Don’t know what you want your project to be? Make a list of things you don’t want it to be. Wondering where to start? Say one word that relates to your idea and invite a friend to say another word that relates to yours. See where five or ten rounds take you. Work within a time limit, look in unexpected places, think tiny, do the opposite, shuffle your papers, and explore your creativity to the fullest! There’s something here to inspire and strengthen every smart idea, all in an innovative little book that makes a perfect gift for anyone, including yourself.

Download or read book Not My Idea written by Anastasia Higginbotham and published by Ordinary Terrible Things. This book was released on 2018-09 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People of color are eager for white people to deal with their racial ignorance. White people are desperate for an affirmative role in racial justice. Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness helps with conversations the nation is, just now, finally starting to have.

Download or read book An Audience of One written by Srinivas Rao and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creator of the Unmistakable Creative podcast makes a counterintuitive argument: By focusing your creative work on pleasing yourself, you can increase your productivity, happiness, and (eventually, paradoxically) the size of your audience. Creating for your own pleasure--whether you're writing a novel, composing songs, or painting a landscape--can seem pointless. It's tempting to focus on pursuing money and fame, rather than the process itself. But as Srini Rao warns, creating then turns into a chore that can harm your self-esteem and suck the pleasure out of life, rather than being a source of joy. Rao, host of the podcast The Unmistakable Creative, argues that we should counter this thinking by intentionally creating art for ourselves alone--an audience of one. In this book he shares the fascinating true stories of creatives who took this path, along with actionable tips and the research of creativity experts. You'll learn, for example: • How Oprah's intentional focus on her own work rather than the opinions of everyone else catapulted her into one of the most popular talk shows of all time. • How being process-driven can not only help you produce more work, but can make you happier outside of your creative time. • How to put together a creative "team of rivals" whose feedback can help you hone your craft and filter out useless feedback. By playing to an audience of one, we can find more happiness, increased productivity, and a greater sense of community.

Download or read book Start with Why written by Simon Sinek and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-12-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspirational bestseller that ignited a movement and asked us to find our WHY Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time—with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever. START WITH WHY asks (and answers) the questions: why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over? People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate the same way—and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Download or read book What Do You Do with an Idea written by Kobi Yamada and published by . This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young boy comes up with an idea and he keeps it safe until one day he realizes the amazing power it can have.

Download or read book Start Here written by Eric Langshur and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This revolutionary work outlines the first and only cross-training system for mastering the skill of happiness. Think P90x for the soul. Every day we have a choice: embrace happiness or let it pass us by. But nurturing happiness isn't easy. It takes understanding, guidance, and training. It takes skill to let go of day-to-day stress and inspire our most inner optimist. It takes LIFE XT. In collaboration with some of the world's leading researchers, Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp have created a comprehensive, nine-step training program to help anyone master the skill of happiness (LIFE XT). Teaching core skills such as mindfulness, physical fitness, and compassion will break a lifetime of habits that keep you distracted, overwhelmed, and addicted to unhealthy behaviors. With Start Here, you will: -Feel less stressed and more focused. -Experience a slower resting heart rate within just twenty minutes. -Sleep better and feel refreshed. Based on scientific research, Start Here provides the most efficient pathway to happiness and a greater sense of overall well-being"-- Provided by publisher.

Download or read book DIY MFA written by Gabriela Pereira and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.

Download or read book Perennial Seller written by Ryan Holiday and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book that Inc. says "every entrepreneur should read" and an FT Book of the Month selection... How did the movie The Shawshank Redemption fail at the box office but go on to gross more than $100 million as a cult classic? How did The 48 Laws of Power miss the bestseller lists for more than a decade and still sell more than a million copies? How is Iron Maiden still filling stadiums worldwide without radio or TV exposure forty years after the band was founded? Bestselling author and marketer Ryan Holiday calls such works and artists perennial sellers. How do they endure and thrive while most books, movies, songs, video games, and pieces of art disappear quickly after initial success? How can we create and market creative works that achieve longevity? Holiday explores this mystery by drawing on his extensive experience working with businesses and creators such as Google, American Apparel, and the author John Grisham, as well as his interviews with the minds behind some of the greatest perennial sellers of our time. His fascinating examples include: • Rick Rubin, producer for Adele, Jay-Z, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who teaches his artists to push past short-term thinking and root their work in long-term inspiration. • Tim Ferriss, whose books have sold millions of copies, in part because he rigorously tests every element of his work to see what generates the strongest response. • Seinfeld, which managed to capture both the essence of the nineties and timeless themes to become a modern classic. • Harper Lee, who transformed a muddled manuscript into To Kill a Mockingbird with the help of the right editor and feedback. • Winston Churchill, Stefan Zweig, and Lady Gaga, who each learned the essential tenets of building a platform of loyal, dedicated supporters. Holiday reveals that the key to success for many perennial sellers is that their creators don’t distinguish between the making and the marketing. The product’s purpose and audience are in the creator’s mind from day one. By thinking holistically about the relationship between their audience and their work, creators of all kinds improve the chances that their offerings will stand the test of time.

Download or read book Designing Your Life written by Bill Burnett and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

Download or read book Idea Stormers written by Bryan W. Mattimore and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-08-29 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to solve critical business challenges by generating more and better ideas Every organization needs a steady supply of fresh, relevant ideas, but managers can?t just lock teams in a room with a mandate to brainstorm and hope for the best. Ideation is both a science and an art, and when group ideation processes are well-designed and well-facilitated, anyone can generate an abundance of creative, implementable options?not to mention true breakthroughs?for any business need. Drawing on his work leading high-stakes ideation sessions at over 300 organizations, Mattimore explains the how, what, and why of successful ideation and provides a framework for when and how to apply various techniques. Identifies Mattimore?s top ideation and innovation techniques (including ?brainwalking,? finding inspiration in worst ideas, the unexpected effectiveness of wishing, and more) and lays the groundwork for you to invent successful processes of your own Tells real stories of ideation at work in Mattimore?s consulting business, including how Ben & Jerry?s named a new strawberry fudge flavor, how Thomas? invented a new, healthier English muffin that now accounts for over 30% of its sales, how IBM transformed the culture of one of its divisions to make it more innovative, and many more Mattimore is a world-class expert on applied creativity and an innovation process consultant to over one-third of the Fortune 100 companies; he and his team have helped create and launch products and services worth over $3 billion in annual US retail sales With a diverse range of tested methods, Idea Stormers is the indispensable guide for developing original, practical solutions to even the most intractable-seeming creative challenges.

Download or read book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster written by Bill Gates and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Download or read book Creativity Inc The Expanded Edition written by Ed Catmull and published by Random House. This book was released on 2023-09-28 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. “Might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”—Fast Company For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.

Download or read book Go Teen Writers written by Stephanie Morrill and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-03 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You have a story to tell, don't you? Or maybe you simply want to try your hand at fiction writing. Perhaps you've given it your best effort, but simply didn't have enough tools in your tool box to finish that first draft. Wherever you're at with this novel-writing thing, popular bloggers Stephanie Morrill, Jill Williamson, and Shannon Dittemore totally understand. They know it's hard to finish a first draft. To stay motivated until the end. To feel like a "real" writer. They know because they've been there too. In Go Teen Writers: Write Your Novel, you'll learn: There is no such thing as one right way to write a novel. How to take an idea and give it a beginning, middle, and end. What story structure means and how it strengthens a book. Different approaches to plotting a novel. How to develop characters worth reading about. Strategies for creating memorable storyworlds and settings. What theme is and how to use it to enrich your story. What to do when your first draft is finished. There's no doubt about it. Learning to write a novel from beginning to end is a challenge. But with this book as your guide, you'll see that when you're in possession of the right tools, you're capable of finishing what you start. You'll be empowered and encouraged-as if you had a writing coach (or three!) sitting alongside you.

Download or read book How They Started written by David Lester and published by Crimson Publishing. This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lots of us have ideas we think would make great businesses. Most of us never do anything with those ideas. But for those that do, a world of opportunity awaits them. This book is about 30 people who acted on their idea, made the first steps to start their business and subsequently went on to turn it into a global brand. From Innocent to Cobra to Dreams to Dysone, we reveal how some of the UK's biggest businesses got of the ground, and those very first steps taken by their founders.

Download or read book Atomic Habits written by James Clear and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 20 million copies sold! Translated into 60+ languages! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; design your environment to make success easier; get back on track when you fall off course; ...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

Download or read book Ask a Manager written by Alison Green and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Download or read book Become an Idea Machine written by Claudia Azula Altucher and published by . This book was released on 2014-12-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HOW DO I TRANSFORM MY LIFE? The answer is simple: come up with ten ideas a day. It doesn't matter if they are good or bad the key is to exercise your 'idea muscle', to keep it toned, and in great shape. People say ideas are cheap and execution is everything but that is NOT true. Execution is a consequence, a subset of good, brilliant idea. And good ideas require daily work. Ideas may be easy if we are only coming up with one or two but if you open this book to any of the pages and try to produce more than three, you will feel a burn, scratch your head, and you will be sweating, and working hard. There is a turning point when you reach idea number 6 for the day, you still have four to go, and your mind muscle is getting a workout. By the time you list those last ideas to make it to ten you will see for yourself what "sweating the idea muscle" means. As you practice the daily idea generation you become an idea machine.When we become idea machines we are flooded with lots of bad ideas but also with some that are very good. This happens by the sheer force of the number, because we are coming up with 3,650 ideas per year (at ten a day). When you are inspired by an extraordinary idea, all of your thoughts break their chains, you go beyond limitations and your capacity to act expands in every direction. Forces and abilities you did not know you had come to the surface, and you realize you are capable of doing great things. As you practice with the suggested prompts in this book your ideas will get better, you will be a source of great insight for others, people will find you magnetic, and they will want to hang out with you because you have so much to offer. When you practice every day your life will transform, in no more than 180 days, because it has no other evolutionary choice. Life changes for the better when we become the source of positive, insightful, and helpful ideas. Don't believe a word I say. Instead, challenge yourself to try it for the 180 days and see your life transform, in magical ways, in front of your very eyes.