8 Comments

Excellent post.

I guess all poetry thrives (when it works) on self-imposed constraints (the form) chosen by the poet to work in. So I'd agree that contraints can encourage creativity.

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That's a good callout.

I might also add: good literature often begins with the end in mind (though certainly not always).

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I can definitely relate. I participated in a few flash fiction contests back in the day, and I always found it helpful to have a specific writing prompt to follow. No better way to trigger creativity than having a constraint imposed on you that your brain can try to solve. It has an element of gamification to it, too.

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Andrew, I need a warm up. Thanks to you I’m going to give myself a “gap year” something I never conceived of back when it was “the right time.” Thanks!!!

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@Andrew Smith Love this: “Every Saturday, I make a list of the things I need to get done for the week ahead.”

Next week the calendar reminds me that I’ve just completed 78 years. Making a 10 year plan intrigues me ... including a goal that requires reinvention is especially invigorating. Thanks for throwing down a challenge.

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You got it! Feel free to share your 10 year goal(s) with me.

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I am, at this moment, working hard to reverse-engineer how communities work in the social good space. The sector has chosen marketing over community-building as our primary go-to-market method. It's not working. Reverse engineering successful social good communities is not complex work; it's pretty clear how they work when leaning in with the social psychology at hand.

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Love it!

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