Too many ideas, not enough time

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

Just since I began recording some possible subjects for future essays (my latest list)—about 3½ months ago, I have generated 122 topics. One problem I have is getting ideas on the list when they occur to me, since I don’t always have the list with me. From that list, only about 5 of the topics have been converted into essays thus far, but I have used the list often to see if a topic appears there. The topic for this essay is not on the list. I always generate far, far more topics than I can write about, hence the title of this essay, "Too many ideas, not enough time."
Just to give you an example of what I am talking about, let me reveal some of the topics that I have generated over the past several months. They appear here in no particular order:

1. Turning over a new leaf

2. Dealing with the impossible

3. What are the basic human obligations?

4. Temporal happiness

5. Identifying your passion

6. Importance of knowing who you are

7. When in doubt . . .

8. What does commitment really mean?

9. What does your legacy really mean?

10. Kissing frogs

11. Developing conscientiousness

12. The importance of looks

13. Permissible shortcuts

14. Finding your purpose

15. Thank your mentors

16. Settling your debts

17. Thinking differently

18. The effects of low self-esteem

19. The spark that makes a difference

20. How far can you go?

21. Signs along the way

22. A life of subsistence

23. Strategic pessimism

24. Going solo

25. The knock-out punch

26. Betting on yourself

Now, think about it, my actual list of topics is about five times longer than just those listed above. When I was re-writing them (above), it sparked my creative juices. There are so many I would love to write about right now—but I don’t have the time!

I loved what Tama J. Kieves (the first reference in the additional readings attached to this essay) said about having too many ideas: "It’s a blessing to be creatively abundant." There is no doubt this is true, and I’ve never been one to disparage in any way the fruitfulness of my brain—or any brain for that matter! I have never drawn a blank when it comes to generating new ideas, and when I am looking for one to write on, too many appear, but not enough time!

I have written extensively about creativity in a book that I consider to be the cornerstone of my philosophy of life. In You Rules - Caution: Contents Leads to a Better Life! (And Then Some Publishing LLC, 2008), in six chapters, I discuss the benefits of creativity, the characteristics of successful, creative people, how the creative process works, establishing the kind of life in which creativity will flourish, becoming immersed in a field of study, and how to capitalize on flow. If your goal was to become a creative person or to enhance your already-present creative abilities, this section of this multi-faceted, motivational book will make a clear and vivid difference in your life.

What I have discovered regarding having far more ideas and not nearly enough time, is that I enjoy being involved in a plethora of stimulation. It not only engages my mind, but it preoccupies my thinking, buries me in contemplation, absorbs me with consideration, and saturates me in motivation. Sure, you could look at it as overstimulation; however, my view is that this saturation of information galvanizes, activates, fuels, and inspires. I am most excited when my brain is electrified. It is a refreshing, revitalizing, and restorative tonic that rouses and energizes.

When I thought of this topic for an essay as I was jogging, I couldn’t wait for all my exercising rituals to end so that I could get to the computer to transform my thoughts into words. I was charged-up. And, even now, as I am bringing this essay closer to a conclusion, I have gone way beyond my time for lunch because I am into the "flow," and I have to capitalize on the moment for generating this verbiage. I have the topic, the interest, and the time!

Perhaps, you have experienced this yourself. Too much taking place in your brain, too many ideas coming forth unexpected and unannounced; too much stimulation that you don’t want to break in or stop the process—the flow.

When I am involved in the preparation for a new edition of my textbook, Communicating Effectively, 10e (McGraw-Hill, 2012), I experience this same feeling. My whole body moves into a mode of operation. It’s like having overdrive in an automobile. My senses are peaked, my awareness is charged, and my motivation is difficult to restrain. I long for the outlet—the opportunity to create.

When I can bring to a project (an essay or book), all that I am, and then infuse that with the energy and creativity that serves as a catalyst for my productivity, the end product, based on my history and products of the past, is not just of high quality, but there is quantity, too. That is how I operate; that is how it has worked; that is what I know.

This is not a new or recent phenomenon. I can’t remember a time when this wasn’t the case. For example, while I taught at Bowling Green State University, I would meet weekly with Howard W. Cotrell, a professor and representative of the Instructional Media Center on campus. His first contact with me had to do with visiting my large lectures. There, he would take notes and make recommendations in our weekly meetings regarding greater teaching effectiveness, the better use of instructional materials, and any additional suggestions on the delivery or substance of my lectures. It was one of the best professional relationships I encountered at any point in my entire collegiate career.

One thing that happened during our weekly meetings, especially as they evolved over the many years—nearly 22 total—that we met, was the generation of ideas for possible academic publication. Together, we would serve as idea generators by thinking of brainstorming new ideas, working off the comments of each other, and, basically, sharing in a mutually beneficial creative endeavor. Together, we co-authored more than 30 published, academic papers. But even then, our publication record came nowhere close to the number of potential ideas that we wrote down. There were so many ideas, but so little time!

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Tama J. Kieves, author of the book, This Time I Dance! Create the Work You Love, , has a delightful website with the subtitle, "A blog about inspired living," and in her brief essay, "Too Many Ideas, Too Little Time? The Secret of Being Creatively Abundant," proves conclusively for me, that she is an excellent writer. Her brief essay on the topic I chose to write about here, is superb, and I wish I could quote the entire thing. Here is just one inspiring paragraph: "Some ideas are springboards.  Some ideas are just passing through.  Some ideas collapse and fold into other projects.  Sometimes ideas whisper your name a thousand ways, in different tongues, shift different angles until you claim the nucleus and find the heart.  Some ideas will take you so deep that nothing else will ever matter in the same way again.  It only takes a moment to make an entire life worthwhile."

At Stepcase Lifehack, the author of the essay, What to do when you have too many ideas, offers four ideas about what to do when you have too many ideas: 1) Write it down, but let them simmer, 2) Adopt a mission statement, 3) Create idea buckets, and, 4) Get real, which means connecting with the ideas that you are fondest of and know will bring about the most benefit to yourself and others.

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Copyright January 31, 2013, by And Then Some Publishing LLC

Grow up!

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
   
When I gave my lecture on “How to become a writer” to fifth graders, I had a young fellow ask me after the lecture was over, “Were these the things you did to become a writer?”  Although I would have loved to say, “Yes, exactly!,” I had to be honest with him.  “No,” I said, “but I didn’t have someone come into my class in the fifth grade and tell me what I’ve told you today.  These are things that I learned and am now sharing with you.”
   
There are so many things I wish I had known about as I grew up.  Of course, part of the fun of growing up is learning about new things, so there is a certain dichotomy here that is difficult to resolve completely.  My thinking on this is simple.  Since there are so many things to learn—and things that you can learn—all the help you can get is greatly appreciated.  The help only serves to lay the foundation for even more learning and understanding.
   
There are some ideas, however, that can help solidify a foundation.  That is, there are ideas that are basic and can serve as a starting point.
   
First, let me ask you if you know someone who is immature?  Someone who needs to grow up?  Someone whom you know could be more active and creative?  Someone who could lead a more purposeful life if he or she just “wised-up”?  Someone who just seems to be wasting his or her life away—wandering randomly and aimlessly without goals, purposes, or direction? 
   
If your answer is yes, then I have an idea.  I have written a book designed just for such a person.  It is called You Rules—Caution, Contents Leads to a Better Life (And Then Some Publishing, 2008).  This is the kind of book I wish I had as a teenager, as a college student, or even as I was just starting out in life.  I was a person who needed direction and purpose.
   
You Rules is a 316-page book (with only a mere 175-words (average) on a page) that is divided into six parts: 1) Establish the characteristics, 2) Strive to be healthy, 3) Get where you want to go, 4) Exercise your creativity, 5) Maintain your progress, and 6) Look toward a positive future.
   
The first section, “Establish the characteristics,” includes eight chapters, 1) Learn to be optimistic, 2) Develop a positive attitude, 3) Make self-discipline a habit, 4) Become passionate about life, 5) Make your own luck, 6) Get out of your comfort zones, 7) Make TNT your motto to feed your mind with positive input, and 8) Get organized.
   
Each chapter is full of specific, practical advice and suggestions.  I write in the “Introduction,” “If you are looking for encouragement, specific suggestions, and inspiration to make changes in your life, this is the book for you.”  For example, I write in Chapter 2, “Develop a Positive Attitude,” “For those who do not possess a positive attitude, positive thinking, and optimism, there are a number of things that can be done.  Essentially, it requires a change in your mindset, but, even if you have been a pessimistic, negative thinker for many years, it is not too late to change your way of thinking and reap the benefits of a positive attitude” (p. 9).  This is a series of sentences that can be changed only slightly to include every topic covered in the book. 
   
Whether the subject is learning to be optimistic, developing a positive attitude, making self-discipline a habit, becoming passionate about life, making your own luck, etc. (any subject in the book!), I not only offer suggestions for change, but I give the reasons why as well.  How will change help you?  What differences will it make in your life? 
   
The second section, “Strive to be Healthy,” includes six chapters: 9) Adopt a healthy lifestyle, 10) Make a commitment to regular exercise, 11) Develop a sense of wonder, 12) Have a sense of humor, 13) Make healthy selfishness part of your everyday existence, and 14) Work to achieve mindfulness in your life.  In the “mindfulness” chapter, there are fourteen specific mindfulness traits that can be adopted, applied, and used in your life—practically and right now.
   
The “Get Where You Want to Go” section includes the most chapters of any section at eleven.  That is because moving from where you are now to where you want to be requires more than just motivation; it requires action.  These chapters discuss commitment, self-discipline, time management, listening to instincts, controlling worry, developing memory, pulling yourself up, pursuing a program of growth, development, and change, becoming an effective listener, moving to the front of the pack, and opening the mystery doors of your life.
   
Chapter 16, “Develop Self-Discipline,” is one of my favorites because it is based on the speech I gave as part of the “Last Lecture Series” at Bowling Green State University.  In this chapter, I discuss the seven keys to developing self-discipline: attitude, time management, capitalizing on your skills, working hard, taking good care of yourself, making time for relationships, and spirituality.  If there were one, overarching, chapter of greatest importance, it would probably be this one simply because it is one of the keys to accomplishing the ideas in all fifty chapters.
   
All of the chapters in You Rules are motivational.  One of the best examples, however, is Chapter 24, “Strive to Move to the Front of the Pack.”  In this chapter, there are at least eight specific suggestions that apply to any situation you face in life in which you want to excel.  If you are truly interested in self-growth, this is an essential—exceptional—chapter.
   
The fourth section of the book, “Exercise Your Creativity,” includes six chapters: 26) Discover the benefits of creativity, 27) Develop the characteristics of successful, creative people, 28) Know how the creative process works, 29) Establish the kind of life in which creativity will flourish, 30) Become immersed in a field of study, and 31) Capitalize on flow.  This is a section where you can truly stretch your boundaries, extend your knowledge, and push yourself beyond what you are and what you know.
   
There are nine chapters in the fifth section of the book, “Maintain Your Progress.”   This section discusses all the distractions that can get in the way of forward progress—failure, mistakes, obstacles, undesirable social influences, perfection, brain issues, and devilish issues.  The final chapter in this section, Chapter 40, “Make Your Self Improvements Last,” contains four specific and realistic suggestions that are guaranteed to assist you in making the changes you want continue.  Change is tough—requires time, effort, focus, and commitment—but when you examine your life and make changes, now (with the book You Rules) you can make them last.
   
The final section, “Look Toward a Positive Future,” includes 10 chapters that attempt to keep things (change, growth, and development) in perspective. “Don’t take yourself too seriously,” advocates caution, just as the chapters on developing a growth mindset, reflecting on your present blessings, learning how to forgive, making the best use of your time, and striving for improvement not perfection.  The final chapter about “the good life” shows that it is both well-defined and achievable.
   
At the end of Chapter 6, “Get Out of Your Comfort Zones,” and as part of the conclusion to that chapter, I write what could be the theme or thesis of the entire book: “What many people fail to realize is that, indeed, they are in charge of their lives—qualified, capable, and able—and they have the key to their prison cells if they would just find it, put it into the lock, turn it, open the door, and allow themselves to be catapulted into new and uncharted territory” (p. 17).     Catapulted, I might add, into new and uncharted territory that could best be characterized by “growth.”  At least when someone tells you to “Grow up!, after reading You Rules, you will know how to do it.
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At wikiHow the essay, “How to grow up,” offers 7 practical tips for growing up.http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Up>

At Scribd the essay, “Ten Steps to Mental Maturity,” is excellent!

At Adoption.com the essay “7 Steps to Emotional Maturity,” is also excellent!
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Copyright August, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing LLC

   

Book Review Mondays

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Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

Mihaly’s last name is pronounced chick-sent-mih-high, and the intent of his book is to describe how different people create meaning in life with full intention and focus and thereby achieve an ongoing state of satisfaction and sense of fulfillment. It is, thus, not a recipe book for self-improvement, but Csikszentmihalyi offers general concepts — principles (a flexible framework) — that can be applied to yourself and your life. Although he is a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, this is not a textbook, and it is not about psychology alone. With psychology, he interweaves philosophy, anthropology, and sociology as well. It is written for everyone, and it explains an important concept. The major components of the flow experience include: 1) There's clarity of goals, 2) Feedback is immediate. You know moment-by-moment how well you're doing, 3) The challenges of the activity are matched with the skills of the person, 4) There's a feeling of focus on what you're doing, 5) Everyday frustrations are removed from your attention, 6) You feel that you can be control of your life, 7) You also lose a sense of self-consciousness, 8) And, finally, a sense of time is transformed. His discussion of "the zone" or the state of "Flow" is thorough, comprehensive, and clear. This is an engaging, thought-provoking, eye-opening book by a knowledgeable, educated man who offers readers a popularized examination of the intellectual bases for the concept of flow. He doesn’t use long lists of scholars, rather, he uses copious "real life" examples to illustrate the concepts he introduces — how to achieve optimal experience. This is not a "fun" read unless you like critical analysis of psychological processes, but his approach is logical, linear, and well illustrated. Once you read it, you will want to save it and re-read it from time-to-time. As an author who has experienced flow many times in his life, I can tell you that it is wonderful having this book as a mental reference for understanding the entire process.

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When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and The Women Who Fought Back
by Stephen Singular

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

This is a fascinating book. My sister lives in Kanab, Utah, as I am writing this, and I have driven past Colorado City, Utah, where much of this book takes place, so I know the area. Singular, a New York Times bestselling author, is an excellent writer. This book is educational, gripping, and detailed. Singular traces the rise to power of Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a sect of Mormonism based in isolated southern Utah, and the effort involved that led to his downfall. Effort involved? It took law enforcement, private investigators, the Feds, and a group of former polygamous wives seeking to liberate young women from arranged marriages to bring him down. To his twenty to thirty thousand followers, Jeffs wasn’t merely their pastor but their Prophet, “the only person on earth who took orders directly from God” (p. 3). The prologue of the book discusses his final arrest, but the chapter titles alone give you a hint of the great read ahead: 1) Sex and terrorism, 2) One-man rule, 3) The resistance, 4) In the shadows of Zion, 5) Fallen prophet, 6) Outlasting the sun. In addition, there is a short epilogue and a brief afterword as well. There are no notes, bibliography, nor index. To reveal a taste of his writing style, here Singular explains benefits of polygamy from some of the women he interviewed: “Some of the women mentioned the specific psychological benefits of polygamy. Plural marriage had helped them come to terms with difficult feelings like jealousy, insecurity, competition, and thinking that they ‘owned’ their spouse. Instead of denying these complex emotions, they’d been forced to confront them in order to make their marriages work. They saw all this as a growth experience — a lifestyle that was not only tolerable, but preferable” (p. 81). This is truly an excellent book, and although you may not like the central character, the subject matter, nor the beliefs and values held by this group, the book offers a solid, well-drawn, footnote not just in the history of this country but in how people like David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Warren Jeffs are able to accomplish their feat of control. Jeffs was a reader of Hitler and Napoleon, wrested leadership from his father, discharged all those who opposed him, and maintained absolute and total control by eliminating all outside influences, thus, if you are born into that belief system, and isolated enough so that contrary views are never presented to you, it is difficult or close to impossible to get out. This is really an incredible read.

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Through our reading, researching, and writing, And Then Some Publishing (and our extended family of readers) mine volumes of books representing a wide variety of tastes. We use the books in our writing, test and try suggested techniques, and we read for enjoyment as well. We wouldn't spend the time reviewing the books if we didn't get something out of it. Read more reviews on other fantastic books at our BookWorksRules.com website.

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Thursday’s essay, “The effects of technology: What we know for sure,” is an essay that focuses on how technology affects us — especially our use of the BlackBerry. Yes, it was stimulated by President Barack Obama’s use, but the findings (what we know for sure) come from researchers and scientists. Knowing the effects technology can have is just the first step in doing something about it (if you want to) — and that is what Thursday’s essay is all about.

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Thursday's And Then Some Essay preview
The effects of technology: What we know for sure
by Richard L. Weaver II

Excerpt:
Disruptions or interruptions plus the problems created by multi-tasking are two issues about which we know for sure. A third issue is creativity. Creativity requires that the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts, and this often occurs during mental downtime even daydreaming — when problems are not commanding conscious attention. A BlackBerry commands continuous conscious attention (that, along with other technologies). In a study conducted by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School, she found, in Begley’s words, “that fragmentation of attention . . . impeded creativity” (p. 38).

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