The Marginalian
The Marginalian

How to Get Unstuck in 30 Seconds

From squiggle to masterpiece in 30 seconds, or how to refill your annual bucket of creative mojo.

“Getting stuck is not a problem. Staying stuck is. Good learners practice getting unstuck,” said education provocateur Alistair Smith in his fantastic recent DoLecture. After last month’s omnibus of creativity-catalyzing activity books for grown-ups, which became an instant hit, here comes a fine new addition from Noah Scalin: Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio is a handy guide to exactly what it says on the tin, featuring 52 simple creativity-sparking projects for any lifestyle, arranged in order of time commitment (from 30 seconds to several hours) and doable either choose-your-own-adventure style or one per week for a year’s worth of creativity. (Not to be confused with Stuck, the characteristically delightful new Oliver Jeffers children’s book.)

Alongside the activities are 12 profiles of real-life creators, including artist Matt Lively and ImprovEverywhere’s Charlie Todd, who share what they do to stay inspired, productive, and fresh. A series of 30-second videos complement each of the profiles.

Unstuck is a follow-up to Scalin’s 365: A Daily Creativity Journal, based on the “365 method” behind his Skull-A-Day project.

For more on the mechanisms and secrets of creativity, give the Brain Pickings creativity archive a whirl.

via BoingBoing; images courtesy of Noah Scalin


Published November 18, 2011

https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/11/18/noah-scalin-unstuck/

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