Blank pages and computer screens aren’t always a good thing. In fact they can be downright frustrating. As I sat down to write this post I was staring at a blank page and had no idea what I would write. But I’ve committed myself to writing regularly. So I racked my brain for ideas. Nothing came until I moved away from the computer for a little while. Then I came back. The white screen was still there, but suddenly it began to speak to me.

This is what it said: “Without me you would be far less productive.” Blank screens give us life. They give us opportunity. They give us the possibility of creativity. They beg to be filled. White is a wonderful color.

Blank pages can increase your productivity in these three ways:

1. Blank To-Do List. You know that to-do list you had last week? The one with all kinds of scribbling and scratching? The one that has items yet to be crossed off? Every Sunday night grab a new, blank page. Transfer the old to-dos from the dirty page to the blank page. Add the new to-dos that you have to accomplish this week. Start from scratch. Start fresh. Embrace the white, new page and make it a productivity primer. The blank page of your Monday morning will now be filled with all the things you can begin to cross off as you get the week off to a productive start.
2. Blank Notebook. One of my favorite things is a brand new Mickey Mouse Moleskine Notebook. A Moleskine Notebook is a great productivity tool. A Mickey Mouse Moleskine Notebook, for me, is even better. Disney in and of itself reminds me of creativity and the creative process. The notebook is filled with blank pages where I like to jot down thoughts and ideas. It helps me keep track of potential blog posts. It’s a place for taking notes at meetings. More than that, it has been proven that writing with a pen or pencil fires up our brain in different ways and even makes us more creative. Want to have more productive creativity? Write things down with a pen or pencil on a blank page.
3. Blank Computer Screen. In this digital age there comes a time when we have to finally fill a blank computer screen. It helps us share our thoughts and ideas with the world through the many channels that we have available to us. But when we sit down at our computers we are often distracted by all the bells and whistles of the internet. There is a wonderful app called Freedom that allows you to block any pages of the internet that you want for a certain period of time. It helps you turn a blank screen into one filled with thoughts, ideas, creativity, and new life. A blank computer screen can be one of the most productive tools we have at our fingertips.

For anyone who aspires to be creative, white is a wonderful color. It can be filled with dreams, and ideas, and possibilities. It can be filled with all the colors of life.

How do blank pages make you more productive?

Today’s post is a guest post from my friend, Tanner Olson. Tanner lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and operates a web site called Written to Speak. He is a spoken word poet, a person who dares to dream, an innovator, a wordsmith, and someone who loves to live life on the edge. Please check out Tanner’s web site and go ahead and purchase his brand new spoken word album: All Things.

Don’t dream alone.

Remember when you were in 7th grade and everything, including you, was weird and awkward? 
We were clueless, thought cargo pants were stylish, and were beginning to understand hygiene. 
I remember, too. 
Being a 12 year-old is hard.
 Along with being 12 comes the great calamity known as middle school.

Not only do I remember the growing pains of 7th grade, but I remember a project assigned in history class. I was assigned to write a paper and construct a model of the Parthenon from Ancient Greece, all while trying to grow arm-pit hair and make a joke funny enough to make her smile. 
Side note: I went 1 for 2 that year and no, she didn’t smile. 
Constructing the Parthenon was another painstaking assignment I couldn’t accomplish alone.
 I needed to ask for help.

If you’re like me, asking for help is often the last thing you want to do. Some days I’d rather fail than ask for assistance. Pride and ego say we can do it ourselves, while fear says asking would be too much. When I cave in and ask others for help I feel as if I am creating a ripple in the life of another, becoming an annoyance and an inconvenience.

But I’ve learned asking for help isn’t an annoyance or an inconvenience. Rather, asking others for help is us inviting them into something bigger than themselves.

I recently released my second spoken-word album. It was another dream brought to life and wouldn’t have been made possible without the help of others. And like constructing a replica of the Parthenon I had to do the thing I feared the most (besides glitter): I had to ask for help. 

And I did. 
I asked for help and the response was incredible. 
Musicians, artists, photographers, designers, and editors willingly accepted the invitation to help make this dream a reality.

Not inviting others to help isn’t only hurting your dream, but it’s keeping others from joining something incredible.

Dreaming alone can be a nightmare. 
Our dreams are too important to bring them to life alone, so why do we try to do it? 

Perhaps it’s fear. 
And fear isn’t a good enough reason. 
Perhaps it’s failure. 
And failure isn’t a good enough reason, either.

What’s the worst that could happen if you invited someone to help you? 
They can reject you by saying no.
 And we all need a reminder of what high school was like every once in a while.

Don’t let fear or failure stand between you and your dream. 
If your dream is to write a book, travel the world in a van, start a non-profit, or bake the world’s biggest cake, you need the help of others. 

Passion encourages passion, like invitation begins turning a dream into reality.

Invite others to dream with you.

Allow yourself to ask for help.
 Allow yourself to invite others to join your hope. 
Allow yourself to reach out your hand and bring someone into your dream.

If you’ve ever been to Key West you’ve probably been to Mallory Square. It’s a waterfront area filled with vendors, sunset seekers, and engaging street performers. Many of the street performers are like the circus acts of long ago. They use their skill and dramatic flair to draw a crowd, perform for them, and then persuade them to leave generous tips. It’s the way they make a living. They have to know sales techniques well.

As I recently watched these performers on a beautiful Key West April evening I learned that they are skilled salesmen and women. They can teach us all how to be better at sales. No matter your work or vocation you more than likely have to sell something. It may be goods. It may be food or drink. Or it may be ideas. Learning to sell things well is a skill upon which most of us could improve.

• Draw attention. In order to draw a crowd each performer used various means of getting attention and getting people to follow their curiosity. One juggler/acrobat/fire eater poured liquid out of a bottle of lighter fluid to make a border for his act. He later revealed that it was only water, but everyone was waiting to see that border go up in flames. As he was setting up chairs and a table he began to engage the crowd with a loud voice and audacious claims. He most certainly gained the attention of a significant group of people and soon began his act that would result in sales.
•  Build anticipation. The performers we watched all used this tactic. They made a bold promise and then built up to it. To a performer they all fulfilled their promise. But they used anticipation to keep the audience engaged. I didn’t see anyone walking away. People stayed because they wanted to see what happened. One man drew a young couple out of the crowd to help him with a trick in which he leapt over the young woman through a hoop that her boyfriend was holding. He didn’t just set it up and do it. He built the tension for at least five minutes before he performed the stunt. Anticipation builds desire that helps with sales.
•  Capitalize on your uniqueness. Not everyone can do what these performers do. Each one is unique. They do things that you don’t often see in your everyday life. They are different. They are individual. They aren’t easy to duplicate. If you want to sell something you need to emphasize the uniqueness and value of what it is you want to sell. People don’t use their valuable leisure time to watch something that isn’t unique. These performers are exceptional and are able to capitalize on it.
•  Use humor. The Key West street performers that we saw brought humor into their acts mainly by using volunteers from the crowd. It’s daring because you never know what you’re going to get from a volunteer. The juggler/acrobat/fire breather that we saw used two volunteers. One was a precocious little kid who gave the performer the kind of lip he had received from him. Another was a thirty-something Cubs fan from Chicago who was as stiff as tree branch. It was an opportunity for the performer to make some jokes at the expense of the guy. The crowd was in stitches…and still engaged. Humor always seems to do that. Humor also puts people at ease as they get ready to make a purchase.
• Be straightforward. When the act was over each performer was bold to ask for tips. They all had a huge bucket into which people could place their money. They were even straightforward enough to suggest an amount of money that would be appropriate for a street performed that had just entertained for the previous fifteen or twenty minutes. From what I could see, all of these tactics were enough for each performer to take in a substantial amount of money. Don’t be afraid to specifically ask for what you want.
•  Work with a team. What I really admired was that the performers seemed to be working together. Once an act was over another one started momentarily. The performer who was finishing an act promoted the one that was about to start. In sales it always helps to get referrals…and give referrals. It helps to work with a team.

What do you have to sell? These tips for creatively selling something will most likely boost your sales. Give it a try.

What tips would you give to help sell something?

The world needs your art. Yes, even yours. Just think if Steve Jobs had never introduced his art to the world. We wouldn’t have Macintosh computers or iPhones. What if Elon Musk would just sit on his ideas and never act on them? We wouldn’t have Tesla cars or Space X.

In my upcoming book, Fully and Creatively Alive: How to Live a More Joyfully Fulfilling Life, I talk about a new definition of art provided by Seth Godin. He says in his book, Linchpin, that art “isn’t only a painting. Art is anything that’s creative, passionate and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator…Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does … Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”

I would add to Seth’s definition of art by saying that art not only changes the recipient, but it changes the one making the art.

So here are the top 10 reasons the world needs even your art:

10. It changes the world. Or at least your small part of the world. Determine what it is that only you can provide, then do it. The world will be a better place.

9. It changes you. Even if nobody pays attention to your unique art, it gives you an opportunity to think through things and improve yourself. There are days when very few people read the blog posts I put out three times a week. But even if no one read them I would still keep writing them because they give me the chance to think through things in my life.

8. It makes the world more beautiful. Good art, the kind Seth Godin talks about, may bring aesthetic beauty. But more than that, it may also bring the beauty of helping someone else, which is one of the most beautiful things this world knows.

7. It provides something somebody else may need. There are many times in my life that I need something you have to give. I don’t know how to use Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign to create my own graphics. I have to rely on others to do that. I’m sure glad there are people in the world willing to help me with that, people like Megan Phillips and Lindsay Galvin.

6. It gives you purpose. There is a reason God planted in you certain gifts and talents. In the doing of them you find purpose and fulfillment. Why would you want to deprive yourself of that?

5. It makes you more courageous. The other day I received an email from somebody letting me know that they appreciate my writing. They thanked me for putting myself “out there.” It made me realize that there are times my writing is an act of courage. Simply putting my thoughts out into the world can be intimidating. I have to summon up the courage to be honest and to write about things that matter.

4. It brings exhilaration. Although it is, at times, scary to put art out into the world, once it gets out there it is an exhilarating feeling to know that something that never existed before, something I created, is now in the hands of others who often appreciate it.

3. It makes life interesting. If you’ve always got “art” to do you will never be bored. When you are in the mode of creating you will always be on the lookout for inspiration. There is never a dull moment when you make it your goal to share your art, whatever it may be.

2. It makes life more fun. When you are doing something that you have been gifted to do you find yourself in what artists and entrepreneurs call “the flow.” Those are the times when you love what you are doing so much that time slips away. It flies. Making art makes life fun.

1. It’s what you were created to do. The God who created the world, all of its intricacies, all of its beauty, all of its art, is the God who created you. You were created to be creative. Yes, even you. You’re unique and you have unique art welling up inside of you wanting to get out.

Please share it with us.

What is a reason you think the world needs people to make their art?

On a beautiful Florida Sunday afternoon my wife, Tammy, and I had the opportunity to hear a vocal recital. It was at the quaint Rollins College and presented by, Emily Walton, a singer we know who has a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. The program included Rossini, Saint-Saens, Brahms, and Copland. Songs were sung in Italian, French, and English. The pianist who accompanied her was exquisite.  The enthusiastic crowd was mightily impressed with the singer, as well they should have been.

As I sat and listened to the recital, there were three things about this singer and her performance that were interesting takeaways regarding creative pursuits. Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes. One genre of creativity can bring influence to another. A singer can teach a painter, who can teach a writer, who can teach a guitarist various things about creating good art.

Here’s what I learned from listening to Emily:

1. Sometimes creativity takes hard work. In order to carry out this recital, Emily had to put together program notes for each of the composers and songs. She had to translate the words of the pieces that were not in English. Most of all, her performance was the fruition of many, many countless hours of practice and rehearsal. She had to work on her form. She had to work on her diction. She had to work on her interpretation. She had to work on stage presence. It all came together in an incredible performance that drew me in completely as she sang each piece. The hard work was worth it.
2. Sometimes creativity takes a team. Emily could not have done this recital alone. It began, I’m sure, when her parents got her voice lessons long ago. She had to take classes in music history from professors who knew the content. She leaned on and listened to voice teachers and vocal coaches who helped her develop her voice. She needed a piano player to accompany her with skill and precision. She even needed a stage hand to open the piano between sets and put into place some simple props. The team Emily built helped her create a flawless performance.
3. Sometimes creativity needs to be stretched. Emily didn’t start out singing Rossini and Saint-Saens. She didn’t start out singing in Italian and French. She grew into those pieces as she learned and grew as a singer. And yet, this Senior Recital was also a stepping stone for her. Emily’s plan is to head to graduate school for Vocal Performance. She has already been accepted into every program for which she auditioned. She knows that she can’t stand on her laurels. She has to take more steps forward in order to improve. She is willing to be stretched.
4. Creativity always deserves to be celebrated. Following the recital Emily’s sorority sisters formed a circle around her in the lobby of the concert hall and sang a song celebrating the gift of music. They all belong to a music sorority and were, at that moment, celebrating one of their sisters who had passed with flying colors a major accomplishment. Emily’s parents, boyfriend, and boyfriend’s parents, as well as many other friends and relatives, were present to celebrate this great day. They all brought flowers, chocolates, and even went to dinner afterwards to laud the event.

So what does this mean for your creativity?

1. Don’t be afraid to do the work. Don’t give up, even when it seems like no one is paying attention to your art. Work on nights and weekends. Work behind the scenes. Put one foot in front of the other and one day after the next.
2. Don’t be afraid to build a team. Ask others for help. Hire coaches and teachers. Be brave enough to take on constructive criticism. It will bring great benefit to all that you hope to accomplish.
3. Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself. If you’ve only written a blog, take on the writing of a book. If you’ve only sung in English, take on pieces in other languages. If you’ve only photographed in color, take on some black and white or night photography. Stretch yourself.
4. Don’t forget to celebrate. Even small accomplishments deserve to be celebrated. Go ahead, eat that bowl of ice cream or eat that piece of cake when you reach a goal or match a milestone. Celebration is a great motivator.

What have you learned about creativity by watching other creatives?

If you have older children you know that there were many “lasts.” For instance, when was the last time you read your kids a bedtime story? When did you do her hair before school for the last time? When was the last time you helped them with their homework? When was the final time you played catch in the front yard? If you think about it too much it can drag you down into a spiral of sadness. But with each “last” that took place there was a “first” that replaced it.

Just think of the “first” time these things happened:

• You saw her take her first steps
• You watched him drive away in the car for the first time
• You sent them off on their first date
• You dropped him off for his first day of kindergarten
• You left her in her dorm room and drove away when she began college

You see, without any lasts there wouldn’t be any firsts. In this life we have to take the good with the bad. We have to take the firsts with the lasts. It’s the nature of time. And time isn’t good or bad. It’s a neutral thing.

But what we do with time is what’s important. We can live in the past and dwell there, delving down into the depths of our emotions. Or we can recognize that time keeps moving forward. New things are to be embraced and celebrated. Living in the past will keep us from taking risks and creating something new. Living on the front edge of the future will keep life interesting, entertaining, and full of surprises.

All the lasts we encounter in life give way to the firsts that are so very important. If there were no lasts we wouldn’t be introduced to the things that are new, innovative, and more creative. The lasts in life introduce us to that which is fresh and new.

There’s nothing wrong with reminiscing about the past. But don’t stay stuck there. Dare to list your lasts and see how they introduced you to a first. Watch how the old brings about something new. Lean into the future having learned the lessons of the past. It’s a great way to live.

What are the firsts that came about in your life because something took place for the last time?

The more I go shopping at a real, physical store the more I love subscription services. When our children were very young our weekend entertainment was to head to the mall with them for a few hours. There was cheap food, a playground for the kids, and decent stores. Nowadays when I go to a mall it depresses me. Shopkeepers don’t seem to put as much pride into their stores. It feels like people are more rude than they used to be. And those mall food courts just aren’t at all appealing.

We still do occasional shopping at physical stores. But now we all live in a day and age when it’s just as efficient and sometimes even more inexpensive to have things delivered right to our door (or into our ears, as you shall see…).

Here are five creative subscription services that I’m loving right now. They’re even adding to my own creativity:

1. Blue Apron. Blue Apron is a curated grocery service that sends a box full of three meals to your door once a week. If you need to you can skip a week, or have the delivery done every other week. When you sign up you can tell them your likes and dislikes. For instance, we don’t particularly care for lamb so we excluded that from our deliveries. My wife, Tammy, and I have been loving the creative use of all different kinds of foods. Every week the box comes with all the ingredients and recipes for three meals. Sometimes the recipes can be a little putsy, but we don’t mind the little bit of time it takes to make an interesting meal. We’ve even tried things we never had before. Have you ever had celeriac? Look it up. We’ve discovered that we pay no more for this than we would going to the grocery store. I’ve got a few free weeks to give away, so if you’d like one post a message below.
2. Club W. This is one of the new subscription services to me. Our son, Ben, and his fiancé, Emily, gave me this for my birthday. It’s a wine subscription service. You fill out a very short questionnaire about your palate and they suggest wines for you that match that palate. The web site even has little one-minute videos for each wine that give you an overview of that particular wine. It’s very helpful. The club works directly with winemakers so you get wines that you probably won’t find in the local store. The subscription comes once a month and you can skip a month or stop your subscription at any time. It’s a great way to learn about and sample new and different wines. Plus, if you click on this link you’ll get a discount on your first order. Full disclosure: I will also get credits if you place an order through that link.
3. Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix is for the ladies. It’s a box of clothes that comes as often as once of month, or less if you’d like. Tammy gets it once a quarter. Once again, you fill out a questionnaire on your sizes and preferences. Then a personal stylist at Stitch Fix puts together a box personally for you and sends it off. There is a $20 styling fee with each box that’s delivered, but if you order something you can deduct that $20 from your order. Whatever you don’t like you can send back, and the postage is paid. As I was writing this, Tammy came down in a new pair of jeans she just got in her Stitch Fix box today and said she really liked them. She also said that it’s so much easier than going to the store, trying on 2o pairs, and not liking any of them.
4. Spotify. No more going to the store and piling through 45’s or LP’s or CD’s to find what you like. Now you can use Spotify where most of the world’s music is right at your fingertips. Spotify is free if you want to listen to commercials. But for just $10 a month you can listen to all the music you want commercial free, as well as download music so that you don’t have to stream over wifi or your phone’s service. What I love about Spotify is that I can listen to almost anything I want (and I mean almost anything…from classical to pop to show tunes to jazz) wherever I want. More than that, I can curate my own lists of music I like. One quick and easy way to do that is to play Spotify “radio” (which is usually based on a specific artist or genre) and click “like” on the ones I enjoy. All the songs I “like” are now part of a list I listen to all the time.
5. Podcasts. BONUS: This is a free item. I’ve written about this before, but I have really grown to love listening to podcasts. I listen to them every single day in my car as I drive to and from work, as well as on the regular calls I make as part of my job. I have learned far, far more listening to podcasts than I ever did listening to mostly inane sports talk radio. The topics and types of shows are endless. They’re free. They’s educational. And they make good use of what used to be down time for me.

In my opinion, entrepreneurs who have created subscription services have made the world a better place. The ones we use in our house are convenient, fun, creative, and affordable.

I’d love to hear which subscription services you use and love.

I have resolved to put into practice the Huffington Post’s 18 things highly creative people do differently. It’s one of the best articles on practical creativity I have ever seen. Let me be clear. I don’t see myself as necessarily a “highly creative” person, but I’d really like to make strong headway in that direction. So on Easter Sunday I decided I would begin by taking advantage of a unique opportunity to carry out one of the eighteen: People Watching.

About people watching the Huffington Post article says:

Observant by nature and curious about the lives of others, creative types often love to people-watch — and they may generate some of their best ideas from it.

“[Marcel] Proust spent almost his whole life people-watching, and he wrote down his observations, and it eventually came out in his books,” says Kaufman. “For a lot of writers, people-watching is very important … They’re keen observers of human nature.”

So on Easter Sunday I had the opportunity to observe two groups of people. I was able to observe the roughly 400 people that worshipped at my church on one of the highest festivals of the church year.

• I saw faithful people who are in church every Sunday bring friends and relatives along with them to worship.
• I saw people who claim to be members of the church and yet are only in worship about once or twice a year.
• I saw volunteers who set up chairs outside for the Sunrise Service, cook Easter breakfast, and usher the throngs that showed up for church.

In contrast, my wife, Tammy, and I spent the afternoon at Disney’s EPCOT. Easter Sunday at a theme park is an interesting thing.

• I saw families from the north sunburned, tired, and dragging crying kids.
• I saw people wearing things they would never wear in the outside world.
• I observed employees, some who seemed to be walking through their day, and others who seemed to be truly enjoying what they were doing.

So where’s the juxtaposition?

1. Both groups of people were committed to something: one to their church (regardless of the reason), the other to their tourist plan.
2. Both groups of people dealt with crowds the best way they could.
3. Both groups of people were (mostly) filled with joy.

People watching most certainly fuels creativity. Based on this day alone I could write about:

• Dress codes
• Crowd behavior
• How church members and tourists compare with one another
• What motivates people in specific situations
• The way people direct their money
• The difference between church volunteers and theme park employees
• What the church could learn from Disney
• What Disney could learn from the church

People watching with purpose and attention can bring about a creative bonfire in your brain. Give it a try. No matter your form of creativity, it will be a boon to your art.

How has people watching fueled your creativity?