From the category archives:

Tools

Finding the Best Environment for Your Creativity

by Katherine on March 3, 2010

Want to get a picture of the best environment for using your own creativity to grow and contribute? This free tool was so accurate for me that it was almost eerie. I’m “a Creator”, and I like “working independently, being creative, using (my) imagination, and constantly learning something new.”

Got me in one.

After you’ve done the test, it does make a sponsored offer but don’t let that stop you. Just click on the NO THANKS link. It’s fast, (takes about three minutes) fun and amazingly effective. Try it out.

And once you’ve done it come back and share your results in the comments below.

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A Creative Approach to Videos (Grounded Wingnut 3rd Edition)

by Katherine on February 9, 2010

I love discovering new techie tools, but it’s not the techie tool itself that excites me. What excites me is how I can use it to be creative. I find new ones all the time and the list got so long that I had to create some qualifying questions to make decisions about them. Otherwise I might never be seen again in the real world. (Just kidding.)

The questions I ask myself to make a decision about a newly discovered technical tool are:

  1. Is it going to be fun? (Has to be fun or next, please!)
  2. Will it support my creativity? (A no-brainer!)
  3. Is it easy to learn? (Or does it have too steep a learning curve?)
  4. Is it going to complement another technical tool I already know how to use? (Not absolutely required but definitely a plus.)
  5. Is it relatively inexpensive? (No matter what the cost, will I get enough use out of it to make the price a non issue?)
  6. And finally, do I just get an intuitive hit about it? (Never underestimate this… intuition is almost always accurate.)

Today I’m going to introduce you to a technical tool that was a resounding yes to all the above questions.

Animoto is a tool for making videos with still photos, video clips, text and music, all blended by their technology into a montage with all the energy of a movie trailer.

Who are the people behind Animoto? Well in their own words, “Animoto Productions is a bunch of techies and film/tv producers who decided to lock themselves in a room together and nerd out.” Love their sense of humour.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…or in this case a video, so you can see one that I created here for my Voice of Destiny Music site.

The music I used is original music from one of my CD’s, so there’s no copyright issue. They ask that you not use music you don’t have permission to use. That would include anything that’s not on their site or anything that’s not your original music. They do however have a lot of royalty free music already on the site.

(In future posts I will give you some great sources for both free photos and places to buy a license for  music. Stay tuned for that.)

There are three levels for Animoto customers:

  1. Basic which is free and allows you to make an unlimited number of 30 second videos
  2. An All Access Pass which is $30 a year and allows you to make an unlimited number of full length videos
  3. A Business Level which is $249 a year and allows you to make an unlimited number of full length videos of DVD quality for commercial use

Other Features

  1. The first two levels are branded with the Animoto brand. The Business level allows you to display your own brand instead of theirs.
  2. Each time you edit and save, the video is different. Each one will be saved in your account.
  3. You can embed the videos in your website or upload them to YouTube.
  4. The All Access Pass and the Business Level let you set the tempo of the images at regular speed, half speed or twice the speed. (My video is half speed.)

Try it out by clicking on the image. (It is an affiliate link.)
animoto 190x60 02 A Creative Approach to Videos (Grounded Wingnut 3rd Edition)

And have fun!

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Creating a New Form

by Katherine on January 6, 2010

Usually at the beginning of each year, I do a vision board for the coming year. It takes in every aspect of my life: spiritual and personal growth, health and well-being, financial abundance, business and career, social life and friends, primary relationship, and creativity. (Yes, I give creativity a whole section by itself.)

This year I decided to try something different. So I pulled Tony Buzan’s Mind Mapping book off my bookshelf. I discovered the book several years ago and have done many mind maps since then, some on large bristol board and some small enough for a postage stamp. Well, maybe not quite that small, but pretty small.

It’s very pleasing to me to observe the idea of mindmapping showing up over and over in mainstream business. I’m seeing it everywhere. I even got an email the other day where a mindmap was one of the bonuses for buying a particular business program.

This is a perfect illustration of how we are moving away from focusing on business and life with only goal-oriented left-brain thinking and moving towards a more co-creative, non-linear, whole brain approach.

I cheer and applaud and sometimes even chuckle each time I see evidence of that shift.

When I first brought the book off the shelf, I was going to do a mind map instead of a vision board. However as I worked on it, lo and behold, it started to morph into something that was not a mind map or a vision board but something that merged the two forms.

Is it a vision map? A mind board?

Whatever the name it seemed to bring about a flow of ideas and my hand could hardly keep up with my thoughts.

I started by drawing this form on my piece of white bristol board.

visionmap 150x150 Creating a New Form The seven sections became the categories of spiritual and personal growth, health and well-being, financial abundance, business and career, social life and friend, primary relationship, and creativity.

Starting from the centre of the board I worked out toward the edge writing words and ideas, and adding a few pictures and other items I cut from magazines and newspapers. Yesterday I completed two of the seven sections.

What is so wonderful about this kind of activity is that it has multiple layers. Here are just a few that I thought of.

  1. It will give me a direction for the upcoming year.
  2. It sparked a lot of ideas.
  3. It helped me see where a lot of things intersect and connect.
  4. It will be a piece of art worthy of hanging on a wall in my office.
  5. It’s FUN! I look forward to completing it.
  6. It brought about a new form.

And you know what? I bet I will start seeing vision maps in other places now. Synthesizing two or more ideas into a new form is one of the most powerful ways we create and bring about innovation. The best part of all is that many individuals could combine mindmapping and vision boards, and each would be unique according to each individual’s perspective and purpose.

That’s worth cheering about too!

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Tickling My Muse

by Katherine on December 3, 2009

Is your Muse amused? Or is it feeling neglected by too much left-brained activity?

You see, there’s a reason I ask that question. I’m not really asking YOU. It’s more a note to my SELF about something important.

(Self, are you paying attention?)

I know from my own experience that the creative juices can dry up a bit – or a lot – if they’re neglected. One of the ways this shows up in my life is a subtle awareness of things just being a little off. I’m not available or present in conversations.

I know what the signs are.

Rushing, rushing, rushing means…. take a little time off.
Having lots to do means….meditate more or laugh more.
Too much left brain means…. listen to some music or go for a walk.

Something almost magical happens when I allow myself to take creative time. Solutions to problems appear. Ideas settle into place. The perfect word or line for that song lyric pops into my head. I gain perspective on something that has been bothering me.

That is what creative shifting is all about.

{Did you know that I have a 21 week creativity course called Tickle Your Muse? Just once a week you get a one minute muse or a ten minute tickle and you choose which one you do. Go get it, tiger!}

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Friday ~ Awareness

by Katherine on October 23, 2009

Awareness is the first step to change. This directive to my Higher Self is one tool I use for building awareness. It pops up in my Outlook Calendar every day. I offer it freely. (Say your name where the space is.)

Awareness 150x150 Friday ~ Awareness_________________, I want you to bring to my attention any moment I have a negative thought so I can redirect my thought to the Creative Mind and know that I have access to the source of Infinite Supply! Thank you.

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7 Days of Being Creative

by Katherine on October 8, 2009

question2 150x150 7 Days of Being Creative

Creativity is both a practice and a process. Try it for seven days in a row with these creative ideas. Just one short task a day for five to ten minutes and who knows what could happen!

Day One
Write and practice a creativity affirmation. Whatever negative thought you have about your own creativity, take that exact thought and flip it to a positive thought you can feel in your whole being. Put the affirmation where you can see it daily: in your wallet, as a reminder in your daytimer, on your Outlook calendar, on a sign on your desk.

Day Two
Purchase a special creativity notebook. There are quite attractive ones at dollar stores or you can make a simple one. On the first page, do something to personalize it. Write your affirmation from yesterday on the second page.

Day Three
Search the word creativity in Google and make a note in your creativity notebook about one idea that sparks your imagination about something you’d like to do. Or look for creativity quotes and write two or three in your notebook.

Day Four
Write a short note to someone who inspires you with their ideas or creativity. How do they inspire you? Print a copy and put it into your notebook.

Day Five
Take yesterday’s letter, put it into an email and send it to yourself.
Know that whatever you said about the other person is also true about you.

Day Six
Share with a close trusted friend a creative idea that you’ve never told anyone about. Ask them to just listen without comment. Write something in your notebook about the conversation.

Day Seven
Celebrate in some way. Write something in your notebook about your celebration. Or add a picture or photograph. Make it meaningful to you.

For more creativity sparks, subscribe to Tickle Your Muse, a free 21 week creativity course.

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The Neutral Zone

by Katherine on September 9, 2009

When I moved to Vancouver BC in 2006 I spent some time in what I called the Neutral Zone.

It was my first major move in over 20 years, and my first long distance move ever. For about six week I had boxes of books sitting in my living room with no shelves to put them on. I had one chair to sit on. My computer died and I had to get a new one.

It was a time of upheaval.

However, I could see the most incredible view of the mountains and the ocean from my living room floor-length window and I was now five minutes away from the beach and a seven minute drive to hiking trails.

One morning I sat on a log on the beach for half an hour and just watched the tide come in. I felt such gratitude that I had that luxury in today’s world.

I called that time my Neutral Zone. I know from previous times that wonderful inspirations and solutions to problems arrive when one is in the Neutral Zone.

Creative people need to carve out those times.

Doesn’t have to be on the beach. Doesn’t have to be for half an hour. It’s simply a way to tune out the distractions and expectations from the outer world and really listen to our own guidance. Those moments, whenever we can carve them out, are beyond price.

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