In my research for organizational systems, I came across what people are calling The Hipster PDA, which is an ironic but surprisingly interesting way of keeping track of things. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a personal data assistant, just spend a few bucks on some alligator clips and notecards. It’s got quite a following, which is understandable, but alas, my Moleskine wins again.
My friends and I are at the helm of a new idea that we think will do really well; after I’m done and settled into my move I am thinking about cleaning off my mental desk and putting all of my steam into this new idea. It will truly be the culmination of my college education, internet ‘awareness,’ and life experiences. Along with all of this, I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about it, as well as around things like the process of being creative, and other things like project management. Living in Hollywood, being around creative people, or rich or successful people; I’ve made a few observations.
Assuming you have an idea you would like to get ‘made.’ The more people you get involved with, the less your ideas become ‘yours’ but theoretically, the more likely they will get finished. At the very least, there’s more man-hours available to produce products. There’s exceptions of course, because getting other people to do exactly what you want is hard. I guess I’m talking more so about true artistic collaboration, where the artists and creative people involved have open communication, egos are checked at the door, etc.
Spectrum of Ideacompleteification
100% yours - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0% yours
harder to complete - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -done
On one end of the spectrum, the idea is completely yours but you spend your entire life doing it and only produce one thing. On the other end, you have so many people helping the either the original idea disappears or it becomes a gift to the world. Like an open source project?
It’s totally possible, of course, to take one of your ideas and finish it yourself. It just takes lots more time. To be realistic, however, especially having a day job, your hours are sacred. I’ve learned a lot recently about ‘man hours,’ and what creative people are capable of producing, and in how much time. I have a lot of really creative friends that do various amounts of ‘creation’, and various amounts of completion.
You have to find a compromise. You have to weigh out keeping an idea for yourself, and then actually getting the idea into the world. I guess you set out before anything and take note of elements of the idea, and say which things you’re willing to compromise over.
Tell me if I’m wrong or if you disagree. Trying to get all this dust out of my head and share it with the real world.
I took me some procrastination quiz from Procrastination Central and got a horrible score! All of the advice following the description sound really useful. I’ll try them out later. /obligitory
Your score is 75 out of a possible 100
You rank between the top 25% and 10% in terms of procrastination. That is, when it comes to putting things off, you often do so even though you know you shouldn’t. Likely, you are more free-spirited and spontaneous than most. Probably, your work doesn’t engage you as much as you would like or perhaps you are surrounded by easily available and more pleasant temptations. These temptations may initially seem rewarding, but in the longer-term, you see many of them as time-wasters. Though you likely often still get your work done, there is probably a lot of last minute panicking and unwanted stress. You may want to reduce what procrastination you do commit. If so, here are three tips that have been shown to work:
internet_venn.png (PNG Image, 2500×1870 pixels)
This is awesome but frustrated. For like a year or so, I slowly scribbled a spider diagram of the internets on a piece of paper at my old job; I would add to it randomly and it was hella complicated. Then when I left that job, I realized a week or so later that I didn’t know where the diagram ended up, and I’ve not had the heart to start one up again. This will do for now!
Saved here, in case it gets owned:
http://www.scatteredgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/internet_venn.png
I’m going to be talking a lot about writing in Moleskines soon in a big post soon, so instead of leaving a confusing mental image for some of you of scribbling on the bloody flesh of rodents, I should explain what Moleskines are.
For lack of a flashy explaination, Moleskines are tough little notebooks. They pitch them as artsy-fartsy, the same notebooks artsy-fartsy people used, so if I use them, I’m artsy-fartsy too. I got some from this site, and have had one on me every day since they’ve arrived.
I found a list of ‘hacks‘ for the books, but I haven’t found many of them to be useful or relevant. Other then a post-it note, I’ve been keeping it simple and default. Simplicity is key. I have been using a SCIENCE-GRAPHED version. I’ve always had a thing for graph paper. I like to use length and width of paper, sometimes turning things in funny directions, and the graphing on the paper lets me use space in creative ways. They are a perfect size for my pocket, and other then some flimsy pages, they will stand up to time.
There’s something really elegant and scholarly about having a little book to write in. It’s kind of funny to whip out the book and jot something down around people who don’t know me, especially in the land of everyone’s-writing-a-screenplay. Combine this with my love for pens, and I’m in busy-ness.
Sidenote: Old livejournal friends of mine will remember my epic post about how much I love pens, but I can’t seem to find it… Is there a way to search through your journal?
Edit: ANNIE PWNS ME. She found my huge Pen post here. I THINK I’LL REPOST IT IN MY BLOG.
