1. /*
Denise Jacobs
Web Directions | Sydney, Australia
30 October 2015
*/
>> Work Better, Create More

2. Who: @denisejacobs
Where: @webdirections #wd15
What: #hackcreativity

3. Want the Slides?
Creativedo.se/wd15-htcb

4. SXSW 2006!
h ps://www.flickr.com/photos/robweychert/113351226/

5. After writing this…

6. I had an epiphany
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44085287@N05/4055814772/

7. Creativity: powerful and empowering
http://www.flickr.com/photos/assbach/267598910/

8. Photo by Derek Kearney
Shifted my focus to what I love

9. Why I do what I do
http://TheCreativeDose.com/

10. Intro
The State of the Union

11. What’s our most important tool for creating?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drachmann/327122302/

12. This one!
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APSM_V14_D495_Side_view_of_the_brain_and_spinal_cord.jpg

13. Managers

14. Bureaucracy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/4749431435/

15. Clients
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairity/154640125/

16. Time pressures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indraw/4857101224/

17. Mentally overwhelmed
http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/__62375#img9

18. Oppressed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johannahobbs/2412291551/

19. “Houston, we have a problem…”
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S70-34902.jpg

20. When we are in the creative flow
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myfear/289257055/

21. We are alchemists
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faust_image_19thcentury.jpg

22. “Creativity is newness
produced.”
Sir Ken Robinson, Out of Our Minds

23. It feels like
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/2761300969/

24. “Creativity is magical, but it is
not magic.”
Dr. Charles Limb, Your Brain on Improvisation TED talk

25. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kosmotesto/3794445313/
“Creativity is all about making
connections and seeing patterns.”
Bruce Nussbaum,Creativity Intelligence

26. Our Goals
1
Emancipate
2
Adjust
3
Practice Discipline
4
Generate & Execute

27. 1
Emancipate

28. Mass hypnosis
https://www.flickr.com/photos/yxelle/5806302053

29. Habits and thinking to quit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meddygarnet/4170136164/sizes/l/

30. Distractions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksherman/529178002/

31. Multitasking is multi-taxing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/3041235238/

32. Zeigarnik Effect
http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Zeigarnik_Effect

33. Communication addiction
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andersdenken/2082816707/

34. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jepoirrier/422469526/ | http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristoferbjorkman/6910216819/ | http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreignoffice/2671039488/
Intermittent reinforcement

35. Internalized the critical voices
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeapalooza/553545517/

36. Become monsters in your head
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/4887528060/

37. Instead of Creativity
Source: Flickr

38. Destructivity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevygee/3265941065/

39. All due to Your Inner Critic
https://www.flickr.com/photos/acerriteno/3484093813/

40. ( p.s. *Everyone* has these thoughts)Photo: Denise Jacobs

41. “If your demons are such that they fill
the room the instant you contemplate
creating, your studio will be too
dangerous a place to enter.”
Eric Maisel, author of Fearless Creating

42. How to ID your Inner Critic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lambdachialpha/203904103/

43. “I should have done more by now…”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/automania/126698126/

44. “They’ll find out I’m a fraud”

45. vs. “NAILED IT!”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul-drummond/3946893897

46. “It needs to be FLAWLESS”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diepuppenstubensammlerin/7648792510/

47. “I’ll do it tomorrow…”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irrezolut/2311904560/

48. Fears!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_lin/3193080175/

49. Fear of failure
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/2717325940/

50. F.E.A.R. =
http://cdnpix.com/show/imgs/7a361666e107cd36656d5a66ea2e4e80.jpg

51. Or…
https://twitter.com/Phishtitz/status/474661495935365120

52. “Fear is not real. It is a
product of the
thoughts you create.
Do not misunderstand
me.
Danger is very real.
But fear is a choice.”
- character of Cypher Raige, After Earth
http://culturecatch.com/files/images/after-earth.jpg

53. Hack >> Become a Fear Alchemist
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Wright_of_Derby_The_Alchemist.jpg

54. “The goal is to manage anxiety so that
our energies are used for the
productive and satisfying (act) of
creating, rather than the destructive
and debilitating art of self-torture.”
Clare Warmke, Idea Revolution

55. Banish Your Inner Critic!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31505964@N08/4691019168/

56. “The parts of your brain that are
responsible for self-monitoring are literally
turned off during creative
endeavors….Creative people have
mastered the art of turning off [the
inhibitive] part of their brains to let their
ideas flow more smoothly, unleashing their
imagination.”
Tina Seelig, InGenius

57. Hack >> Say NO to Comparisons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suvodeb/2559017400/

58. “You cannot compare your insides to someone
else’s outsides.”

59. (Btw, this your new mantra…)
http://www.spunkysapphire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/photo-1-e1406074730116.jpg

60. Hack >> Know the Impostor Syndrome Paradox
http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/2279939232/

61. You will only experience impostor
syndrome when you are
competent and skilled.
(re-read this as many times as necessary.)

62. Breaking the loop

63. Hack >> Reassign duty
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shavawnmarie/1326123397/

64. Hack >> Amp up empathy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrote/2646295354/

65. Hack >> Maintain perspective
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daikrieg/1294053038/

66. Hack >> Reframe #FAIL & mistakez
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/4498817330/

67. “Failure is only the opportunity to
begin again more intelligently.”
Henry Ford

68. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thirteenthnile/4546397775/
Change your body language, change your mind

69. “Our bodies change our minds,
our minds change our behavior,
and our behavior changes our
outcomes.”
Amy Cuddy, Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are
TED talk

70. Hack >> Cop a Power Pose

71. Stand up. Assume a pose that embodies a sense of defeat,
can’t do it, it will never work, “I suck/I’m no good/an
impostor”, etc. Make yourself as small and powerless feeling
as possible.
Then, strike a power pose. Imagine yourself as a superhero
looking off into the distance seeing your destiny of major
creative butt-kicking.
Alternate several times. Hold the power pose for as long as you
can so that you can feel the change.
#Exercise: Power Pose

72. 2
Adjust

73. Adjust: Train Your Brain
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiarescott/3211540197/

74. Left v. Right brain?
http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=left%20brain%20right%20brain&order=9&offset=48#/d10qlpq

75. Right hemisphere
h p://www.flickr.com/photos/lorelei-ranveig/2294885580/

76. Left hemisphere
h p://www.flickr.com/photos/smi enki enoriginals/4451172538/

77. Instead: Left + Right brain = Creativity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47691521@N07/4639590640/

78. What are our brains constantly producing?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cblue98/7254347346/

79. Know your Brainwaves

80. 13-30 cps/Hz
Waking alert conscious
thinking, external sensory
focus, concentration.
Computing, arranging,
organizing, make sense
of external world.
Prolongation of beta can
lead to exhaustion,
anxiety and tension.
Beta

81. 8-12 cps/Hz
Alert and lucid but
relaxed thought,
daydreaming, light
meditation, internal
focus, receptive state,
visualization, creativity,
accelerated or super-
learning, increased
serotonin levels.
Alpha

82. 4-7.5 cps/Hz
High states of creativity,
subconscious creativity,
deep relaxation/
meditation, intuition,
long-term memory, vivid
visual imagery, creative
inspiration, free idea
flow, REM dream and
deep sleep.
Theta

83. 0.1-4 cps/Hz
Intuition and