EduBacon

Creatively Getting Things Done

Published on June 3, 2009 in EdubaconPost. 0 Comments

Regardless of the field, creative designing, and getting those paying jobs, requires a few things.

1) Keep coming up with ideas.
2) Record those ideas.
3) Find one you can do quickly an easily.
4) Do that one, just that one.
5) Have a real life.

While this isn't an exact set of rules, they are pretty good. This is because over time you will get some ideas that are possible with potential. If you can get a few made, you have work samples. That's what the fourth step is all about. Pick one, do it and do it well.

Number 1: Keep coming up with ideas.

If you are trying to be known for creativity, don't just be creative on command. Be creative all the time. Having a bunch of half formed ideas can be a life saver, inspiration or an extra bit of content for the on-command idea.

Yet, the big reason is that even for those who can be creative on command, being creative all the time helps. For those fortunate people, the quality of ideas will be better if you are already warmed up and well experienced. For the rest of us it is easier to just be creative most of the time than to be creative on command. Then you are just doing your normal level of creativity.

It also prevents the dreaded scenario of loosing your creativity due to being boring. Sometimes it is harder to be creative after a while having not been creative. If you are always being creative, you're not likely to go for a while without being creative. Yes, it's obvious, but some things just need to be reiterated.

Number 2: Record those ideas.

While it may be a pain to keep track of all those ideas, and worse yet to keep them organized on all those different kinds of paper, it's better than loosing them. That and when you need and idea, you have a bunch to go reading through. It helps.

Number 3: Find one you can do quickly an easily.

With all those ideas flowing and being recorded, you should look for an easy to do idea. Just keep going till you find one. It's important.

Number 4: Do that one, just that one.

See, that one idea is important, because you need something you can actually DO! With such ideas done one at a time, you can build a history, a portfolio, a resume etc... As you go through the ideas you've recorded you can find more. Plus, over time more will become possible and easy. More ideas and increased abilities means you will have more possible ideas you can do.

Number 5: Have a real life.

Look, you can't just be a creative [fill in the blank]. It doesn't work. It's like pouring water out of a jug, not a faucet. There's a limit to what you can do without input. During the time where you're looking for anything you can actually do, you were doing other things. They gave you input.

Read, play, socialize and live life, or you will run out of material.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

Creatively Getting Things Done

Published on June 3, 2009 in EdubaconPost. 0 Comments

Creatively Getting Things Done

Published on June 3, 2009 in EdubaconPost. 0 Comments

Edubacon, Getting Things Done

Published on May 25, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

EduBacon is a place I have envisioned for open friendly discussion towards improving education and learning situations. As a game designer and college student, not to mention brilliant and over all creative … eh, er, hmmm… , well I think I’ve got a pretty good perspective on the issues. While paying attention to the different discussions and efforts, I agreed with the idea that we need to innovate how we discuss these ideas with our ideas, because these discussions are learning opportunities. That’s what this idea has come out of, and my inability to attend the events and conventions where a bunch of cool things happen.

To open the doors right, I’m running a blogging event. At my blog Learning Science Meets Game Design I have been blogging about things like the topics for the event and the Edubacon Blogging event itself. Before starting the blogging event I’m going to make several posts about getting things done, because innovative and transformative efforts are generally hard to get going and keep going. While I’m making those, it’s time to spread the word, start the discussions and make suggestions. In other words, the interaction starts now.

This will go on for two weeks, because I don’t want to compete with the Serious Games Jam happening next week. Plus I’m going to be trying to win the Nintendo DS that goes to the person who garners the most reputation points, “Karma”. Last time was very interesting to see happen. With only a single day to participate I was still quoted twice in the summary that is available to all who sign up to participate in the Serious Games Jam. What do you think you’ll be able to contribute?

After that, this event will get going full steam. With the posts, comments and links we will be able to create a good resource for those interested in learning more about possible directions and issues education has. It should be useful to those interesting in getting into these discussions and long time participants alike. For this reason I intend to create a summary post for each topic covered during this event. As the weeks go by more posts, comments and discussions will happen and we will collectively build a resource for any who are interested. It will also be in a format that shows how the different views and ideas came to be, rather than just saying what they are. In essence, it’s putting the concepts that many agree should be used in education into use to teach and guide people on these topics. I’m all for bringing in new voices as some have wondered where the student voices are.

It takes more than just talking about the ideas to get things done, but without talk that shares the ideas it will take so much longer to get anywhere. So, let’s talk, share and put our ideas into action. Then we can get things happening and have results to itterate our ideas. Till then, take a look at some posts on getting things done that I’ve already made to get a taste of what’s to come in the next couple weeks.