Getting Work To Work

How do you incorporate play into your work, both in the process of creating it and in the finished product? Play is a topic I've been thinking about this week as I return from the Bend Design conference, inspired by the conversations I had throughout the event. I intellectually understand why play is so important, but I still don't take the time to bring it into my life and work. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I'm going to explore the curious nature of play internally and externally.

Are you in pursuit of ideas and work that you haven't experienced before? This form of curiosity for growth and impact is a theme that defines the work of both Peter Burr and Ivar Zeile. Peter is an artist and master of computer animation who blurs the defining edges between art, animation, and video games with everything he does. Ivar is an art curator, entrepreneur, and supporter of artists who is bringing contemporary art and visual expression into the public space through the annual Supernova Digital Animation festival and his work with Plus Gallery and Denver Digerati.

This interview episode of Getting Work To Work was recorded live on stage at the Bend Design Conference in Bend, Oregon last week. Peter and Ivar touch on the importance of curiosity, touring as an alternate way to distribute work, the merging of animation and contemporary art, the impact of supporting artists, and so much more.

I've been thinking a lot about this question since talking with Shawn Askinosie five episodes ago: What is your vision of greatness for your life and work? It's easy to get trapped in your job, doing work you think matters, only to wake up one day absolutely empty. I like to think this only happens when you work for a gigantic corporation that only cares about money, but it can happen when you work for yourself, for God, or country. Why does this happen? When I look at my own journey, there are two answers. The first is I didn't take time to envision a better future. But the second hits at the core even harder: I did nothing to go where I actually wanted to go.

Are you building a valuable company? Such an intriguing question that gets to the heart of running a creative enterprise: Preparing for the famine in times of the feast. This isn't just about money though. It's about our time, attention, creative resources, ideas, and relationships. Building a valuable company means that you are not only creating value for others, but capturing it as well to fund and fuel what is next.

When was the last time you were inspired to think bigger and swing for the fences in creating something of value to you and the world? This is the philosophy that drives the team behind Orange Nebula as they unlock their creativity and bring board games, stories, and other creative products to life. In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, I talk with Marc Neidlinger, Tom Mattson, and Lacey Faught about vision and drive, the creation of their hit game Vindication®, why creative people should be focused on following through and finishing their creative projects, and the role trust plays in their work.

Do you ever look at your to-do list, your dreams, or your life and think to yourself, "I've got this, I'm going to rock it, watch out world," and then proceed to psych yourself out? I find myself in that position a lot lately and I'm not sure why. Sure, confidence is there, but so is procrastination and talking myself out of action. What will it take to go from psyching yourself out to un-psyching yourself back in the game? That's what I explore in today's episode of Getting Work To Work.

As technology lowers the barriers to entry in your creative industry and more people do what you do, how will you compete and stand out? For a lot of creative entrepreneurs, the answer is technology and the best equipment money can buy. For others, the only option is to make the best work possible. In today's episode of Getting Work To Work, I'm going to explore a quote from Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland that gives an answer for today as well as the next 50 years.

What do you care about and how do you share that with others? For Shawn Askinosie, the answer to that question is chocolate. Shawn is the founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate, a direct trade bean to bar chocolate factory, that sources 100% of their beans directly from farmers around the world, shares profits and the finished product with them, and helps to improve lives through education and feeding programs when possible.

In this interview episode of Getting Work To Work, Shawn and I dive into creativity and chocolate, the unchanging nature of the soul, the importance of having a practice for discovery and connection, the difference between balance and harmony, how we can be storytellers and listeners in order to increase the quality of our work, the value and beauty of imperfections, and how a vision of greatness for our life and work turns into total reality through small actions.

Am I addicted to social media? To answer that question, over the past month I disconnected from social media inspired by the book Own Your Weird by Jason Zook. As a result, I had some interesting feelings arise. I felt like something was missing; I was out of touch with the immediacy of the day. The need to login and connect was strong, but over time declined. But then the emails and passing mentions to social media started, and I had to fight the urge to login. I wasn't always successful, but here's what I learned.

Are you alive in imagination and wonder? Before you answer that, you might ask yourself, what is imagination? As a creative entrepreneur, it could be the way you weave words into works of wonder, the images you bring forth from the recesses of your mind, the stories you tell that captivate the masses, or the products you create for the betterment of your audience. Maybe it's how you think about life and work, or the way you smile and make eye contact with every person you pass on the street. Regardless of your answer, everyone has an imagination and it's worth exploring so you can be fully alive.