In every task, you have a choice. Do it the hard way, or do it the easy way. The option is always there. Hard or easy. Most people choose the easy way. It’s smart. It makes sense. Why make things harder than they need to be? Conserve your energy.
I like to do things the hard way. Not because I don’t see the easy way. Not because I’m bored and have nothing else to do. Not because I’m a glutton for punishment.
It’s because I like to do things well. Because details matter to me. If you’ve ever owned a house, you can imagine what this means for me lately. See, I could just wipe down the baseboards and call them good. I could just put some things in a cabinet and be done.
Except that I can’t. I’d never forgive myself. (more…)
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with the Wooster family – Raphael, Jake, and Isabella. To be honest, Raphael is my favorite. We just get along so well. He looks a little something like this:
That’s right. Just when you started to think I might be kinda normal, I tell you I’ve named my paintbrushes. To be honest, it’s one of the only ways I can stay sane with all the painting I’ve been doing. (And yes, the fancy paintbrushes are worth the price. No lie. Invest, people.) (more…)
I’ve always been a creative person. I’m enamored with color and design and imagination. I see things differently from a lot of people. As a kid, it was frustrating. Why couldn’t math just magically make sense to me? Why wasn’t my first reaction to see the logical solution? Why was my answer to a question always so different from everyone else’s?
Growing up in a family of left-brained people, I thought there was something wrong with me. So I put my creativity in the closet, treating it like that winter coat you use only when you need it but ignore during the other seasons.
Over the years, I’ve slowly come to accept my creativity, to open the closet and let my dominant right hemisphere roam freely. And a big part of that process was a book – A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. It was therapy for me. (more…)
