The Death of Creativity

Tom Hanks is one of the world's great actors. Recently I saw him interviewed on Inside the Actors Studio by James Lipton who asked Hanks the following question - 'It's been said that artifice and self consciousness are the enemy of the actor. Would you agree?' Tom went on to explain that he in fact believes that self consciousness is the death of an actor. He said that when the actor starts to question his character, his character's emotives or the written script in front him, then you truly can't be in the moment, you truly can't seize the emotions of the character and you live in a conscious world, instead of unconsciously producing the role.

I believe that this insight can be applied to  your own creative mind. Your own self consciousness really can be one of the greatest barriers you have to creativity. It's your conscious mind that edits your unconscious ideas. That idea that you have in your sleep, in the shower, or when you're drifting off daydreaming on the bus and you have an idea, that comes from your unconscious. It's your conscious mind however that goes to work to edit it. Your conscious mind finds all the reasons not to get up off your butt and do something about it. Your conscious mind is the voice that says 'they won't like the idea', 'we haven't got the money', 'its ridiculous', 'its never been done before' or 'what if it doesn't work?'.

The same way that artifice and self consciousness is the enemy of the actor, so too it is the enemy in your own creative mind. We must learn to face our conscious mind and let go of the past, history, other people's opinions, being right, time constraints, fear and so the list goes on. Don't let this be the death of your ideas.

I am going to be Mark Cavendish

As the 2009 Tour de France winds its way to its finish on the Champs Elysee in Paris, one of the standout success stories has been Team Columbia's sprint ace Mark Cavendish. Mark Cavendish has already cleaned up most of the sprints for the Tour and is now seen to be the fastest man in the world on two wheels in road cycling.

Recently one of the commentators relayed a story about Mark when he was a young kid and first starting out in cycling. He was racing one day with some of his mates and one of them said, 'Today I want to be Robbie McEwan'. His other mate said 'I want to be Erik Zabel'. Mark Cavendish replied 'I want to be Mark Cavendish'. Never one to compare himself to anyone else, Mark Cavendish has an amazing mental focus, inner confidence and direction. He doesn't try and compete with anybody else, he doesn't try and be anybody else and he certainly doesn't compare himself to anybody else. Each day he is focussed on only one thing - getting him and his bike across the line first.

At the end of yet another stage victory in this year's Tour, whilst proudly wearing the green sprinter's jersey, the commentator asked Mark who he had thought would be his greatest competitors for the green jersey. He said "I haven't got time to think about other people. If I think about other people it takes me away from what I'm thinking about which is crossing the line first'. 

This same thinking can be applied in our day to day lives around creativity, performance, raising children or our careers. Don't worry about what everybody else is doing. Focus on yourself and ensure that every day you are yourself and you're looking to be the best you possibly can. It's also the steel of determination which has attracted probably the world's greatest sprint team at Team Columbia to want to be around and support Mark Cavendish.

Pitch TV

This is inflight entertainment that should appeal to all of our entrepreneurial readers: Virgin Atlantic has recently launched PitchTV. As part of Virgin Atlantic's 25th birthday celebrations, Richard Branson announced a new way to support innovative business plans. Entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to the world in video format, uploading the videos to Virgin's website, where the online community can view and rate their idea.

Videos rotate on a monthly basis, and those with the most votes will be shown on Virgin Atlantic's in-flight entertainment service. The aim is for the airline's business passengers to watch the videos, contacting the entrepreneurs behind the ideas that take their fancy to help them develop the idea. Branson claims it's a unique way of giving the world's top business professionals access to fresh ideas and new ventures.

By playing matchmaker, Virgin gains kudos and recognition without shelling out its own cash for new ventures. One pitch will likely prove the exception to that rule, however, as there's a 'special prize' that has yet to be announced. We can't wait to hear which of our readers will be first to appear inflight... 

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Cool or Uncool?

A 15-year-old Briton has set the financial world abuzz with a research note penned for a major US bank in which he reveals teenagers' media habits - including the information that "Twitter is just not cool".

Matthew Robson wrote the report while on work experience with US bank Morgan Stanley in London, and the result was described by his boss, Edward Hill-Wood, as "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen". The research note -- which has been circulated to Morgan Stanley clients -- reveals that while teenagers consume a huge variety of media, from television to computer games to the internet and music, they are unwilling to pay for it. 

He also says that while teenagers are keen users of social-networking site Facebook, there is little interest in Twitter. "Teenagers do not use Twitter," he wrote. While many sign up for it, texting Twitter messages uses up mobile phone credit and they would rather use that for normal text messages, he wrote. Plus, no one views their profiles so the tweets are "pointless". "We thought it would be interesting to clients, sent it out and they thought it was great. It's very different from the normal type of research," the source said, adding it was highly unusual for the bank to compile a report this way. 

Robson, from Greenwich in southeast London, texted a few friends to get ideas for the research paper, which was reportedly written in one day. "Teenagers listen to a lot of music, mostly whilst doing something else," he wrote, but added: "They are very reluctant to pay for it." They rarely listen to the radio or buy CDs, preferring to use websites that stream music or to download it illegally. Most teens view paying even 79 pence ($A1.62) for a song on iTunes as too expensive. Robson says teenagers watch television but do not have time to watch regular programs, particularly when they can watch them afterwards online. Robson also derides traditional print media such as newspapers and phone directories and says his peers have no time for outdoor advertising or banner ads on websites, preferring instead viral marketing. 

The report concludes with a helpful list of what is hot and what is not: anything with a touch screen, mobile phones with large capacity for music and "really big tellies" are desirable. "Anything with wires", however, is not.

The above brain teaser was created by Sydney photographer, John Clutterbuck. It represents the title of a recently released book that will help you unlock your great ideas and free up your imagination.

(The answer is at the bottom left of today's edition of the newspaper).