"TYLER DURDEN ON INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY" BY THOR MARTIN

So why do we find it so hard to break out of our rutines and do truly innovative things?

Tough question, but I  came closer to the answer when I just stumbled upon these 8 interesting rules of innovation based on Tyler Durden from the novel/movie Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.  For those of you living on a remote island,  Fight Club is basically about living the life you truly want to live, and the hard path to getting there. Tyler helps the story’s protagonist in his search for enlightenment in the age of western consumerism.

The idea behind these 8 rules is that we can all learn something from the teachings of  Tyler. The  idea is that Tyler Durden says a lot of things that apply directly to innovative and creative action. Here are his 8 rules for creative people to live by… and please feel free to talk about them as much as you want to!

Tyler’s First Rule of Innovation:

“No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.”

This is the most important lesson, and it’s the one people struggle with and resist. Tim Ferriss advocates the 80/20 rule of productivity, where you focus relentlessly on the 20% of the actions that lead to 80% of the return. People see this as nice in theory, but not practical.

The 80/20 rule of productivity requires radical elimination, or letting that which does not matter to creative moves truly slide. Use that newfound time for creative thinking that leads to innovative action, and you will succeed, guaranteed.

Tyler’s Second Rule of Innovation:

“No fear! No distractions! The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide!”

Seriously. Don’t break the first two rules.

Tyler’s Third Rule of Innovation:

“I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let’s evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”

Let’s face it, when we break Tyler’s first two rules of innovation and distract ourselves with foolish productivity, it’s often because we’re afraid (which also violates Tyler’s first two rules). We’re afraid of failure, ridicule, risk, mediocrity, and perhaps even success itself.

If you’re going to evolve and grow as a creative person, you’re going to make mistakes. In fact, you should start making twice as many mistakes as soon as possible if you want to have an innovative breakthrough.

Make mistakes and let the chips fall where they may. You might like the landing.

Tyler’s Fourth Rule of Innovation:

“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”

Oh, yeah… don’t be afraid to make big mistakes. More importantly, don’t worry about everything going according to plan. In fact, if everything’s going according to plan, there’s a good chance nothing remarkable is getting done.

They say life is what happens while you’re making other plans. Innovation is what happens when you recognize when to change the plan and perhaps the entire game. Maybe your initial plan falls apart, or maybe you simply need to throw the current plan away.

Don’t let the plan restrict the freedom to have a game-changing idea, and act on it, at any time. Losing everything may be the best thing that ever happens to you.

Tyler’s Fifth Rule of Innovation:

“You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your...  khakis.”

When we talk about fear, risk, mistakes, and losing it all, what are we really afraid of? Are we defined by the stuff we own, or would we prefer to be defined by what we accomplish and create for the world?

I’m not saying give all your stuff away or take foolish risks that harm your family or yourself. I’m saying don’t let the stuff you own start to own you to the point that you can’t live the life you want to live and do the things you want to do.

Tyler’s Sixth Rule of Innovation:

“People do it everyday, they talk to themselves… they see themselves as they’d like to be, they don’t have the courage you have, to just run with it.”

I bet you’ve got a great idea right now, bouncing around in your head. What are you going to do with it?

Be what you’d like to be, and do what you’d like to do… it really is that simple.

Having the courage to just run with it is the difference between a fulfilling life and a life full of regret.

Tyler’s Seventh Rule of Innovation:

“Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.”

On the other hand, wearing black hipster clothing and hanging in cafes smoking Gaulloises cigarettes does not make you creative. Buying a MacBook Pro and an iPhone doesn’t get it done either.

Creativity and innovation are mainly about hard work. It’s about constantly coming up with ideas and thinking through problems instead of vegging out. And it’s about taking action, plain and simple.

Tyler’s Eighth Rule of Innovation:

“This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”

First, you have to know, not fear, know that someday you are going to die. Until you know that, you have no sense of urgency. You think you have all the time in the world to do amazing things, but you may not live to see that particular someday.
So quit reading articles for a bit and go do what really needs to be done today.



"RICHARD AVEDON: DARKNESS AND LIGHT" (PART 2)

"D.I.Y. OR DIE: HOW TO SURVIVE AS AN INDEPENDENT ARTIST" (PART I)

Michael W. Dean, who produced and directed this documentary, is an underground cultural icon; his "how-to" books ($30 Film School, $30 Music School, and $30 Writing School) are testaments to the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) ethos and spirit...and are a kick in the creative ass to those of us who need a kick every so often...

RAP NEWS 6 AND WIKILEAKS' CABLEGATE: A CREATIVE WAY TO BRING THE NEWS TO THE MASSES

Can Katie Couric rap like this?

"DIVINITY FOR THE REALITY-BASED COMMUNITY"

Look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
- 2 Corinthians 4:18
It's not what you see that is art, art is the gap.
- Marcel Duchamp


In born-again America's renewed culture wars, it's a fair guess that contemporary art and mainstream religion won't end up on the same side.

Consider the teams. There are the defenders of Christian values whose perceptions of cutting-edge art are clouded by memories of Andre Serrano's pee-dunked crucifix, Robert Gober's Blessed Virgin with a culvert through her chest, and the dung-gobbed Mary by Chris Ofili that sent Rudy Giuliani through the roof. Then there are artists, people whose values of diversity and constant questioning make them unlikely bedfellows with evangelical Christians. But, just as the myth of red states and blue obscured a reality that's more purplish in hue, perhaps there's a place somewhere between George W. and Gilbert & George where spiritual seekers and artists can find common ground.

It's not such a long shot. Artists and spiritual searchers have long grappled with the same existential issues and shared the same sense of the sublime. English art critic Clive Bell linked aesthetic and religious rapture in 1914 when he wrote of "two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy," and Jean Cocteau once described de Chirico as "a painter of secular mystery." That mystery is evident in both how we discuss art and how we experience it.
 

We refer to an artist's inspiration (literally, bringing in spirit), an object's animation (the imbuing with animus or soul), or the "leap of faith" prompted by an empty canvas. Duchamp's "gap" recognizes that art is the realm of transubstantiation, a mere object is transformed into a conveyor of profound meaning by the participation of its viewer.

The parallels between art and spirituality are many, if not overlapping: artists revel in the wonder of creation (Andy Goldsworthy's ephemeral interventions in nature); artists suggest the kind of awareness Buddhist's seek (by focusing on soup cans, Andy Warhol suggests a reconsideration of the mundane); artists openly explore taboo subjects on which religions have long ago rendered verdict (Joy Garnett's paintings of corpses and Marlene Dumas' sexually explicit portraits). But it's the social aspects of art that have such potential for bringing people together: Art can illuminate our interconnectedness.

In Timequake, writer Kurt Vonnegut explains why he pursues his artform: "Many people need desperately to hear this message, 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people don't care about them. You are not alone.'"

Witnessing is another social role of art that resonates with religious tradition. "Art is prophetic," says artist and former Trappist monk Ernesto Pujol in the book Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art. Artists can bear witness to injustice, delivering "messages the powerful may not care to hear." In the age of Jessica Lynch and Fox News, the world needs alternative reporting by the likes of Alfredo Jaar, whose famous photo series compared sky-high gold prices with the low wages and harsh conditions endured by Brazilian miners, or Picasso, whose Guernica recorded the horrific saturation bombing of an ancient Basque city. As the old Catholic hymn goes, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me"; on this count, many artists are keeping score.

Art, it seems, allows us to ponder the sacred in non-dogmatic terms, i.e., divinity for the reality-based community. Of course now is not the heyday for that bunch. But perhaps there's hope in what theologian Finley Eversole called a "spiritual underground." For him the term referred to a complex notion that artists who confront the emptiness of a godless world, writing in 1963, he was thinking of Rothko, Pollock, and de Kooning, connect us to the holy by presenting its inverse: "If our artists have been incapable of religious faith, they have at least shown us that modern man is incapable of unfaith." But I suggest that artists make up a spiritual underground in a different sense. While many mainstream religions are being hijacked by rigid fundamentalists, contemporary artists make up a loose-knit band of the covertly spiritual. If artists of the "secular mystery" can create work that resists co-optation by religious and political ideologues, perhaps we can call on them in more enlightened times to reacquaint us with the joys of asking questions we don't yet have the answers for.

Paul Schmelzer

AdBusters (2004)

THE CHINESE AIR FORCE GOES HOLLYWOOD!

C'mon, guys...you may have lost that lovin' feeling, but that doesn't mean you have to rip off the gallant flying techniques of Tom Cruise...

"COSMIC CRASH STRUT" VIDEO

First music video from the Icon West album, Life's Little Atrocities; directed by me and produced by Gentle Thug Productions. Enjoy!

IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING, SEE THIS MOVIE!

Nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Documentary," this little gem is actually a "how-to" primer on getting your art done (no matter what)...see it, breathe it, live it...: http://www.banksyfilm.com/.

INTRODUCING MY NEW TECHNO-INDUSTRIAL BAND (ICON WEST) AND OUR FIRST CD ("LIFE'S LITTLE ATROCITIES")!

Music videos to follow soon!

"RICHARD AVEDON: DARKNESS AND LIGHT" (PART 1)

A VIDEO TRIBUTE TO CHEMA MADOZ

INTERVIEW WITH TRENT REZNOR

I've been a Trent Reznor (and Nine Inch Nails) fan for years; with Trent's recent win at the Golden Globes, I thought that it would be cool to post an interview that he gave late last year.

UMMMM...HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED!!!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.”

— Jack London

"JOHN WATERS. FILTH 101." (PART I)

"THE WAR OF ART"

"If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff."

— Steven Pressfield

The War of Art

F.X. TOOLE - THE WRITING FORCE BEHIND "MILLION DOLLAR BABY"

One of my favorite authors: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=4506210&m=4506211

"THE CREATIVITY CRISIS"

An article from the July 10, 2010 issue of Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The key question isn’t 'What fosters creativity?' But it is why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face of creativity, as if it were a miracle if anybody created anything.”

— Abraham Maslow

"HOW TO BE CREATIVE" BY HUGH MACLEOD

Mr. MacLeod knows what he's talking about: http://gapingvoid.com/2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative/.

OKAY, THIS WILL EITHER SPARK YOUR CREATIVITY OR SEND YOU INTO AN EPILEPTIC SEIZURE

"THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO THAT ACTION"

I'm a Arizona native (I was born in Tucson and grew up in Flagstaff), so yesterday's horrific tragedy in northeast Tucson literally hit home for me. I'm shocked, saddened - and sick.


I'm also mad as hell.


The shootings that took place yesterday in front of a Safeway grocery store left six people dead - among them, a federal judge, a church pastor, and a nine-year-old girl - and fourteen wounded; as of this writing, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords remains in critical condition after neurosurgeons attempted to repair the damage that occurred when a bullet passed through her head.


One suspect, Jared Loughner, 22, is in custody, and authorities are searching for another man who may have played a role in yesterday's mass murder.


While the shootings don't appear to be politically motivated, I'm struck by the concerns that Congresswoman Giffords expressed several months ago when Sarah Palin decided to list Giffords' congressional seat as a "target" during the midterm elections.


"For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC.


Consequences, indeed. ...

JOE ROGAN SPEAKS ON CREATIVITY

"Explorations in Blue: Street Scenes (1)"

A short experimental film that I created in 2009.

"DON'T GO TO FILM SCHOOL"

Sorry, but I thought this was hilarious...

"COME TO THE DARK SIDE, LUKE": THE CREATIVE USE OF SUBLIMINAL (SUBVERSIVE?) ADVERTISING

THE SOCIETY OF BRILLIANT IDEAS (S.O.B.I.) - BRILLIANT!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK THAT ALL THIS TALK ABOUT CREATIVITY IS CRAP, HERE'S AN ANTI-CREATIVITY CHECKLIST JUST FOR YOU

WHAT CAN CREATIVITY DO?

ARE YOU CREATIVELY BLOCKED? YOU WON'T BE AFTER VISITING THIS SITE!

Go to: http://www.diegm.uniud.it/create/Handbook/techniques/predisposition.htm

CREATIVELY CHANGE THE MOOD YOU'RE IN (WITHOUT DRUGS)

Feeling blue? Want to energize your day? Waves of nostalgia washing over you? Whether you want to keep a mood or change one, try http://moodstream.gettyimages.com/

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

TEN BOOKS TO READ THIS YEAR TO STIR YOUR CREATIVITY (EVEN IF YOU'VE ALREADY READ THEM)

1. The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. This remarkable book turned me on to creativity and the creative process over ten years ago - and it still has a definite hold over me.

2. Walking in this World, by Julia Cameron. A sequel to The Artist's Way, this book takes an even deeper look at the creative process while reminding us all that we're all artists.

3. The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. No, not The Art of War; this fine little book kicks ass and takes names - and reminds us all that resistance is the enemy!

4. $30 Film School, by Michael W. Dean. Even if you're not a filmmaker, this book will make you look at your art and the creative process in a different way. D.I.Y., baby!

5. The Mission of Art, by Alex Grey. An amazing book that transcends "how" you should do your art and talks about "why" you should do your art - absolutely mind-blowing and mind-expanding.

6. On Writing, by Stephen King. The master of horror and suspense proves that he's also the master of teaching you how to write. Funny, truthful, and worth its weight in gold.

7. Catching the Big Fish, by David Lynch. No, this isn't a treatise on fly fishing; director, painter, furniture builder, and techno musician David Lynch (who was once described as "Jimmy Stewart from Mars") talks about the creative process in his own life and how it works.

8. Coaching the Artist Within: Advice for Writers, Actors, Visual Artists, and Musicians, by Eric Maisel. A great book with great examples on how to get your creativity kick-started.

9. The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, by Twyla Tharp. The legendary choreographer writes a brilliant and straightforward book on the creative process that will make your head spin while motivating you to get creative in your own right.

10. ThinkerToys, by Michael Michalko. Primarily aimed at businesses that want to become more creative, this book will actually help anyone to become more creative.

TEN MOVIES TO WATCH THIS YEAR TO STIR YOUR CREATIVITY (EVEN IF YOU'VE ALREADY SEEN THEM)

1. The Social Network. Girl dumps boy. Boy decides to bust open a few algorithms to get back at girl. Boy brings down portions of the Harvard computer network, but the seed of an idea is planted - which eventually blossoms into Facebook. David Fincher's fascinating movie points to both the incredible nature of creativity and its alienating effects.

2. Apollo 13. Think that creativity is limited to the canvass or the camera? Or the earth? Think again. Based on true events, Ron Howard's tale of a space mission gone horribly wrong is a testament to human ingenuity and courage - and to a creative process that's literally out of this world.

3. Quills. Dark and disturbing (to say the least), Philip Kaufman re-imagines the Marquis de Sade's residency at the Charenton insane asylum. While not historically accurate, the film deftly explores human creativity within the confines of censorship, religion, sex, art, and mental illness.

4. Frida. Based on the life and surreal work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Julie Taymor's film is an exquisite (and eye-popping) adaptation of Hayden Herrera's book, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo. 

5. Pollock. Directed by Ed Harris (who also plays the lead role), this film is a brilliant adaptation of the book, Jackson Pollock: An American Saga. Like The Social Network, the themes of creativity and alienation are intertwined, with a dash of self-destruction thrown in for good measure. A cautionary tale, to be sure, but one that expands the notion that creativity is not something that can be ignored.

6. This Is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner's hilarious - and brilliant - mockumentary about a heavy metal rock band is not only a satirization about sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, it's a slap in the face to rock documentaries that were being made at the time. To top it off, it's also a feel-good film about the creative process that will have your spirit soaring (when you're not laughing at loud, that is).

7. How To Draw A Bunny. A documentary focusing on Ray Edward Johnson, a seminal figure in the Pop Art movement. Directed by John W. Walters, the film explores Johnson's contributions to the art world, along with his eccentric nature.

8. Shine a Light. Martin Scorsese's documentary about the Rolling Stones when they performed at the Beacon Theater in 2006; Scorsese utilized digital cinematography for the first time in shooting the concert footage, and made use of archival footage of the band as well. Let Mick and the boys get your creative ya-ya's out.

9. Shall We Dance? Directed by Peter Chelsom (and a remake of a Japanese film entitled Shall We ダンス?, this fluffy - yet fun - movie gears you up to get your creative moves down.

10. All That Jazz. Directed and co-written by Bob Fosse, this film is a semi-autobiographical fantasy of the director's life (and death). Funny, heart-breaking, and ultimately a primer not only on Broadway and Hollywood, but on what makes a creative genius tick.

KEN ROBINSON SAYS SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

Amazing video from Sir Ken Robinson!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

With the beginning of 2011, I've finally bit the bullet and decided to start a blog dedicated to the creative process. Hopefully, this blog will be a depository for all things related to creativity while encouraging the artist in all of us. ...

Above is a short promotional video that I directed and edited several years ago, which focuses on the amazing work of Tim Holmes (http://www.timholmesstudio.com/) and his Body Psalms project.