Lateral Activity

Photo by Canon in 2D

OK it’s time to spread the link love with another roundup of Lateral Activity elsewhere on the web.

If you’re wondering how Armageddon the current economic crisis is likely to impact on the creative economy, you could do a lot worse than pour yourself a cup of coffee and peruse Richard Florida’s article How the Crash Will Reshape America. Actually, you might want to make that a pot of coffee as it’s even longer than my blog posts ( 🙂 ) but it should be time well invested.

Creative entrepreneurs — we know you’re looking for the opportunities in this crisis. Yes, these are tough times but Applicant points out that ‘these are also times when its time to step up and take a different route rather than giving up and finding yet another boss to work for’. If you’re up for finding that different route, you’ll want to bookmark this great compilation of 60+ Resources For Entrepreneurs to Step up and Take Charge.

Someone who’s been stepping up and causing havoc for a long time now is Hugh MacLeod, who recently posted this epiphany on his blog:

A. Most people work for the money. Most people wouldn’t do their jobs for free.

B. Most people hate their jobs.

But I’m not thinking about “Most People” right now. I’m thinking about the small percentage of the population who want to love their work; who want to find meaning in their work… and are willing to work like hell to find out how.

Those crazy, deranged fools…

I suspect there are plenty of crazy deranged fools like this reading Lateral Action — if you’re one of them, hop over to Hugh’s blog and sign up for his crazy deranged fools newsletter.

And check out Hugh’s latest venture, using his blog to sidestep the traditional art world gallery system and sell limited-edition prints of his artwork. If he can do it, what’s to stop you?

You know how we keep telling you how you don’t have to be a genius to achieve creative success, and that motivation, habits and persistence are more important than talent? Well don’t take our word for it — check out the article The Winning Edge in Psychology Today, which quotes a mass of evidence supporting the argument that ‘Passion and perseverance may be more important to success than mere talent’. For example, one study of high achievers concluded:

There were certainly a fair number of people who were brilliant, ambitious and persevering … But there were also a lot who were not a genius in any way but were really tenacious.

If you enjoyed our roundup of The Top 10 Social Networks for Creative People then you should check out the two-part series by Steve Lawson: The Problem of Time — The Eternal Crisis of Music-based Social Networks and Social Networks for Social Musicians. Steve is writing primarily for musicians, but his advice is applicable to people in most creative professions.

Finally, if you’re a Lifehacker fan like me you’ll want to subscribe to founding editor Gina Trapani’s new blog Smarterware, for thoughtful productivity tips under the heading ‘use your head (and great software)’

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About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a poet and creative coach.