Lateral Activity

Photo by ezioman

It’s time for another of our irregular roundups of Lateral Activity elsewhere on the web.

Creative entrepreneurs who enjoyed our list of the top 10 Social Networks for Creative People should check out Dan Schawbel’s list of the Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs — the two lists only have one network in common, so they should complement each other pretty well.

Scratching your head for ideas for your next creative venture? Trendwatching.com is kicking off an ‘Innovation Avalanche’ with a list of ‘41 business ideas waiting to be copied‘.

But before you go rushing off to put your ideas into action, read Jonathan Mead’s article ‘If It’s a Good Idea… Don’t Do It‘:

if thinking about doing what you love doesn’t keep you up at night, it’s probably not worth chasing. If it scares you to death that you will inevitablys might fail, you know it’s real love. (If you’re not sure what your passion is and nothing keeps you up at night, that’s OK, too. My book, Reclaim Your Dreams, can help you figure that out.)

This is especially true if you’re trying to make a living out of these endeavors. If you’re heart is not completely in it, someone out there that’s fanatically in love with what they’re doing will out hustle you.

Once you’re sure that you’ve got more than just a good idea and you’re ready to make it happen, this interview with Behance founder Scott Belsky will give you some great advice on productivity tools for creatives.

It turns out the LA team are not the only ones to have doubts about lateral thinking and the nine-dot puzzle. Comedian and creativity consultant Ayd Instone actually believes lateral thinking problems are evil.

My piece about How RSI Made Me More Productive appeared in a productivity-themed HR Carnival at i4cp.com.

And Robyn McMaster was kind enough to nominate Lateral Action for a Premio Dardos award over at Brain Based Biz. She’s taken a creative approach to her post, compiling a great list of blogs according to the eight multiple intelligence categories.

Finally, Emma Alvarez Gibson interviewed me about the little details that make a big difference, over at Old Soul Ink, a great blog with the strapline ‘better living through minutiae’.

About the Author: Mark McGuinness is a Coach for Artists, Creatives and Entrepreneurs. For a free 25-week guide to success as a creative professional, sign up for Mark’s course The Creative Pathfinder.