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BTFI

One of the challenges in working alone in my office is that I've got to find creative ways to keep my energy up - to stay awake and engaged in both day-to-day tasks and in the bigger ideas that inform those tasks.

It's all too easy to get bogged down in my to-do list (massive) or frustrated by the fact that I so rarely get to appreciate the forest for having to maintain all of the damn trees. I'm always looking for ways to stay connected to the big picture and to making change. Keeping out of the scarcity mindset and thinking creatively and positively.

I like this BTFI idea:

Call it self-indulgent. Call it a privilege. Call it insane. I won’t argue. But there’s also something incredibly valuable that happens when we dive into the work of making risk-taking an ongoing approach to life and art. And feel free to define art anyway you wish. When we bring that daring side of our selves to the fore, we not only grow as human beings, we increase the chances of stumbling on something that makes true social change possible.

Benjamin Zander, conductor and recent TED speaker, talks about this kind of process as “getting beyond fuck-it”–that place where you realize it makes no sense to continue to hold back, the place where perfectionism and ego fall away and all we’re left with is pure creative passion. Creative passion that can be utilized to solve problems, deepen empathy, increase understanding and change the world.

(via Jen Lemen)