Easter is here already. It has been here since February.

What’s next? Christmas starting in July? After all, we already have Christmas in July – why not link this through to Christmas in December? Saves having to restock the shelves and pull down the decorations.

A special something is often special because it is not everyday. When we turn something special into the everyday, often motivated by greed (for more …

Hooking up your computer to the World Community Grid is one of the easiest ways to make a difference to our world.

And you don’t have to do anything other than the initial sign up and download.

When you are not actively using your computer (eg you are on the phone, sipping coffee, or pondering a sentence on your screen), the processor on your computer automatically …

Anything that we can do well, that we enjoy doing, and that there is a demand for, is worth taking seriously as a skill to develop.

Anita Roddick; when asked what advice she would give to a young person who was planning a business career: “…don’t even say the word ‘business.’ Bury it. … Talk about a livelihood you can create for yourself, an honourable livelihood that gives you …

Trish Weston floated the idea of a four hour day on Flying Solo. Her point is: Out of the eight official work hours, only four are truly productive. The rest is spent on stuff that doesn’t really add that much value.

I tend to work more efficiently when there is some sort of deadline. Making four hours of each day count is a form of deadline. Whole-day client engagements …

Here are simple things you can do at work to reduce your contribution to global warming:

Get large LCD monitors.

Avoid printing things. I suspect most people print things more out of habit than necessity.

Good quality large LCD monitors are available now at great prices. Consider upgrading all your monitors to 19″ or larger LCDs. That way, you can read emails, documents, and web pages comfortably on-screen. Pivotable displays are …

Thanks Jeff for the heads-up on this:

Decide what you want to learn.
Read everything you can on it.
Grab for insights.
Tie insights together.
Concentrate on magazines, not books.
Find your own special topics, and pursue them.
Go to conventions.
“Find your man.”
Keep improving your questions.
Your field is bounded where you want it to be.

Read the full text.

One of the techniques I use when struggling with a problem is to force myself to look at it from different angles. This is done by: Asking the right questions to reveal hidden insights. Looking at what is in front of me from different angles. Turning things on their sides.

Here’s a fun and useful example of this approach:

Recently, I got it into my head that I’d be so …

Remember the last time you showed someone from out of town around your city? You start seeing things through their eyes. You notice the little things – the state of the pavements, the state of the general population, the quality of the public transport system, the smells in the air…

We humans are good at taking things for granted – ignoring the things around us that don’t change much …

“I could succeed in many things, fail in many more, but as long as I have petted the cat I’ve done everything that really matters.” The Doctor, in Doctor Who: Vampire Science by Jonathan Blum & Kate Orman.

What really, truly, deeply matters to you? Can you achieve that this year?

The following points were inspired by Bruce Mau Design’s An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. They provide a good foundation to present my thoughts on the conditions necessary to maximise the creative return from an ideas-generation session.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been.

The journey is the point. Pick …