Updating old favorites.

Todd Henry, has been mentioned here for a long time (Accidental Creative and Daily Creative podcasts, and Die Empty).

Aside:
I actually have a bone to pick with Mr. Henry. I read Die Empty, which is for people who aren’t willing to put off their most important work for another day. He provides strategies, tips and ways of making not putting off happen. The ultimate goal is to not take your best stuff to the grave with you.
Well, I took that to heart, and started working on cleaning out old ideas, and finishing 'unfinished 'in process' projects. So for a while, I had holes in my brain, empty places where ideas and thoughts had been.
But then the damndest thing happened–new ideas came rushing in to fill the empty spaces. It was like that New Testament story about the man who got rid of the demon in Luke 24, and the new ideas were more fun and interesting than the old. So, short of dementia, the ol' brain pan ain't never gonna empty out.

Well, I had a little lapse with following Todd, and when I returned I found a new (actually, revived) podcast, Herding Tigers. There was some very interesting information in there. Now, the thing is that Todd is not talking to me—I'm not a leader. But that doesn't mean I can't take away useful information. In this case, he's talking about how to lead a team of creatives with different work methods and goals. As he says, everyone on your team is optimizing for something, whether stability, autonomy, recognition, craft, or efficiency.

For me, the big takeaway was identifying (and working with) different creatives, each of whom has their own goal. It may not be a common task, or a universal goal, but there are still tips for accommodating different procedures and workflows.

Age alterations.

I never particularly liked the classic icebreaker, 'what do you do?' It seemed so limiting–the answer was related to job, or some relatively safe topic. Even asking a follow-on question like 'Wow! I've never met an actuary before! What's involved in that?' keeps lots of potential topics off the table.

Now that I've reached the somewhat advanced age of three-quarters of a century +, and retired, I don't even have that job thing as a fallback. Fortunately, I don't get out much anymore, and usually when I do, I find myself in situations where I'm in a group that was brought together for a common purpose: a class, say, or a gallery opening, or it's people I already know, so icebreaker topics are pre-established.

But still, I need an icebreaker for those times I'm out being social in new territory, 'what did you do for work seems like a so last century, rear view mirror kind of a question. So the search goes on for something that gets to the core of a person without being too threatening or intrusive. 'Are you creative?' won't work. At least I don't want to answer it. Saying yes, even though true, smacks of arrogance. Answering no, although properly modest, doesn't do anything about pushing the conversation forward. And saying 'yes, I write,' would probably lead to a question like, 'have I read anything you written?' and bring on a full-bore panic attack, or say 'I have a website–from a comfy chair,' knowing that's just a way of shifting the 'no' from me to them. Either way, s conversation stopper.

But I'm getting closer. I realize that sometimes, if I reveal that I write, the person asking will follow up with 'what do you write?' Smart people might ask, 'why do you write?' The correct, satisfying answer is, 'Because it makes me happy.'

So I'm now trying to get an icebreaker question based on open-ended happy zone. What I have so far is:

where do you find joy/happiness?
what makes you happy/joyful?

The problem with these two questions is they both sort of imply that the source of happiness and joy is external. And in my limited experience, it's important to internalize happiness for it to be fruitful. Like writing. The happiness is in the writing, and that's all inside. The happiness is also in the process, not the product. Like the Founding Fathers knew, and they guaranteed 'the pursuit of happiness,' not happiness itself, is the thing. An 'external locus' is all about the product, and implies that the receiver has no control over happiness—or destiny.

Another path to follow would be to ask 'what excites you?' or 'what are you enthusiastic about?' Again, it's open-ended, and you can tell some things about the respondent by how quickly or enthusiastically the response comes. Even the dark side (a dull response or no response) lets you know some things.

It's a start, but the search continues. Wish me luck.

Wish list item.

How good an idea isThe Hall of (Pretty) Good? It's such a good idea I wish I had thought of it.

C'mon, archeologists.

A headline in the Wall Street Journal informs us that Neanderthals performed root canals, study finds.

The article leads (yeah, I read the article. I was interested. Sue me.) with a comment by the author that implied the procedure would have been painful, seeing how Neanderthals wouldn't have had painkillers to use during the procedure.

It would be nice sometime to see an archeologist admit, 'we dunno,' or maybe just not yap on about their presumptions, or making things up. They forget that they only have access to a tiny part of the picture, the part that gets left behind. So they're missing out basically on almost all organic material, soft tissue, and various chemicals and drugs. They have no idea what colors animals were, or what our ancestors used for pain relief, in religious rituals, or partying.

There's so many things that scientists don't know, can't explain, but still feel the need to explain that what's right there in front of their eyes, like Gobekli Tepe, can't really be there because, well, c'mon, you know, they were hunter-gathers, for crying out loud! At least they're willing to concede the existence of a dentist 50,000 years ago, if not that they might have had a little something to lessen if not relieve pain, too.

Seems a little arrogant and short sighted, if you ask me. A dangerous combination, especially when they have to backtrack and can only hope that people won't remember how badly they screwed up in the first place.