Creativity, mindfulness, and your 3 core human needs No matter who you are, no matter what you do, there are three core human needs that drive you. Connection, making a difference, and meaning. At a fundamental level, both mindfulness and creativity share this in common: They are tried and true paths for fulfilling these three […]
[VIDEO] Creativity and Bay Area Innovation, Part III: The Weather Factor
If you are able to sit down at a restaurant with your friends and loved ones, order seasonal foods reverently prepared and sip, perhaps, a few lovely, mind-lubricating wines, if you are able to do all that, you may be unable to control yourself; you may be absolutely and completely unable to keep your creative […]
[VIDEO] Creativity and Bay Area Innovation, Part II: The Great Cultural Mashup
The Bay Area sits at the westernmost edge of Western culture and the easternmost edge of Eastern culture, setting up a cultural edge condition that fosters creativity and innovation. Culture and Creativity Last time in the “Creativity and Bay Area Innovation” series, I talked about the influence of the Asian system of Feng Shui on […]
[VIDEO] Creativity and Bay Area Innovation, Part I: The Feng Shui Factor
The Bay Area is hands down the single most creative and innovative region in the United States, receiving a whopping 32 percent of all the venture capital invested in the United States. Introduction to the “Creativity and Bay Area Innovation” series The Bay Area is hands down the single most creative and innovative region in the […]
[VIDEO] Please vote for my breakout session at the upcoming 2016 Wisdom 2.0 Conference
Wisdom 2.0 returns to the Bay Area and I need your vote! I have applied to run an interactive breakout session at the 2016 Wisdom 2.0 Conference in San Francisco entitled, “Mindfulness and Creativity in the Workplace: How to Build Cultures of Innovation.” The first round of voting is open to the general public, which […]
[VIDEO] Feels So Good: Life is Better with Rituals
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” Friedrich Nietzsche This last week, I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time doing something I hadn’t done in a long time: Listening to LP’s. Not files from my iTunes, not CD’s, not cassettes […]
Enter to win a FREE subscription to my number one resource for creative inspiration
Click here to enter to win a FREE year-long subscription to The Sun Magazine. Want inspiration? Want inspiration on a consistent basis? Want inspiration that you can hold in your hand, return to when you need it, and look forward to when it, like clockwork, comes to visit you again and again? Today I want […]
[VIDEO] Talks at Google: Mindfulness and Creativity in the Workplace
Get your FREE copy of Austin’s infographic, Creativity in the Workplace: How to Build Cultures of Innovation. Here’s a talk I gave on “Mindfulness and Creativity in the Workplace”, as part of the “Authors at Google” program on October 8th, 2015. Big thank you’s to Google, to the author of the forthcoming book, Pause, Racheal O’Meara, host […]
[VIDEO] Creativity and Education: How Design Affects Learning
(NOTE: 30,000 people are not moving to Denver per day, as I erroneously stated in the video, but per month. Sorry for the confusion!) Education can help or hinder creativity. In January 2007, while standing in the check out line at a book store, I noticed an article on the cover of The New Yorker […]
[VIDEO] Loose Ends Sap Creative Energy
Do you have a pile in your inbox that’s just getting bigger? Are there unpaid bills, unreturned phone calls, repairs to your car, your bike, your home, or your computer that you’ve been putting off? What about your health? Do you have a sore tooth, a persistent ache, or something that you know needs […]