Something I’ve come to realize, but have a hard time wrapping my actions around, is the hardest part about doing a thing of significance is the mental pendulum leading up to that decision. The back and forth, second guessing, and “what-ifs.”

Making the decision - doing it - is easy. You make the call and you operate.

I wouldn’t mind carrying a midget around that constantly reminded: “It’s simpler than you think.”

If you’re in Dallas bring yourself to one of these shindigs, all happening in the next several days:

When? August 15th (tomorrow), 8:30am - 10:30am
Where? Buzzbrews, 4154 N Central Expy, Dallas, TX 75204
Why? Because a morning of good coffee, good conversation, creativity, inspiration, and ideas makes the rest of your Friday taste better.
Elsewhere? If you’re not in Dallas, check the Likemind site to see if there’s a meetup near you.

When? August 15th (tomorrow too), 9:00am - 3:00pm
Where? Mokah Coffee Bar, 2803 Taylor St. Dallas, TX 75226
Why? Come for a laid-back coworking environment where you can work and hobnob with other local creatives. It’ll give you work-from-home-types a reason to put on pants and use your larynx.
Elsewhere? Like Likemind, Jelly happens all over the U.S. And if there’s not one near you, why not start one?

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When? Monday, August 18th, 6:00pm to 8:30pm
Where? IMC², 12404 Park Central, Suite 400, Dallas, TX 75251
Why? HFI’s Andrew Schall will show you how to improve the usability of your designs with eye-tracking. Also, there’s a free meal, which doesn’t hurt. This is a reservation-only event, so grab a spot here.

Come hang. It’ll be a good one.

A VideoSong is a new Medium with two rules:

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

Here are two from Pomplamoose, a musical collaboration between Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn. I love them.

I had a friend tell me once that recording in the studio changes the way you listen to music. It’s true, witnessing the layers interweave gives listening a new shade. You begin to notice things in music you never would have before.

This kind of talent and creativity wakes me up.

(Big dap to Paul McEnany for pointing this out.)

I’ve been loving the heck out of the The Boston Globe’s beautiful photoblog “The Big Picture.” It is filled to the brim with epic photography and thoughtful commentary. Click here to read an interview with the creator, Alan Taylor.

(I know this wasn’t the most thoughtful or in-depth post, but I really want you to check out these photos.)

(via Kottke)

The music from this new VW spot, by DDB London, is a made from a compilation of sounds recorded in and around the Golf and was composed and produced by Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll.

When I saw this, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Lasse “Crazy Eyes” Gjertsen’s “Hyperactive…”

…and Wieden + Kennedy London’s ‘06 Civic Choir:

Dear Europe: Why do you get all the special hotness?

(via Fresh Creation)

This is an amazing piece of artwork by Blu.

I can’t imagine how much planning and time went into this. I’d love to see something on “the making of.”

Hat tip to Carter Martin for pointing it out.

From illustrator Chad Pugh’s Vimeo page:

This piece inspired the login illustration that vimeo commissioned from me for their redesign earlier this year; it is still in use throughout the site. The video is a condensed time lapse of screenshots over a several month period. Total physical drawing time is close to 40 hours and I’d add an equal amount of time for concept time and readying the print. A screenshot was taken every 5 seconds, which actually results in a full 18 minute video. I’ll upload that for posterity later.

Incredible. Check out more of Chad Pugh’s work at thebigpugh.com.

Thanks to Charlie Trotter , who I can always count on for quality stop-motion, for the link.

A lot has happened over the past week, and as a result I have a backlog of stuff I’d like to talk about here. But in the meantime, here’s this:

I have been listening non-stop to the live recording of M Ward and Jim James (from My Morning Jacket) performing at South by Southwest 08. They played a cooperative set - each taking turns playing their own songs and backing the other.

The music was beautiful, the lyrics almost tangible (Jim James’ in particular), and from what I’ve heard, the venue - St. David’s Church - created an intimacy that “basically mandated silence from the audience” (said livemusicblog.com). Wish I could have been there.

For your vicarious-living pleasure (and mine too) here’s a video of some samples from their show. Enjoy.

(video via livemusicblog.com)

In a recent study on creative improvisation, scientists backed by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) found that:

…when jazz musicians are engaged in the highly creative and spontaneous activity known as improvisation, a large region of the brain involved in monitoring one’s performance is shut down, while a small region involved in organizing self-initiated thoughts and behaviors is highly activated.

The researchers propose that this and several related patterns are likely to be key indicators of a brain that is engaged in highly creative thought. (scientificblogging.com)

The article goes on to draw some interesting implications from this study on creativity in general (emphasis added):

Interestingly, the large portion responsible for monitoring one’s performance (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) shuts down completely during improvisation, while the much smaller, centrally located region at the foremost part of the brain (medial prefrontal cortex) increases in activity. The medial prefrontal cortex is involved in self-initiated thoughts and behaviors, and is very active when a person describes an event that has happened to him or makes up a story. The researchers explain that, just as over-thinking a jump shot can cause a basketball player to fall out of the zone and perform poorly, the suppression of inhibitory, self-monitoring brain mechanisms helps to promote the free flow of novel ideas and impulses. While this brain pattern is unusual, it resembles the pattern seen in people when they are dreaming.

When you are deeply focused in creativity, you are actually using a different part of your brain from when the focus is production and achievement - medical evidence that the best cure for the creative-destruction of overthink and self-editing is wreckless and uninhibited creative outpour.

The premise of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,” (a fantastic study of happiness) is: In order to reach a deep level of joy and satisfaction, you must fall into the “flow.” He describes “flow” as:

being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.

I can’t help feeling that in today’s fragmented and over-stimulated society, instances of “flow” and non-performance-driven creativity are harder to come by. Inspiration, creativity, and, ultimately, happiness are something that have to be pursued and worked for.

How can I set aside a performance mindset and replace it with “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake?” How can creative shops enable employees to be truly and satisfyingly creative?

How do you break out of the noise and make time for “flow?”

(Related: “Some thoughts on creativity“)

(I don’t know who took these pictures, but they were emailed to me by my Lego fanatic buddy Carter Martin)