creative maverick

For a lot of us, particularly creative people, conventional goal setting and planning techniques just don’t work.
So how do we engineer a great year for ourselves without all that SMART goal crap? One doing the whole variety of stuff we enjoy while making a good living at the same time?
I gave a talk at January Scanners Night on [...]

Being a careers coach I inevitably meet a lot of people unhappy in their job who want to do something else. But I also occasionally meet people (at social events) who love their job. And it’s funny how shy they are about it.
I ask what they do and they sheepishly reply “Oh very boring, I’m [...]

I started this blog exactly one year ago and billed it as a one year experiment in creative living - an experiment to do what I love doing most, worry a little less about where it might lead, and see if I can end up getting “paid to play”.
Did it work?
Well in April of this [...]

I hope you have a good break coming up over the next few days. If you’re currently assessing what to do with your work next year, here’s a little something to ponder while you’re off…
Try this trick of asking yourself a question and then forgetting about it while you’re off work. Your subconscious will continue [...]

Here’s something Barbara Sher put on her blog a while ago which explains the dilemma of the creative person who hates to do any one thing for very long. If you’re a Scanner, or a Creator (in Wealth Dynamics terms) you’ll understand this very well.
She talks about scientist Clifford Stoll’s TED Talk:
He’s had some exciting [...]

Tim Smit led the creation of the £130 million Eden Project.
What was once a disused clay pit went on to become one of the most popular visitor attractions in the UK despite its relatively remote location in the hills behind St Austell in Cornwall.
Tim is, in my terms, very much a player. He takes on [...]

Would you like to know where to focus your work so that you can get paid for doing what you love? The key is to find your “moment of magic”.
Think back to a recent time in your work that stands out as a great moment; one when you did something you know you are great [...]

What would have happened if a young Paul McCartney had stayed in his job as a factory coil-winder back in 1961? He almost did:
I started working at a coil-winding factory called Massey and Coggins. My dad had told me to go out and get a job. I’d said, ‘I’ve got a job, I’m in a band.’ [...]

Melissa Pierce is what I would call a Player. She is making a film called Life in Perpetual Beta about making life up as you go along - and she’s making it up as she goes along. She has no real experience of film making and I don’t think she knows exactly where the film [...]

Chris Guillebeau makes a full-time living from his blog The Art of Non Conformity while travelling the world on his mission to visit every country on Earth. He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for my book “Screw Work, Let’s Play” and share a little of what’s made his lifestyle possible.
Chris, how do you answer [...]