http://www.creativemaverick.com JOHN WILLIAMS' BLOG ON CREATIVE WORKING, PLAYING & LIVING Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:14:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I went to a fascinating talk at London Zoo this week about how evolution and our biology affect who we fancy and who we settle down with. The speakers were Professor Robin Dunbar from Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University and Professor Karl Grammer from Department for ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/03/the-human-animal-biological-basis-of-mate-choice-or-why-men-like-to-show-off-their-mobile-phones/ I've been quiet here on Creative Maverick as I've been very busy elsewhere with a new blog on a similar topic. My book Screw Work Let's Play: How to do what you love and get paid for it is published by Prentice Hall in 9 weeks' time. And ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/03/the-play-toolkit/ I love this business card belonging to web designer and social media consultant San Sharma. It has no contact details whatsoever! It gets some strange reactions though as San explains, My business card makes people think I work for Google and/or wonder ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/02/a-business-card-with-no-contact-details/ Every year at the Holy Trinity Church in East London, there is a service held to bless working clowns and commemorate the clowns that died in the previous year. The mix of religious service and being surrounded by outlandish clowns makes it quite an experience. ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/02/the-annual-clowns-blessing/ Why don't people change? Why do we struggle on with the same old problems, wanting to be happier, more successful, to have better relationships, but not getting very far? To explain why I think this is, I need to talk about Bono, lead singer of U2. ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/02/the-secret-to-your-salvation-but-youre-not-going-to-like-it/ 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 ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/01/how-to-have-your-best-year-yet/ 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 ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/01/go-on-admit-it-you-like-your-job/ I've just been reading about the Pomodoro Technique which is a simple system to improve productivity created by Francesco Cirillo. Here's a summary of the technique as shown on the website: The basic unit of work in the Pomodoro Technique™ can be split into five simple steps: ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/01/a-simple-technique-to-help-you-focus/ I first met novelist Matt Whyman when he gave a talk at London Writers' Club on what he calls Sustainable Writing. He very kindly agreed to write this guest blog post on the topic. Sustainable Writing When it comes to filling in forms, I never enter ‘novelist’ under ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2010/01/matt-whyman-on-sustainable-writing/ 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". ... http://www.creativemaverick.com/2009/12/did-the-creative-maverick-experiment-work/