The Zen of Creativity

Reading this book will inspire you and help you see things differently. It even has exercises that you can do to boost your creativity and inner calmness, it's sort of a creative self-help book. 

John Daido Loori, talks about the zen arts in a way that is easy to read and inspiring. You'll go through chapter by chapter, without even realising how time has gone by.

Get this book now and get inspired in your creative work.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Do Mindful Work

Here is a tip I learnt through my Zen practice that has helped me a lot when trying to come up with ideas and/or solutions to various problems.

If you are stuck on something and can't come up with a solution or idea, stop and do some mindful work. By work, I mean doing any task that doesn't require "thinking" and problem solving, it can range from washing dishes to taking a shower or doing some other manual task. Being mindful means that while you are doing this task you need to focus on the task. I know it's hard, it took me time to get there and I still find myself getting out of line. While doing the task just focus on the task at hand (describing to yourself what you are doing really helps) and let your subconscious do the work.

After you have finished you will feel refreshed and some ideas/solutions will probably come up that you couldn't think of before.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Tea and the Zen of Social Media [Lessons Learnt]

On Monday I sat on the panel of a great discussion on the zen of social media. We all enjoyed it and learnt a lot from it. If you haven't had the chance to view the video, I've decided to simplify and give the highlights here.

There is no golden rule
Depending on the importance of social media to what you do, you need to decide on what's best for you. If I say that you need to be offline for 80% of the time you work and your work is managing online communities, my suggestion doesn't really help. Listen to all the suggestions and rules and then choose what fits your needs. Don't be afraid to break any rules, nothing's set in stone.

Know your media
Just because it's available and free it doesn't mean that you have to use it. Get to know your media and where the people you want to speak to "hang out". If the people you want to connect with mainly use twitter, why would you spend half your time on Facebook? 

Simplify
Always try and keep it simple. Simplify your messages, your routines and tools. Don't be afraid to go through iterations until you find the perfect fit. 

Minimise distractions
Chatting, connecting and sharing is great, but when you want to produce great work you need to focus. Any distraction will make you reset so minimise the distractions. Don't use Growl, turn off message pop-ups and chimes, and remove badges that tell you how many unread messages you have.

Learn to let go
Being overwhelmed with information is not a valid statement. As a member of the group put it during our discussion "When you walk into a library you don't feel overwhelmed by all the books on the shelves.". Decide on what's really important and learn to let go of the rest. My feed reader is stuck to about 8,000 unread messages, it doesn't have a badge to remind me of that and from time to time I select all the feeds and execute the "Mark all as read" command.

Have technology fit your needs
As with any IT solution, the tools that you use need to fit your needs and not the other way round. We find ourselves continuously in a position being told that this new tool will revolutionise the way we work and help us achieve more. This might happen if it's a groundbreaking innovation but it doesn't happen all the time. Learn to judge for yourself.

Because everyone's doing it, it doesn't make it right
Similarly to the above point, because everyone is using a tool, method etc. it doesn't mean that it has to work for you. We are all individuals with specific requirements and we don't have to change ourselves around the latest method or tool. Always be open to new things but use the ones that feel right. 

Have a break
Being able to unplug and switch off is essential. Even computers need it in order to empty their memory and perform better. Take some time off, go for a walk, go to an event, museum, gallery, for a coffee or whatever you feel like doing. And while doing this try once in a while to not use Facebook and Squarespace to sign in, or instagram to post your photos or twitter to tell everyone what you are doing. Be mindful and engage in the moment of what you are doing. 

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Tea and the Zen of Social Media [The Video]

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Buyer's Mind

In Zen Buddhism there is a concept called Beginner's Mind. Beginner's mind is about being open, eager and without preconceptions when practicing or studying something. It is usually compared to how an infant would look at the world, without all the knowledge that we usually have.

Based on this concept we (at minimoko) often use a concept that we call Buyer's Mind. With a Buyer's Mind, whatever you work on (your brand, service, product etc.) you look at it from the buyer's perspective. The buyer can be anyone that would want to "buy" what you produce, whether they are a retail customer, b2b client or internal customer in your company. 

You need to distant yourself from your product completely, take away all the knowledge and hard work you've put into it and think about what your audience will think. Will they be interested in what you do? How will it benefit them?

There are certain things that you can do to help you. Create a profile of your target audience and then try to see and experience things as they would. It's a very hard concept and practice makes best!

Posted by Harry Mylonadis