Paint + Pipette
A blog on the art & science of creative action.
Beware Prompt-Hoarding
If you are to succeed in your quest to realize the gains promised by GenAI enthusiasts, you must regard every quick and easy prompt pack with skepticism. “The Ultimate Prompt Guide” promises to bestow a wizard-summoning ability with a blue-pill-like ease. No, you will not know Kung Fu after downloading that prompt pack.
Assess Your Collaborators
Other minds represent one of the greatest sources of inspiration and leverage for problem solving endeavors. Ask these three questions to identify gaps in your portfolio of perspectives.
Schedule Unscheduled Time
When all of our time is spoken for, we short-change the longer-duration gestation required to form insights and think creatively. Bezos’ trick? He schedules unscheduled time.
Audit Your Environment
A simple ritual powers Jeff Bezos’ efficacy as a leader of innovation at Amazon. Every quarter, he conducts a simple audit — two simple tactics that every innovation-oriented-professional ought to leverage with regularity.
Block A Creative Calendar
We are all busy. The most effective innovators wield their calendar to enhance their practice, rather than be a victim of their schedule. Here’s how to structure your time differently.
Block Time To Recover
The evidence is clear: back-to-back meetings strain our cognitive function. One innovation leader I know has created a rule to make sure he shows up ready to sprint.
Make Strategic Withdrawals
Ever wonder where Amazon’s famous organizational innovation, the “two pizza team,” came from? The fly-wheel inducing innovation didn’t come from a brainstorm…
Schedule A Week Unplugged
Innovators ranging from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Jeff Bezos have made good use of down time. For all our connectedness, being unplugged has never been more important.
Make Time To Learn
A critical priority in a productive, creative life is to make time to think, reflect, and synthesize. Here are a few examples of how spectacular innovators have carved out the necessary space.
Protect Unscheduled Time
When all of our time is spoken for, we dramatically reduce the odds of surprises, not to mention shortchanging the longer-duration gestation required for insight formation and creative thinking. How one great leader preserves time for serendipity.
Perform An Innovation Audit
A simple ritual powers Jeff Bezos’ effectiveness as a leader of innovation at Amazon. Every quarter, he conducts a simple audit — two simple tactics that every innovation-oriented-professional ought to leverage with regularity.