Dr. Ronda Ormont has written a comprehensive guide to finding a career that can both feed your wallet and fuel your personal creative endeavors. Included are real-life profiles, sample forms and worksheets, and essential steps to: * Learn what fields of work compliment your personality * Allocate time and energy for your own artistic pursuits * Overcome fears of change * Write resumes and interview for potential jobs * Explore self-employment options * Restructure your current career position to suit your creative needs

The legendary comedian, actor, and writer of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and A Fish Called Wanda fame shares his key ideas about creativity: that it’s a learnable, improvable skill. “Many people have written about creativity, but although they were very, very clever, they weren't actually creative. I like to think I'm writing about it from the inside.”—John Cleese You might think that creativity is some mysterious, rare gift—one that only a few possess. But you’d be wrong. As John Cleese shows in this short, practical, and often amusing guide, creativity is a skill that anyone can acquire. Drawing on his lifelong experience as a writer, Cleese shares his insights into the nature of creativity and offers advice on how to get your own inventive juices flowing. What do you need to do to get yourself in the right frame of mind? When do you know that you’ve come up with an idea that might be worth pursuing? What should you do if you think you’ve hit a brick wall? We can all be more creative. John Cleese shows us how.

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

The right-brain way to conquering clutter, mastering time, and reaching one's goals: the first book to show creative people how to arrange their desks, their time, and their lives in a style consistent with their unique way of perceiving the world. Suggests a host of practical solutions, all in harmony with the way creative people think and act. 20 line drawings.

Creative Career Coaching: Theory into Practice is an innovative book for career development students and professionals aiming to creatively progress their coaching practice. Without losing sight of fundamental coaching values and practices, it encourages career development professionals to adapt their practice by harnessing imagination, intuition and critical reflection to engage clients. Hambly and Bomford consider the usefulness of creativity alongside traditional coaching models to reach "harder to help" groups. They consider a whole-brain approach to creativity, emphasising the need for coaches to adapt their client-facing skills for individual cases. They work through how clients make career decisions, how to use labour market information to motivate clients, how to frame a creative coaching session using techniques such as metaphor, visualisation and role play, how to use practical tools and techniques to resolve a client’s individual needs, and how to deliver on digital platforms. Combining the latest neuroscientific research with activities, summaries and case studies, this book provides a practical, skills-based approach to coaching. Creative Career Coaching: Theory into Practice is the first book to summarise the Creative Career Coaching Model. It will be an indispensable resource for students of career development, career coaching, coaching psychology and advice and guidance courses. It will also be of interest to career coaches in practice seeking to enhance their skills.

In an age of obsessive productivity and stress, this illustrated ode to idleness invites you to explore the pleasures and possibilities of slowing down. Beloved author and illustrator Roman Muradov weaves together the words and stories of artists, writers, philosophers, and eccentrics who have pursued inspiration by doing less. He reveals that doing nothing is both easily achievable and essential to leading an enjoyable and creative life. Cultivating idleness can be as simple as taking a long walk without a destination or embracing chance in the creative process. Peppered with playful illustrations, this handsome volume is a refreshing and thought-provoking read. “Whimsical, clever, and companionable . . . On Doing Nothing provides a much-needed correction to our distracted, anxiety-ridden, and increasingly disembodied culture. Muradov has written and illustrated a kind of Situationist, Oulipian Ways of Seeing—a manual for clarity and presence, a book which issues a call to attention; a call to pay attention. The smart yet approachable philosophical reflections unfold like a leisurely stroll through a beautiful and unfamiliar city, provoking thoughtfulness and eliciting in the reader a spirit of discovery.” —Peter Mendelsund, author of What We See When We Read

“This is a How To manual at the highest level from a man who has lived the life and has watched and worked intimately with hundreds of others who’ve done the same. Indispensable reading for anyone in a creative field who is seeking to achieve not just a flash of brilliance but a lifelong career.” Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The War of Art “I love my work so much I would do it for free.” Many creative people have uttered these words in a moment of enthusiasm—they express the joy of creative work. But they also hint at some of the pitfalls that lie in wait for creatives . . . In one sense, creative people have no problem with motivation. We fall in love with our creative work and pursue a career that allows us to do what we love every day. Psychological research confirms what we know in our hearts: we are at our most creative when we are driven by intrinsic motivation—working for the sheer joy of it, regardless of rewards. Focusing on extrinsic motivation—such as money, fame, or other rewards—can kill your creativity. If you don’t feel excited by the task in front of you, it’s impossible to do your best work, no matter what rewards it might bring. You may be determined not to sell out, but selling yourself short can be just as damaging. And when it comes to public recognition, comparisonitis and professional jealousy can consume far too much of your creative energy. Working for love is all well and good, but if you’re a creative professional you can’t ignore the rewards: you need money to enjoy your life and to fund your projects. You may not need to be famous, but you do need a good reputation within your professional network. And if you’re in a fame-driven industry you need a powerful public profile, whether or not you enjoy the limelight. There’s a precious balance at play—get it wrong, and you could seriously damage your creativity and even your career. For the past twenty years creative coach Mark McGuinness has helped hundreds of creatives like you to overcome these challenges. In his latest book, Motivation for Creative People, Mark helps you rise to these challenges and create a fulfilling and rewarding creative career. All the solutions he shares have been tested with real people in real situations, including ways to: * stay creative and in love with your work—even under pressure * overcome Resistance to tackling your creative challenges * reclaim your creative soul if you wander off your true path * stop selling yourself short—and start reaping the rewards of your creativity * attract the right kind of audience for your work * cultivate an outstanding artistic reputation * avoid destroying your creativity through attachment to money, fame, reputation, and other rewards * surround yourself with people who support your creative ambitions * avoid getting stuck in unhealthy comparisonitis or professional jealousy * balance your inspiration, ambition, desires, and influences in the big picture of your creative career Motivation for Creative People is the perfect guide to figuring out your different motivations and how they affect your creativity and career. The book is packed with practical advice and inspiring stories from Mark’s own experience, his transformative work with coaching clients, and famous creators and creations—including Stanley Kubrick, Dante, The Smiths, Shakespeare, kabuki drama, and Breaking Bad. If you are serious about succeeding in your creative career—while staying true to your inspiration—read Motivation for Creative People

The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. “Might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”—Fast Company For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.

* WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * An insider's account of Apple's creative process during the golden years of Steve Jobs. Hundreds of millions of people use Apple products every day; several thousand work on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California; but only a handful sit at the drawing board. Creative Selection recounts the life of one of the few who worked behind the scenes, a highly-respected software engineer who worked in the final years of the Steve Jobs era—the Golden Age of Apple. Ken Kocienda offers an inside look at Apple’s creative process. For fifteen years, he was on the ground floor of the company as a specialist, directly responsible for experimenting with novel user interface concepts and writing powerful, easy-to-use software for products including the iPhone, the iPad, and the Safari web browser. His stories explain the symbiotic relationship between software and product development for those who have never dreamed of programming a computer, and reveal what it was like to work on the cutting edge of technology at one of the world's most admired companies. Kocienda shares moments of struggle and success, crisis and collaboration, illuminating each with lessons learned over his Apple career. He introduces the essential elements of innovation—inspiration, collaboration, craft, diligence, decisiveness, taste, and empathy—and uses these as a lens through which to understand productive work culture. An insider's tale of creativity and innovation at Apple, Creative Selection shows readers how a small group of people developed an evolutionary design model, and how they used this methodology to make groundbreaking and intuitive software which countless millions use every day.

IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers.