Last week Alexandra, of the artists in my “Harness Your Muse” mastermind, emailed suggesting I enter NPR’s “Tiny Desk Contest.”

I thought about it.  It meant I’d have to clean my desk. That, alone was reason enough. I could also use it as an exercise, an adventure, a challenge.  I could do what I tell my students and creative clients to do: do it imperfectly.

Something else I tell them to do is to “Create Conducive Conditions” – to use your strategic brain to set up conditions to make it easier for your creative expression to flow and hit its mark.

So I waited ’til the last minute.

Why?

I overthink things.

Like a lot of my students and clients.

And as a coach, I see what happens when they ACT FAST and do NOT overthink: their work is fresh and imperfect.

To help them achieve that, I make my students and the artists I mentor promise to record just 3 takes and then choose one to send me for feedback.

So I did the same.

One of the greatest powers of teaching and coaching is the chance to have my own ideas right in my face, right on paper, to see that they work and to actually follow my own guidance.

For me, that was the greatest achievement of this little video: that I did it the way I’d tell my own students and creative coaching clients to do it.

The greatest achievement of this video? That I did it the way I’d tell my own students to do it. Click To Tweet

That … and now my desk is clean.

Or, at least it was for about 20 minutes.

See my submission on the NPR “Tiny Desk Contest” page  where you can also see other Tiny Desk Contest entries.  They’re all tiny.  They all have  desks in them.

And note: This is not a contest where the public votes for the winners, but they DO encourage sharing your favorites via social media!

[Wanna make me really happy? Watch the clip on YouTube, comment and subscribe to my YouTube channel!]

p.s. by the way – Alexandra entered the contest, too and I really love her entry – the first image made me laugh out loud.  You can see Alexandra’s entry here.

 

 

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