Tea with McNair

• wooden wisdom

"It's what you learn AFTER you know everything that shows real wisdom."

John Wododen, UCLA basketball coach--most successful college coach, ever.

More Wooden wisdom HERE

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• out on a limb

"I sing a song of myself, as others have done for me, but none have sung a song quite like this because this one is mine, and there will never be any like me."     ~ Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"

In a previous Tea blog I posted the line, above, from Walt Whitman about each of us singing our song.

Tamara wrote to say that these words came at a good time. Her life has had "forced changes" lately and "it's a little scary out here on this limb."

We've all been out on a limb from time to time. As a kid, I seem to recall, I chose to be on that limb quite a bit:

• We hung many a swing from a limb.

• Many limbs it took to support the elevated clubhouse we built. Our dad's loved it (and pitched in, a little) and our moms prayed we wouldn't die upon its inevitable collapse. (It remained until the house was sold.)

• We join the shipwrecked Robinson family of Switzerland, as they created a home in the limbs of a grand tree on that now-famous deserted island. (Watch the entire classic Disney movie FREE, HERE—pirates, ostrich races, shipwreck, and the legendary tree house (later rebuilt in Adventureland at Disneyland. It's still there, but redesigned as the tree house in Disney's TARZAN. It is easy to miss (walk right past ...or under), between Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones, but DON'T miss it.)

• From that old limb we dropped water balloons on other kids ...and dogs.

 • Uncle Paul had a great old hammock hung between two sturdy limbs in his Carmichael, CA, home—suburb of Sacramento.

• And it seems to me that without all those limbs covered with leaves, we'd all be looking far and wide for shade.

• Limbs are the arms of any tree, opened wide and inviting us in to climb and explore; to nap and laugh; to jump and build: and finally to jump...I mean, to fly, like Peter Pan.

• Later I move back to Pasadena, CA—town of the legendary tree house—and had a house with a pair of giant avocado trees. From their limbs came a bountiful harvest of the grand green fruit each year. THe Neighbors took all they wanted and I carried armloads to work, to share with my fellow Disney Imagineers. And there were always plenty for my two avocado loving housemates, Duchess and Schatzie ...my mother and daughter dachshunds.

Seems like there's a world of possibilities out on a limb. Not much adventure or discovery occurs while we're hugging the trunk—with our feet on the ground.

If anybody calls for me, just tell them I'm "out"...on a limb.

And then there's this ...

    <1>

• einstein on imagination

 

 

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited.

Imagination encircles the world.

~ Albert Einstein

 

 

Illustration by McNair from "HATCH!" Used by permission, after some serious negotiating ...and chocolate.

• proceed "as if" you are!

Whether you accept even the possibility of your own creativity or not, the rest of your days will be a challenge. Why not proceed “as if” you do have a creative spirit and it is an available resource in every area of your life?

[This the heart of the next book in my creativity series—HATCH! is Book No.1. I am working on the diescovering, recapturing, relaunching your creative spirit book now. Get ready to hit the RESET button. Here's a bit more from those pages.]

Why do children play: doodle, dance, "dress-up," sing, slide, and splash (in street puddles and soggy front lawns)?
    They suffer from a divine ignorance. They have not yet gone to school and learned that play is frivolous. It serves no purpose. It will not get us good grades, a high SAT score, entrance to the "right" university, a degree and diploma with a famous institution's name on the top, or a job in a great firm or Fortune 100 mega plant.

    So what?

     Who are the great companies? Some of the best (most successful) are quite play-full: Apple, Disney, Pixar ...and in small corner departments or annexes in an unmarked warehouse down the street, there are thousands of small teams, special project groups, “creative departments”, and even renegade, in-house gangs answerable only to one VP  who said "let's give it a try."
    
The "it" is a wild idea: a goofy notion of running way outside the baselines, coloring outside the lines, "thinking outside the taco." Making taco shells out of Doritos? That's just dumb. Who would buy that?
    Apparently we (taco eaters) liked dumb—to the tune of several million dollars in additional sales for Taco Bell. WIt seems we also liked laptop computers that weren't grey or "pewter" when Steve jobs introduced the first teal iMac. What followed was an explosion of office accessories in other than black and stick-on wood grain.
    We all need more play. That's why I wrote HATCH! to show working groups from small teams in the non-profit world to giant corporations how to think and work creatively (brainstorm) without arguing.
    And if each of us (even you) would doodle more—add things other than words—to our study notes, meeting agendas, reports, and sermon outlines, we would find life more ...lively, exciting, and ...hold on ...creative.
    It is for this reason that I added a chapter called The Doodle Factor—which includes the sixteen page, book-within-a-book: McNair’s Fearless Field Guide to Doodling & Visual Thinking. I wrote it in a week, tested it on non-doodling friends, and stuck in as the next-to-the-last chapter of HATCH! We were prepping the book for production, going to press. The book was finished, complete—almost.

[ Best place to order HATCH! is on the great new webspot Givingtons.com, "The Generosity Shop" HERE. While you're waiting for your COPIES to arrive, download a FREE PDF of the complete first chapter at the top of this blog: "Hatch-Sample." ]

THIS WEEK, find some divinely ignorant children and join them in play. Substitute finger painting where breakfast usually occurs. Turn off all the electronics—hand-held games, TV, computers, and get thee to a park, sand box, creek bed, backyard ...get out and play. Then figure out how to bring play to work! Daily!   

    Unless of course you are completely satisfied with the products, services, and staff interaction just as it is. Many of my favorite clients are NOT satisfied with things as they are. Several are large, VERY successful enterprises. Why mess with anything that’s not broken. Not even squeaky. They bring me in to consult on creative problem solving and brainstorming. And that leads to lively team building.  Great companies get better when they are dissatisfied with their current level of success.

When I first heard the book title Good To Great my immediate thought was, then what?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Did you hear what author artist Mo Willems said, about two minutes into the interview, above?

"There is a day in everybody's life, in every kid's life, when they realises they're not going to be a professional cartoonist and they realise they're not going to be a professional basketball player. But kids still play basketball and they stop drawing. And that is a real shame."     <16>

•   •   •   •   •

> > Don't forget to read the post & watch NEW trailer, below, of new Disney movie in which TOM HANKS is Walt Disney and Emma Thompson is "P.L.Travers" author-creator of MARRY POPPINS books. Film has early December 2013 releasedate ! (Next post down.)

• walt disney lives again

This December several highly-anticaped big movies are coming to giant cinema screens all over the country. The biggest character of the season will not be a robot, alien, or hobbit and will arrive in a small film from Disney Studios. SAVING MR.BANKS is the story of Walt Disney' s almost-failed attempt to secure the film rights to Marry Poppins. Author P.L.Travers wrote eight books on the adventures of the now-legendary British nanny. The story of her refusal to allow Walt , or anyone, to put her on the big screen is the stuff of Hollywood legend. But Walt had promised his two daughters that he would make Mary Poppins "fly off the page."

In the upcoming film, Emma Thompson portrays the intractable Travers and Tom Hanks inhabits Hollywood dream maker Walt Disney. "P.L.Travers" was, in fact, the pen name for Australian-born novelist and actress Helen Lyndon Goff (1899-1988.)

I have waited to write about this project until I could share more than "in the works" info. Now Disney Studios has released the first trailer (bottom.) On one hand it does give away the twist behind P.J.Travers reluctance to make a movie that only dealt with the surface story. But once you see and know why she was so protective, I suspect that, like me, you will want to see the film even more than just watching a bit of Hollywood history.

[ Only official photo, so far: Walt & Travers on Main Street, USA, Disneyland. Filming occurred for two days—Nov. 6-7, 2012—on location, inside Walt's original theme park in Southern California.]

One and only official press photo, so far, (above) of Walt and Travers visiting Disneyland which had been open just a handful of years when he took her there as part of his campaign to woo her into selling him the film rights to the Mary Poppins character.

SAVING MR.BANKS (the title says it all, really) is directed by John Lee Hancock who helmed the popular Blind Side. Film crews shot inside Disneyland, Disney Studios in Burbank, Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. and other Southern California locations. (Ontario Airport stands in for LAX of the early 1960's.)

[At right: Julie Andrews, Walt, P.L.Travers at Mary Poppins world premiere, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood—27 August 1964.]

As Walt  says in the film, "Well, when does anybody get to go to Disneyland with Walt Disney himself?" This December we all will!

Here is the just-released trailer.

Trailer: Saving Mr. Banks on Disney Video

• BBC produced a fascinating documentary on the real "P.L. Travers" You tube has it in six parts, HERE  <8>

• where are you reading "hatch!" ?

My very busy, "actively creative" pal Kevin Slous has been RE-reading HATCH! And he's reading in some fascinating settings. He sent photos, below. Where are you reading HATCH!? Send photos and the most interesting, unusual ones will get posted. Love to see multiple readers, each with their own copy, reading to gether at ...



Poolside

 

 

Heading to the big game ...

At the All Star Game, "Citi Field",

New York City—home of the NY Mets.

16 July 2013

Trivia quiz: Why are the Mets colors BLUE and ORANGE? (It was not a random selection.)

• you should read what i'm reading

 

I am currently reading four books on creativity. Each one inspires and encourages me to write better, format smarter, and draw and design another level of art for the book I am working on—daily.

For New Year's this year I resolved to write (work on the new book) at least five days a week for a few hours. My average has been closer to six-days-a-week.

I have been writing in my sketchbook, on my Mac, and dictating (on the road) using the simply elegant Dragon dictation app on my iPhone. iTalk, iEmail, iDownload, iEdit, iCapture thoughts and stories as they come to mind—stuff that might otherwise have been lost—all hands free.

[We must explore the massive array of productivity tools available to manage and better use our minutes, hours, and days. I sometimes feel like I do not even have time to read about these great apps and software tools in the the latest blogs from Guy Kawasaki, Michael Hyatt, et al ...but if I hear about a new app from two or three sources, I check it out. DRAGON dictation is a good one—with a learning curve of about 3.7 seconds.]

I mentioned, quoted from, and wrote a line of three about several books in "HATCH!" For the next book I am going to create mini reviews of the books I reference, quote from, and recommend in an expanded appendix.  ("Call 911, McNair's appendix is expanding!")

You can get a sneak preview by reading my just-posted review on GoodReads.com of one of the "currently reading" books: The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. (It is discounted now on Givingtons.com) I have just begun reading it, but there is highlighting, marginal notes, doodles, and my additional thoughts on virtually every two-page spread. I thought that I had read it when a friend emailed to ask my opinion of it. I certainly knew of Twyla Tharp and that book, but ...alas, I had not yet read it.

If you do not know her, Twyla Tharp is the force of nature choreographer who has distinguished herself on the stage (ballet, modern dance, Broadway) and film (Amadeus, Hair, White Nights, Ragtime ...)

I expected her book to be rich and full of great theatrical war stories and a bit of creative insight here and there. IT IS SO MUCH MORE. It is chocked full of grand stories from a life lived out loud—a life that continues to imagine, direct, and choreograph in her early seventies. But The Creative Habit is full of creative insight, inspiration and practical steps to making creativity a habit in your life. It is as full of treasure as King Solomon's mines ...wherever they are.

There are, however, two major problems with Ms. Tharp's book:

1. I cannot put it down and I need to be writing everyday. I also want to read the other three books in my small, goes-everywhere, Belstaff shoulder bag. (Contents: three books, at least one copy of "HATCH!", my current sketchbook, a couple dozen felt pens, and other art-making items.)

2. It will be impossible to select only a couple, maybe three, items to quote Ms. Tharp on for my new book. I have lots of other creative, clever, and smart folks I will be quoting. (And pushing you to read their writing, watch their films, and listen to their music to assist you in "recapturing your creative spirit.") Here's a nibble, a tease ...

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home."

So ...while I'm writing the next installment of the "HATCH! Trilogy" (that might well be four books), read Twyla Tharp. Then tell me what story or quote of hers I should put in my book. (Ladder sold separately.)

* Photo of Twyla Tharp (at age 66), top right, by Annie Leibovitz for GAP

• what must be done today, do now!

Pick a task that needs to be completed now and finish it. Size, difficulty, and time are not the issue. Completion. 

There's nothing like finishing an important tasks, project, or big asignment — no matter the size or level of difficulty. Start your day, begin your week by finish an important item on your current To Do list.

(Even though their may be activities that are better, nothing equals it.)

[Click certificate to enlarge, download, print, complete, and frame. Ask someone with a flourishing signature sign it! Congrats!]

• drawing a blank

A long time friend emailed to ask about the mini-book cover I had posted on my Facebook page—the title page for "McNair's Fearless Field Guide To Doodling & Visual Thinking." It is the second half (16 pages) of the next-to-the-last chapter in HATCH! The chapter is "The Doodle Factor." (He'd not yet gotten to that point, near the end, in reading HATCH!)

Funnily enough, my curious friend is an enormously accomplished doodler. Hah! He is an artist. That's how he earns his living, delights his friends, and creates his almost completely visual blog: "Insight Through Hindsight." ....HERE.

You will love his "doodles" and his wit—a dangerous mind. Even more, he recently wrote about himself and posted it at the opening of his blog on 28 June 2013 as "a bit of a departure." READ THAT first. My friend Chris's story is remarkable will make his art all the more astounding.

In his follow-up email he talked about wanting to doodle more, but being afraid to ...it won't be good enough. The "fear bus" is rather crowded these days. I have a seat with my name on it. I get ht by fear, oh ...every-other ....hour. What if I try and it's ...not perfect?

IT WON"T BE FLAWLESS.

NOTHING IS ...EVER!

In his scond email (about doodling more) Chris included his latest blog post. Here it is—near perfect, I'd say.

    My mentor and "boss" at Disney Imagineering, Marty Sklar, said that to most people, the scariest item in the universe is a blank piece of paper. A small sea of infinite white space that appears to go on forever.

    Meanwhile, the "actively creative" person sees infinite possibilities. Take charge of the open space ...fill it with anything, everything.

    The key is to not care about the first line, the first sentence, paragraph, or page. In  his book, The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki says that the hardest part about starting is ...STARTING.

    At writers conferences one of the top ten MAQ's (Most Asked Questions) is always, "I really wanna write a book, but ...how do you come up with a title ...where do I begin?"

    "What do you want to write about, your subject?" I ask. They don't always have an answer. That's a problem, but when they do have subject, I ask, "What do you want to say about that subject and to whom do you want to say it?"

    Just start writing ...doodling. Keep going. A title will present itself. (The book I'm working on right now—follow-up to HATCH!—had a great title. As I started the principal writing, I thought of another title. THAT'S IT! In the last week I just relaxed about the title and decided to think bout after much more writing was completed. Now, without thinking nd worrying about it, I have about ten titles. More will come. At some point I'll run a few of my favorites by friends, Facebook/Hatch readers and a great tile will emerge.

    When my literary agent was presenting HATCH! to publishers, the title was Donuts On the Moon. (It's still a chapter title in HATCH!) A couple of editors at big New York publishers loved the book and hated "Donuts On the Moon" as a title. I made a list of successful business books with goofy titles (titles with * are listed in my book list, LEFT, and linked to Amazon.com):

    Orbiting the Giant Hairball *  (Get it!)

    Who Move the Cheese

    Zag *

    Guerrilla Marketing

    Flow

    Blink

    Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten

    Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?

    Six Thinking Hats

    Purple Cow

    First, Break All the Rules

    A Whack On the Side of the Head

    What Color Is Your Parachute

    UnStuck

    Oh,the Places You'll Go (Dr. Seuss)

    Blink

    Made to Stick

    War of Art*

    Outliers

    Rules of the Red Rubber Ball *

    Freakonomics

    slide:ology

    Tipping Point

    A Peacock In the Land of Penguins

        

    ...Best sellers everyone. [ Above a few favorites ]

    Just like the graphic design of a book cover, the title should grab your attention. If it does (and you are in a book store) you will grab the book, flip it over and find out what it's all about, who wrote it, and what's the "promise" (objective) in these pages.

    Homework: Grab a blank piece of paper and fill it ...with anything!

    Repeat.

HINT: I'll tell you a secret about those who doodle a lot and scribble (write) a lot ...we do it so much that we learn not to care and fuss over every squiggle we draw, every word, line, and sentence we hammer. Create now. Decide later. Fill the blank page, fill another. My book RAISED IN CAPTIVITY: A Memoir of a Life Long Churchaholic is twenty-one chapters. The manuscript was twice as long. I recently re-read the book and then re-examined the unused chapters. There was almost nothing I would include if I were to re-print the book. There were a couple fun stories, but no full chapters that I thought would add to the book in a meaningful way. I wrote a huge amount of words before my publisher and I ever began the process of deciding which chapters would comprise the published book.

(Click book cover to enlarge.)

Used copies of Raised in Captivity available HERE.

• i believe

"I BELIEVE that the smell of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies could bring about world peace

...until we run out of cookie dough."

~ McNair

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